I finished reading Scott Jurek's "Eat & Run" yesterday. He mentions, on a few occasions, how his marathon time of 2:38 isn't all that impressive. Well, it's pretty impressive to me. But that got me thinking. I had to improve my marathon time if I wanted to consider myself a decent runner and move to the next level (mentally & competitively). When it comes down to it, a 3:35 PR is pretty pathetic for an aspiring ultrarunner.
So I signed up for the Bob Potts Rail Trail marathon which would take place on May 25th. I ran it in 2012 and completely bonked at mile 23 and finished in 3:36. I looked up Boston qualifying times for my age and decided that would be my goal. (Not that I'm even that interested in running Boston; my love for running has shifted to running longer distances through the woods. But I figured it would be a good time to measure myself against.) To qualify for Boston, I have to run under a 3:05. Totally doable, right?
I converted my goal time to a pace per mile and found I need to run a 7:03 pace for 26.2 miles to finish under 3:05. Yikes. I can't remember the last time I ran more than a mile at faster than a 7:30 pace. (Sometime last year, I resigned to the notion that I'm just not a fast runner and probably never will be. I'm built for distance, not speed.) But that got me thinking: why? Elite runners can run long AND fast, and that's exactly what I need to do.
After one last conversion (finding out what speed on the treadmill was around a 7:03 pace), I went downstairs to my treadmill to knock out my typical Wednesday 5-miler. I started at a 7:30 pace for the first 400 yards, then moved bumped up to a 6:59 pace for the next 4.25 miles. Then I went back to a 7:30 pace for the last 800 yards. Surprisingly, I felt awesome. Although it was a fast pace, I was surprised at how comfortable I felt. My average heart rate was around 165. It's higher than usual, but I'm not used to that pace (duh). Not too bad.
Today I went out for a 9-miler on the road and decided I wanted to run at or under a 7:03 pace. That's something I've never done so I was a little apprehensive. But once I got going, I fell into a rhythm. I ran my usual neighborhood route, an out-and-back route with a few uphills and downhills. I knocked out the first mile in 6:55. Mile two had a few uphills and finished in 7:15. Then I got into a rhythm and knocked out a 6:53 and 6:58. The next few miles rolled a bit and went into a steady uphill for 1/2 mile. After seven miles and knowing I only had two miles left, I really turned it on and finished with a 6:53 and 6:43 mile.
During my last mile, running faster and feeling stronger than the previous 8 miles, it hit me. I had a moment of clarity and pure hopefulness for my running future. I thought to myself: I might actually be good at this. I can say, without hesitation, that's the first time I truly believed I am (or could become) a pretty good and competitive runner. That's fastest I've ever run for an extended amount of time and felt like I could go even faster. Today's run made me hopeful for my running future and, most of all, made me happy,
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