Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying basic fundamentals.” - E. James Rohn
Consistency. That's what I believe in. You don't have to be perfect. You just have to be consistent. That goes for anything in life. For running, I believe that you will get better & faster the more consistently that you do it. Yes, cross training & speedwork helps increase that development. But if you go out & run 3 times a week every week for, let's say a year, you will get better & faster. I have no doubt. Give it a try & let me know how it goes.
TUESDAY
It’s race week! Just three 3-milers planned prior to Saturday. Today I took an old out & back route to Union Park for lunch. I passed some guys putting in work just like me. Well not quite like me but, we were both working.
WEDNESDAY
I traded the usual 5am 10-miler for another lunch run. I thought that might have been a bad choice. It rained most of the morning. I figured that I would be running in the rain. I actually like running in the rain. So I wasn’t too worried about it. The lunch bell rang & off I went. Just a light mist, but a lot of puddles. I took a frequented route through the neighborhood. I had to stop for a couple of minutes for a work phone call that I had to take. Back to the run. Needing to burn off a little steam I decide this is the perfect time to go into a progression run.
What’s a progression run you ask... It’s running each mile faster than the previous. Also called negative splits. Let’s do this. On this familiar route I pass by my buddy, Rowdy again. No picture this time.
Final pace numbers - 9:07, 8:49, 8:12. A solid progression run!
THURSDAY
After a nice progressive run yesterday I decided I would take it fairly easy today. This would be the last run before race day. Work was pretty busy today. I couldn’t make it out for a lunch run. I knew I needed to get my run in, so a supper run it is.
Early evening runs are my least favorite. I’m usually hangry & it ends up being bedtime before I can get in my wind down time. I take off with no route in mind. About a quarter mile in I check my pace. 8:45! What the heck?!? Slow down, mister! I venture past a boy on a scooter. I give out a “what’s up dude”. He returns the gesture exactly & lets out a little “what’s up dude”. I love those little moments on a run. There are a lot of people on the trail at supper time. Should these people be eating... supper??
Not too long later I come up on a mom with a small girl parked behind her in an Escalade power wheel. As I whip around she floors it & hear that familiar spinning sound accompanied by the whir of the electric motor screaming away. With all these pleasant interactions I continue to struggle slowing down. Maybe that’s why the Brooks slogan is Run Happy... I run past the ballers at the ball court, around the clubhouse, down through the heart of Savannah, and around the neighborhood elementary. I meet couples walking, couples walking dogs, & other runners. I head back to the house through some streets I haven’t ran on before. Another 5k in the books just in time for sunset.
SATURDAY
RACE DAY!!!
It's misting rain & in the upper 40s. Sounds like perfect running weather to me! I meet up with my friends in the parking lot at Town Lake Park in McKinney. The site of the Frisco Running Co Half Marathon & 5k . Getting out of the car I realize it feels a little colder than I thought it would be. Nonetheless, we're going with it; shorts, short sleeve short, & gloves. There are a lot of Covid protocols in place. So our first stop is the medical tent to get our temperature checked. A quick scan & beep, we're good to go. Now for a few laps around the parking lot to get warmed up.
The announcer urges everyone to the starting corral. They have us setup in socially distanced waves. The 5k & half runners are intermingled. This is one of my favorite parts of races. The anticipation of the start. The music is playing. People are bouncing & stretching. Last minute checks of your race gear. For me, I'm just taking it all in. Race Day playlist cued up & ready. A Warrior's Call by Volbeat is my go to jam for getting pumped up for run. A quick review of the Drader-designed race plan to get me focused. I scribbled it on my bib. It's broken out by 5k segments. Every segment I'll evaluate how I feel & either speed up or maintain my pace.
- 1-3.1 - 9:25
- 3.1-6.2 - 9:15
- 6.2-9.3 - 9:05
- 9.3-12.4 - 8:55
- 12.4-finish - wheels off!
And we're off! The wet weather has made the paved trail & sidewalks a little slick. Not to mention the mud. Several spots along the course have mud on the path making it even more slick. Not even to the first mile & I can feel mud slinging up and hitting the back of my ankles. A lot of the course is standard sidewalk so its a bit crowded in the beginning. It winds through the park, in & out of the woods, and beside ponds/lakes. We have several club members working aid stations. It makes it nice to hear someone cheering you on by name or yelling out "Ninja Turtles!". To add to the excitement, these signs were posted along along the path. I will say I was a little nervous when I saw them. Especially since there was more than one. Hopefully the cooler weather will keep us safe...
Don & Raph are running a quicker pace than I want, so I let them go. After navigating through the race traffic Leo pulls up beside me. Shortly after mile 2 I hear some guy behind us yelling about the sidewalk. Next thing I know this Santa Claus looking fellow comes whizzing by. It's about this time that I realize he was yelling at us. We were side-by-side taking up most of the narrow sidewalk. I yell back a friendly, "I guess you should have started in the front!" That gives Leo a little chuckle. Shortly after, as we expected, Santa exits for the 5k finish.
As we loop the lake we hit 3.1 and I'm feeling good. I've been spot checking my pace & I feel like I'm right in the pocket at 9:20. In actuality, 9:20, 9:08, 9:10. In retrospect I think the slow downs from the muddy spots caused me to overcorrect my pace pushing me over my targets. I give myself the green light to speed up. Now we're on the out & back portion of the race. It sends us through a disc golf course & a couple of other parks. This segment goes by pretty fast. Next thing I know, we're at 6.2 & I'm meeting people on their way back. System check. Feeling good. Increase pace a planned. By this time I realize that I'm a little ahead of my targets, but I'm thinking, "just keep going". If I get tired & I'll be able to afford to dial back and rest for a bit.
This segment should be 9:05s, but I start encouraging the runners that I meet. "Good job! Nice work!" I'm even more excited when I see our club mates! Shortly after mile 7 we hit the turnaround point. Other than that I don't remember much about the next few miles. We'll chalk it up to the runner's high. Miles 6-9 were all sub-9 minute miles. It was starting to get tough, but this what we trained for, pain. We had logged runs well over 13 miles during training. We taught ourselves that we could endure. So, I just kept on pushing. Mile 10 I look at my watch. Overall time 1hr 30mins! What?!?! I could actually hit 2hrs! I'm hurting now, & slow down a bit. As long as I don't sink to 10min miles I'll make it. Mile 12 & 13 are nothing but guts. The gradual uphill at 12 is punishing me. Where the hell did this hill come from?!? I start the self-talk. You got this! Don't walk! Stay above 10min miles! Explicative, Explicative!
Finally, I can hear the announcer. We're getting close now! My watch beeps for 13 miles. 1:59. I can see the finish line. I give it everything I have. I end up running that last tenth at a 7:27 pace. Completely missing the last aid station that was giving out whiskey shots. Finish time 2:00:32! Wow! I'm a little disappointed that I didn't hit the sub 2:00 mark, but I just ran my fastest half of all time! Albeit by 21secs, its a PR nonetheless! My previous PR was from 2014. Not to mention besting my last 2 half times in Nov & Dec by a full 10mins! I typically don’t like race pictures where I don’t look strong, but today I realized that this is a picture of me looking strong. This is me being strong. This is why we run.
We're tired & we're getting cold, but we did it! We were consistent & we saw results. All 4 of us set half marathon PRs today! I'd say without a doubt we have pushed each other to be better. That's Turtle Power, baby! I don't think I'll have any issue breaking that 2:00:00 barrier this year!
Consistency is key, my friends. Consistency is key.
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