Tuesday, October 1, 2013

A Little Perspective


Architects should know a thing or two about perspectives. I am referring the method of drawing a building as if viewed in 3-D.  It's (or was) one of the first things they use to teach young want-to-be's in studio classes. Today I am writing about a different perspective, as in another point of view.

This past Sunday I ran The Brooksie Way Half Marathon. This is a race that is still a newbie on the racing scene being only 6 years old now, but one that is quickly emerging as one of the best half marathons in the country. Last year it was listed as on of the top 10 most scenic fall half marathons in the country. One of my most memorable racing events of my 45 years of running occurred during the very first Brooksie Way when I raced along side of Bill Rogers for the last 6 plus miles of the race. Needless to say, Boston Billy out kicked me at the end, but that race day is a subject for another posting.

The Brooksie Way is also a course that has become famous for being so challenging. The first 5 miles or so are all basically downhill. Except the downhill is at such a slope you don't really feel as if you are running downhill at all. This is not a good thing for a distance runner to experience. This type of downhill course causes most runners to run too fast during the early miles of a race. It also causes runners to use certain muscles in their legs a bit differently then they normally do during their training runs. The second half of the course is up a series of larger hills. This is especially tough on the runner that started the race too fast and whose legs are likely already fatigued.

I have run all six of the BrooksieWay Half Marathons, each year always doing very well in placing high in my age group category. Two years ago I finished second!  Each of the first five years I had always used The Brooksie as a training race for marathons such as New York City or The City of Oaks in Raleigh NC. This year I do not have any marathons on my schedule nor do I plan to race in November. So I had planned to enter The Brooksie as my destination race. I had imagined that if I targeted this race there may be a chance I could even WIN my age group! So that was the plan back this past winter and spring.

Then life sort of got in the way as they say. Nothing bad or serious, simply a series of nagging muscle injuries in the winter and spring set my training back, followed by other personal  obligations and priorities involving family and work. Still I managed to get sufficient training completed to where I felt comfortable with my chances of winning this year. Then comes the race week.

In the week prior to race day was not able to keep my running schedule, then a nasty cold germ decided to pay me a visit causing me not to sleep to well the Friday night before the race. Not to make excuses, I set my sites on doing well and keeping my streak of completing all of my Brooksie finish times under the 1hr and 40 minute mark.

The race conditions race morning were near perfect. If I could be nit-picky I would have preferred a few degrees less than the 60 deg. mark and a bit more sunshine. But the weather on race morning was great because they had been forecasting rain for the morning. So all should have been fine, but somewhere deep down I  had known for sometime that this was not going to be one of my better races. Nonetheless when the gun went off so did I.

I started what felt like a slow pace but in reality it wasn't. My Garmin was telling me I was a little too fast for the first miles and these miles did not feel too easy for me either, this simply confirmed my prerace sense. During the middle miles and into the big hills, it was doubly confirmed. Still I tried to run my best. The cloudy days did not lift my mental fitness for today either, I really do prefer to run in the sun.

The final long stretch of road was ahead, I decided to try to pick up my pace.  I did it for a few yards but this was not my day. I decided to turn this run into a great training run for my next half marathon in only 4 weeks. I finished a bit strong, passing a few runners, at least this helped to improve my spirits for the day. I crossed the finish line and saw the clock tick a few minutes past the 1hr 40 minute mark.  My slowest Brooksie Way finish. 

At the finish line I was a bit disappointed with the race and I knew my finish was a direct reflection of my race prep, especially during the past month. I met up with several of my training buddies, all who ran great that day.  They deserved congratulations for their great efforts.

So what does this have to do with "Perspective"?  It took a day or two, but as I received congratulations from many of my running friends I wondered how to express my thanks while also expressing my disappointment. Then there came one more congratulatory note, this one came from another runner friend, an older gentleman who only took up running while in his late 60's. His post to me was "I am green with envy".  That's when it hit me!  What a dummy I had been these past few days.

The new perspective was the fact that I should be (and am) grateful for the ability to run at all, grateful for being able to share my love for sport with many runner friends, and being able to run faster than 48 other guys in my age group as I finished 4th in my age group and 293 of 2,600 runners in the half marathon. So from this perspective, I say thank you "Noodles" for pointing out how really fortunate and blessed for being able to continue to be a part of this special sport and lifestyle.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and go out and "Run Happy" today :)

Lee