The Race Factor
Tuesday night I fulfilled my main running goal: returning to my club's track workouts. A small victory, maybe, but a very significant one for me. I'd last run with the group in July 2007.
I was still suffering from serious sunburn behind my knees where sunscreen had worn off on Sunday. It ached every time I bent my legs. I was hoping I'd forget the soreness once we started and I did. Amazing what going anaerobic within a minute does to pain priorities. Since it was the first post-marathon workout for some folks, we had it "easy." We were assigned eight 400m repeats w/ 30 sec. recovery between followed by ten 100-meter strides, then we finished up with crunches. My group took longer recovery breaks, so we managed only 7 repeats before we were told to fall in line for the 8 remaining strides. My 400 splits were 2:10 to 2:12 - consistent if not quite fast. I did the first 50 crunches, but only managed half the rowing rotations and just two minutes of planks.
I have not raced in 18 months, and for a blogger that's pretty significant. Preparing for, living through and coming down from a major running event is the staple of running blog posts. And since December 2008, Run DMZ has been void of them.
I didn't start entering road races until we moved to North Carolina and my sister convinced me to enter a Jingle Bell 10k in Washington, D.C. She said I'd love it, and she was right. Then six months later she said we need to do a marathon and the following fall we did one together. Those early marathon years - especially the ones I did alone - were the best, I now know. We moved to Cape Cod, where I had actual training partners. We planned and ran races together throughout New England. They too remain a huge highlight of my running life.
Things really ramped up when I moved to San Diego and my friend Tara convinced me to join a marathon training program. I'd done eight marathons by then and didn't think I'd like running with a big group, but I not only took to the group, I really took to the club. My marathon finish times, though, began to decline. So did my half marathon, 10k and 5k times.
And so, without realizing it, those men and women running mostly ahead, occasionally beside and rarely behind me Tuesday night gave me the race bug again. I got home and before even changing out of my sweaty clothes, I signed up for a summer race before I could talk myself out of it. I know the course well. And I know my new limitations and which I must accept and which I might overcome. And isn't that was races are really all about?
I was still suffering from serious sunburn behind my knees where sunscreen had worn off on Sunday. It ached every time I bent my legs. I was hoping I'd forget the soreness once we started and I did. Amazing what going anaerobic within a minute does to pain priorities. Since it was the first post-marathon workout for some folks, we had it "easy." We were assigned eight 400m repeats w/ 30 sec. recovery between followed by ten 100-meter strides, then we finished up with crunches. My group took longer recovery breaks, so we managed only 7 repeats before we were told to fall in line for the 8 remaining strides. My 400 splits were 2:10 to 2:12 - consistent if not quite fast. I did the first 50 crunches, but only managed half the rowing rotations and just two minutes of planks.
I have not raced in 18 months, and for a blogger that's pretty significant. Preparing for, living through and coming down from a major running event is the staple of running blog posts. And since December 2008, Run DMZ has been void of them.
I didn't start entering road races until we moved to North Carolina and my sister convinced me to enter a Jingle Bell 10k in Washington, D.C. She said I'd love it, and she was right. Then six months later she said we need to do a marathon and the following fall we did one together. Those early marathon years - especially the ones I did alone - were the best, I now know. We moved to Cape Cod, where I had actual training partners. We planned and ran races together throughout New England. They too remain a huge highlight of my running life.
Things really ramped up when I moved to San Diego and my friend Tara convinced me to join a marathon training program. I'd done eight marathons by then and didn't think I'd like running with a big group, but I not only took to the group, I really took to the club. My marathon finish times, though, began to decline. So did my half marathon, 10k and 5k times.
And so, without realizing it, those men and women running mostly ahead, occasionally beside and rarely behind me Tuesday night gave me the race bug again. I got home and before even changing out of my sweaty clothes, I signed up for a summer race before I could talk myself out of it. I know the course well. And I know my new limitations and which I must accept and which I might overcome. And isn't that was races are really all about?
