Maybe just A mile? (Page 2)

September 5, 2013--the first mile I ever ran non-stop (yes, in my life)

Week 6, day 2 of my C25K plan called for running 22min (W6, D1 called for 10 min). I saw that and freaked out, sure I absolutely couldn't run (okay, lets be honest, slow, slow jog) for 22 minutes without stopping. In fact, it freaked me out so bad I didn't run for a week. After a long and brutally honest talk with myself, I finally convinced myself to try it to see what would happen and I did it. On the first try, I did it. I felt so accomplished that morning I basically floated through the rest of the day. I won't forget that day.

That's very cool Matt.  Love that. 

Um, Salty, dude, you're up.

Pittsburgh, 1988. Plenty hilly as I remember (at least the middle 10). Yes, my only trials. Well, my only trials in the US. I didn't exactly burn out or quit, just kind of got out of competitive running and/or things didn't work out after that. 1992--Working in Taiwan. I accidentally won THEIR Olympic Trials. (A 30K road race, I had no idea until I won and suddenly people were asking me if I wanted to change citizenship that I had any clue...but that's another story.)
1996--Working in China. I wasn't in really great shape but I struggled to qualify for the Beijing Marathon, which at the time was an elite race and would have been a qualifier. Failed to do so in a HM, managed to do so in a time trial two weeks before the race. But I got sick in the interim and ended up being pulled from the course at 25 km (you had to get thru checkpoints on 2:50 pace). So no go.

There was also an issue with coaching--our college program really didn't work for me. Most of the other girls were 800-1500m runners moving up to 5000; 5K was pretty much my lower limit. It was low-volume, high-quality training that didn't fit with my body or personality. I got a lot of flack from the coach for qualifying and competing in trials. A lot of the girls had eating disorders and he decided that since I was quite thin, I was probably running to lose weight. (??! I was practically eating as a full-time job to fuel my training!) I worked with a different coach for the Trials--he coached a lot of elite distance runners. We trained quite similar to many of the African runners (he'd worked with them before)--fairly high volume, lots of trails, sand dunes, hills and fartlek for strength, a lot of work on having an efficient, relaxed stride, very long speed workouts with a bit lower intensity. It worked for me, plus he really figured out what made me tick mentally. After Trials, I wanted to quit, turn pro, and work with him. But I found out as a college-age athlete I was not allowed to--can't remember if it was my age, or my college coach had to approve, and he didn't. (I wasn't a scholarship athlete, so it wasn't that.) I also wanted to work with my Trials coach, and he refused, since as he put it, he had to live and coach in the same town with the college coach. So I was left with the decision to go it on my own, or continue with a program that wasn't working for me. After another season, I quit the team. It's hard to go it on your own at that age without coaching advice, moral support, and easy access to treatment for injuries, among other things.

After 1996, just too caught up in my career plus living overseas to even think about trying to get in shape for Trials. Later, some injuries (not actually running related, but they affected running) made it hard for me to do much volume or quantity. Now I feel like my running is finally coming together again, but I'm too old--speed just isn't there anymore. Plus the thought of 20+ mile runs here makes me want to puke!

I still feel sad about how it turned out. I think if I could have continued working with my marathon coach, and somehow not had to teach full-time during my 20's, I could have eventually broken 2:30. I don't delude myself about Olympics or world records or Kona--I don't have the short-range speed for that. But I would have found out what my limits were and had some more great experiences. But I'm clearer than most what I would have had to sacrifice for that--many of my travels, living overseas, etc. I guess the positive thing is that I've arrived at my mid-40's still healthy and without any chronic overuse injuries, and eager to train and race. I was up at 4:30 this AM, ready to go on my tempo run! I doubt I'd be doing that if I'd turned pro at 20, and raced full-tilt through my 30's.

This is wonderful! Joy just jumps out of this story!

You paint a beautiful running picture Switch!!

Memphis doesn't serve up much snow but oh am I looking forward to it in a new way this year.

My first mile down the road after I hit 277 pounds on my 44th birthday. It was super fast, about 15 maybe 16 minutes

Not a mile, but I still remember running a 63 second 400 meters in High School.  I was a 22-23 minute BOP X-country team member and we were doing 400's full out with a 200 jog recovery.  This was the 4th repeat and was about 15 seconds faster than my first 3.  My first real "runners high".  The only one more shocked than my coach was ME!

 

And my last mile at 2011 IM CDA was under 9 minutes and my fastest of the day.

Edited by pga_mike 2013-10-28 10:55 AM