There is ALWAYS Running

Did you ever read something that inspired you? Made ya think? Forced you to wonder? Kicked you in the gut?

The following is a guest post. Obviously, I didn't write it, but I sure felt compelled to share it here for many reasons. In a nutshell, I am so honoured to have had the opportunity to train with this individual on Thursday nights. Not only is he an exceptional runner (super fast, I simply cannot keep up to him on interval nights no matter how hard I try or how fast I may run), he is an exceptional human being. While I don't claim to know him well, I do know that he is tenacious, dedicated and focused. I like it.

And he nailed it. Not just the amazing race he had in Victoria, but this idea that no matter where we are in life, no matter where the journey may take us, there is ALWAYS running. Through joy, through pain, through the ultimate highs and through the absolute shit...

There is ALWAYS running.

Please read. And enjoy.

This is a report about a race in which everything went right after a year in which a heck of a lot
seemed to being going wrong. If you’re training for a marathon, you may want to stop reading at this
point since I only ran 21.1 kilometres, or as my good buddy JB so eloquently put it in his Victoria race report, "Oh you ran a half marathon? Ask me if I give a f@%k!"

Having said that, I’m hoping my teammate JS reads this, because I’m thinking of him as I write, knowing he’s had a challenging few months and has just picked up what we all hope is a minor injury. He’s spent all summer training his ass off to be ready to run a sub-three marathon in New York. If he can make it to the start line in one piece, I know he’s going to have an amazing race
because he will want it more than any of the thousands of runners who line up worrying about the
multitude of things that can go wrong in a road race and especially a 26.2-mile road race.

In order to get to the ‘shit runners say’ analysis of how my race went down – you know, all the info on splits and everything else we runners talk about ad nauseam – I want to put how I felt at the start line into perspective.

Twelve months ago, I made the ill-fated decision to race on a bad ankle in Victoria and ended up
pulling out at the 15k mark. I later found out I had snapped my fibula. What followed was five long
months stuck in a walking cast, followed by a few months of battling shin splints as I stepped onto the comeback trail. As an aside, what ended up curing that problem was running more, not less, kind
of counter-intuitive. I discovered the value of recovery runs and was eventually able to follow coach
Janice McCaffrey’s program, more or less, which was always my hope. Surrendering to the program
and my coach was a major goal for me this year … as opposed to listening to my ego and trying to
come up with harder workouts or adding mileage, or racing injured...but that’s another story!
While this was going on, I had some pretty interesting things happen in my personal life. Without
boring you with the gory details, this included: a divorce, house sales and condo purchases, two
friends dying and my sister battling breast cancer. Why is this relevant? Because through it all,
running became more than just a hobby – it was a lifeline. Even when I couldn’t run, which was for a
long time, I promised myself that this wouldn’t be a comeback year, that this would be a year in which I would shatter my personal bests in the 10k and half. It was a very healthy and welcome distraction for me even if, in all honesty, it didn’t really matter whether I achieved those goals.

In order to keep those targets in sight through long periods when I couldn’t run and considered
quitting running altogether (I had a serious injury on the same ankle a few years ago due to soccer),
I did what I could. I’ve been doing core twice a day – almost without exception – since January. I
realize it’s not necessary or helpful to do that much, but having a routine helped keep me motivated
and feeling like I could come back stronger, even when I started to doubt that notion. Before I got
the all clear to run again, I was at the gym 3-4 times a week. And when I came back and couldn’t run
because I didn’t have access to babysitters (I have joint custody of my girls), I took them swimming
and dragged them around with pool noodles while I pushed off on my feet doing a kind of pool
running thing. I have no idea whether it made a difference but it felt like a great workout and I still
do it to this day – 2-3 times per week. Other than two weeks before race day (thanks to another
teammate, Patty), all my long runs were done on my treadmill for three months prior to Victoria. And
I HATE treadmills.

 The point I’m trying to make is that I felt that because of all these challenges – not in spite of them –
it was just a matter of time before I got to grips with my PBs. In my mind, because I’d had the will to
endure all those treadmill long runs, I had already proved how much I wanted it, and I would have all
the motivation I needed to get the absolute maximum out of my body on race day.

 It still took a while. I set a personal worst time in my first race back and got beaten by a 12-year-
old boy, who just happened to be a family friend of a colleague at work (he took great delight
in telling me that the kid didn’t even like running) but by August things were coming together and
I started gaining confidence. The Dino Dash 10k proved to be a big turning point. I decided to do
something I’d been afraid to do before: run without a watch. I still had one strapped to my wrist but I
was aggressive in my approach and ran by feel – without redlining - and didn’t check my Garmin until I hit the halfway point. When I realized I’d set a 30-second 5k PB I thought disaster may be imminent but I ended up staying strong and recording a 1 minute and 30 second PB. Two weeks later I ran by feel at Melissa’s, on a much harder course, and almost equaled that time while chasing down – or at least attempting to chase down anther Adreanalin Rush teamate, DG.

When I told my teammate Dougie the day before the Victoria half that I was going to go out hard,
what I meant was that I planned to be aggressive. Mark, another teammate, described my race strategy as “balls out” but much as I like that analogy - if not the mental picture! – that’s not what I
tried to do or ended up doing. I ran Victoria completely by feel instead of by Garmin. On a course where I wasn’t sure (a) what the pace should be through the early hills (b) what difference elevation would make and (c) how fast Icould go without red-lining, it was – in my opinion – the ONLY way to run. Instead of looking at my Garmin every kilometer, I wrote my desired kilometer splits for 5k, 10k, and 15-18k on my arm so I could compare when I reached those markers. What happened was that I hit 10k about 30 seconds ahead of my ‘dream goal’ pace of 1:18.00 and maintained that through to the finish. I ran the first 10k at an average pace of 3:39 and the next 10k at 3:41. My slowest kilometer was 3:46 and I did that at kilometer 6. My fastest was my last (3:25). My goal going in had been 3:40 to 3:45.

There’s not much else to say about the race. I was looking forward to running with others but ended
up doing the whole thing on my own. It wasn’t windy so it wasn’t a problem. I passed a whole bunch
of guys from kilometres 3-10 and in the second half I passed five people and was passed by one guy,
who later turned out to be a 1:08 half marathoner who was doing a progression run. He absolutely
destroyed me by running 3:15s at the top of the last hill. I didn’t run the last few kilometres that well – the twists and turns were pretty distracting when I was trying to put the hammer down – but it was a good feeling to cross the finish line and realize I had been able to beat my dream goal for the race – and more importantly, attain my goal for the year of crushing my half marathon PB. As I crossed the line I pumped my fists and yelled out what felt like an entire year’s worth of emotion. At the time I thought it was Whitfield-esque but unfortunately, after reviewing the race video I realize I looked kinda like a wooden version of Mr. Bean – story of my life!

 I’m now done for the season and pondering whether to run Boston. Unlike my friend JB, I’m a
terrible marathoner who questions whether it’s really worth training for six months only to be left
hoping that you stay healthy/avoid getting sick/are helped by the weather Gods and then get your
nutrition, fueling and race strategy right on the day. Even then, you might do what I did in my last
marathon and bonk or cramp and walk the last few miles. I admire all of you for doing it; I’m just not sure if I want to!

Whatever happens, though, I’m so glad to be back running again and I’m grateful for every run I’m
able to do these days. I’m convinced regular core and running by feel were big difference-makers
for me this year, but it’s always so hard to figure out what works for every individual. It’s entirely
possible the theories mentioned above are a bunch of bunk and that the biggest difference-makers
had nothing to do with training, diet or exercise. At our pre-race meeting coach Janice summed up myseason with the following words...

 “You’re running with happy feet.”