Last week, Chad Stafko wrote a piece for the Wall Street Journal entitled "OK, You're a Runner. Get Over It" with the subtitle "Running a marathon is hard enough without also patting yourself on the back every step of the way." I won't do Mr. Stafko the favor of posting a link to his drivel, as I'm sure it has already far exceeded the number of readers it actually deserves.
In his piece, Stafko calls out runners for being insufferable, skinny showoffs. He calls us out for having our own magazines, clothing, and even specialized stores in which to buy that clothing. Worst of all, he calls us out for being proud of our accomplishments as runners. I imagine he would like to rip that extremely obnoxious 26.2 sticker off of your bumper sticker. Even worse, he decries the act of running as only a chance for the highly narcissistic runner to parade throughout their neighborhood rubbing their fitness in the faces of their sedentary neighbors. I know this is the only reason I continue running and I am positive it is the same reason that gets so many runners out the door.
I cannot believe this article made it to the Wall Street Journal, but somehow it did. This piece gives us as runners a chance to defend our sport against a highly ignorant American. Running is so much more than a chance to show off, and this is what someone who has never given the sport a chance fails to understand. Anyone who finishes a marathon accomplishes something to be proud of. I have stood at the finish lines of marathons after finishing to cheer on my fellow runners. After I finished the Vermont Marathon this spring in 2:22, I felt extreme pride in what I had accomplished. I have seen pictures of myself as I crossed the finish line and saw my time. The look of pride on my face is undeniable. As I stood around the finish cheering on everyone else, I realized that every finisher had the same look on their face.
Maybe Mr. Stafko has never tried running and has no idea why people would do it. I would be glad to offer some insight to this poor man. I run because I love it. I don't give a damn who sees me or congratulates me on a race. I have loved to run ever since I discovered I had a talent for it. There is no feeling in sport that compares to the freedom and clarity you can feel on a run, out by yourself and your thoughts, your body flowing over the ground. Yes, training makes you incredibly tired at times, and there are plenty of times I question why I keep pounding myself into the ground. The reason - that indescribable feeling of pride and accomplishment that comes at the end of a well run race.
Do we as runners toot our own horn sometimes? Hell yeah. Should we? Hell yeah. Runners are some of the most humble athletes I have ever been around. I have played baseball and football. Athletes in those sports do not compare to runners one bit when it comes to team spirit and camaraderie. There is something to be said for the bonds that are formed between runners as they push through their training together. You will never find a runner who will not sincerely ask another runner how their race went. When we do this, we are not simply performing lip service. We really care. I would rather listen to a friend tell me about their great race than brag about my own. We do not beat our chests and spew bravado like other athletes. We simply perform the most basic mode of human transportation because it feels good.
When you view running through such a cynical lens, you miss a lot. You miss the stories of injured soldiers and firefighters returning to the starting line, prosthetics and all. You miss the story of a California runner who crawled through the final straightaway of the race, struggling to finish and clinch a state title for a team whose coach is battling ALS. You miss the story of Joey Stoltz, a member of my club, who has battled back from heart trouble to finish several marathons.
So, to you, Mr. Stafko, I say give running a chance. You could even stop into one of those silly specialty running stores. I'm sure the workers of the store won't recognize you and would be more than willing to help you into a new pair of shoes and shorts.
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Philadephia Half Marathon Recap
In running, like life, it is important to operate with a healthy dose of confidence in everything that you do. The problems arise when that necessary confidence gets mixed with too much cockiness. In my opinion, a healthy bit of cockiness isn't always a bad thing. When I step on the line to race, and I look over at my competitors, I always think I can beat them (unless they weigh 110 pounds and hail from Eldoret). I was not always so cocky when it comes to running, but in the past several months as I have entered the road racing scene, where seed times and past performances are not so well known, I find myself looking at all runners on the line with me and expecting to beat them. I also have heightened expectations for myself as I continue to chase truly elite times. It's ok to be cocky - and most elite athletes are - so long as you are prepared to back up that cockiness with preparation.
This Sunday at the Philadelphia Half Marathon, I just simply wasn't ready to back it up.
My training leading up to the race was solid, but there just wasn't enough of it. The delayed start to serious training caused by the long recovery from the USA Half and the problems with varicose veins that affected me in August left me a little bit behind in terms of half marathon fitness. Without sufficient long and tempo runs under my belt, my body was ready to shut down right around 10k - not good when the race is double that distance.
The race started out well enough. The pack of East Africans jetted off the line, leaving the Americans to sort themselves out. I found myself in an unenviable position of not really having anyone to run with. There was a group of runners on sub 1:05 pace, myself and another runner running 1:06 pace, and then a wide gap back to the runners running 1:08 pace. Early in the race, I decided the best opportunity to run well would be to try and stick on 1:06 pace with my fellow runner as long as I could. The first mile was hit right at 5:00 and I still felt fairly good, but I could tell it was unlikely that I could sustain 5 flat pace the whole race. I tried to back off a little to the 5:05-5:10's I was shooting for, but the runner I was with did not back off and chased down the next group ahead. That left me alone at a very early stage in the race and put me in chase mode far earlier than I had hoped. I maintained a gap with the group ahead of me and came through 3 miles in 14:55. It was at this point that I began to feel the effects of running alone as I was not able to relax and get comfortable in a bigger group and just coast. I kept things together reasonably well through 5 miles in 25:20 and 10K in 31:44, but the wheels were off at this point as I hit some inclines in Center City Philadelphia and University City.
My race ended for all intents and purposes when I hit the steep incline near Drexel University. I felt like I was crawling up this interminable hill. The 8th mile passed in 5:35 for me - essentially a crawl after previously running 5:00-5:15 pace. The 9th mile was a little better as I coasted downhill past the zoo. The 10th mile, however, was the real kicker. I managed an abysmal 5:40 as I climed through Fairmount Park. At this point, I did not really see the point of finishing the race, but dropping out of races is something I refuse to do so long as I am not injured. To me, dropping out is a true sign of quitting on yourself.
Things rebounded slightly as I hit the final 3 miles along the river. I managed to bring the pace back down to 5:15-5:20 as the hills were finally over. I made a pact with myself that I would pass as many people as I could before the finish. If there is one thing I hate more than losing, it is losing to people I know I should never lose to. It may sound arrogant to say, but I expect too much from myself to accept losing to 1:09 runners when I know my ability lies in the 1:06-1:07 range. The anger I felt about losing lit a little fire under me and I passed 3 or 4 runners before the finish in a final disappointing time of 1:09:21.
What did I learn from this race? Well, for one, I learned that you can't fake it in a half marathon. I am certainly very fit as I was able to run close to 5:00 pace for close to 5 miles, but being fit for 5 miles is nowhere near the same as being fit for a half marathon. I do believe I was on the right track to running a good half marathon this season, but was just a few weeks and a few long tempo runs away from being really ready to race a half marathon. I also learned I can't just step on a starting line and expect to beat everyone even though I have the ability to be highly competitive on the elite road racing scene. There are simply people out there who are faster than me, especially when I am not on my A-game.
Overall, I can't be too displeased with the result of the race. I got an idea of where my current level of fitness is, got a hard effort in which will only help me improve, and fought hard to the finish. I am going to take a somewhat easy week to let my body bounce back a little bit from the race, and then get right back to training at a high level. One good thing about only having 6 weeks of good training for this race is that my body won't need a very long time to rest before I can return to hard runs and workouts. My next big race will be the Virginia Beach Marathon in March and I am very excited to try some new workouts as I get ready for another marathon.
This Sunday at the Philadelphia Half Marathon, I just simply wasn't ready to back it up.
My training leading up to the race was solid, but there just wasn't enough of it. The delayed start to serious training caused by the long recovery from the USA Half and the problems with varicose veins that affected me in August left me a little bit behind in terms of half marathon fitness. Without sufficient long and tempo runs under my belt, my body was ready to shut down right around 10k - not good when the race is double that distance.
The race started out well enough. The pack of East Africans jetted off the line, leaving the Americans to sort themselves out. I found myself in an unenviable position of not really having anyone to run with. There was a group of runners on sub 1:05 pace, myself and another runner running 1:06 pace, and then a wide gap back to the runners running 1:08 pace. Early in the race, I decided the best opportunity to run well would be to try and stick on 1:06 pace with my fellow runner as long as I could. The first mile was hit right at 5:00 and I still felt fairly good, but I could tell it was unlikely that I could sustain 5 flat pace the whole race. I tried to back off a little to the 5:05-5:10's I was shooting for, but the runner I was with did not back off and chased down the next group ahead. That left me alone at a very early stage in the race and put me in chase mode far earlier than I had hoped. I maintained a gap with the group ahead of me and came through 3 miles in 14:55. It was at this point that I began to feel the effects of running alone as I was not able to relax and get comfortable in a bigger group and just coast. I kept things together reasonably well through 5 miles in 25:20 and 10K in 31:44, but the wheels were off at this point as I hit some inclines in Center City Philadelphia and University City.
My race ended for all intents and purposes when I hit the steep incline near Drexel University. I felt like I was crawling up this interminable hill. The 8th mile passed in 5:35 for me - essentially a crawl after previously running 5:00-5:15 pace. The 9th mile was a little better as I coasted downhill past the zoo. The 10th mile, however, was the real kicker. I managed an abysmal 5:40 as I climed through Fairmount Park. At this point, I did not really see the point of finishing the race, but dropping out of races is something I refuse to do so long as I am not injured. To me, dropping out is a true sign of quitting on yourself.
Things rebounded slightly as I hit the final 3 miles along the river. I managed to bring the pace back down to 5:15-5:20 as the hills were finally over. I made a pact with myself that I would pass as many people as I could before the finish. If there is one thing I hate more than losing, it is losing to people I know I should never lose to. It may sound arrogant to say, but I expect too much from myself to accept losing to 1:09 runners when I know my ability lies in the 1:06-1:07 range. The anger I felt about losing lit a little fire under me and I passed 3 or 4 runners before the finish in a final disappointing time of 1:09:21.
What did I learn from this race? Well, for one, I learned that you can't fake it in a half marathon. I am certainly very fit as I was able to run close to 5:00 pace for close to 5 miles, but being fit for 5 miles is nowhere near the same as being fit for a half marathon. I do believe I was on the right track to running a good half marathon this season, but was just a few weeks and a few long tempo runs away from being really ready to race a half marathon. I also learned I can't just step on a starting line and expect to beat everyone even though I have the ability to be highly competitive on the elite road racing scene. There are simply people out there who are faster than me, especially when I am not on my A-game.
Overall, I can't be too displeased with the result of the race. I got an idea of where my current level of fitness is, got a hard effort in which will only help me improve, and fought hard to the finish. I am going to take a somewhat easy week to let my body bounce back a little bit from the race, and then get right back to training at a high level. One good thing about only having 6 weeks of good training for this race is that my body won't need a very long time to rest before I can return to hard runs and workouts. My next big race will be the Virginia Beach Marathon in March and I am very excited to try some new workouts as I get ready for another marathon.
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Ready to Race!
I know my posts have been a bit sporadic the past several months, but my life has been very busy. I've started a new job, bought a house, and have been working on planning a wedding with my fiancee. Trying to squeeze in 90 miles a week with all that going on doesn't leave too much time for blogging about those miles. All that aside, my training went very well as I prepared for the Philadelphia Half Marathon.
Last spring as I trained for the Vermont City Marathon, I was consistently putting in close to 110 miles per week. I would have loved to keep my mileage at that level, but with everything going on, it would have just been too much for me. I also don't necessarily think I need to run that many miles a week to succeed. I have always loved running hard day in and day out. Averaging low 6:00 pace for an entire week of distance runs is not uncommon. When I was hitting over 100 miles a week, I was often too tired to train the way I preferred. I believe toning down my volume to 80-90 miles a week with the intensity raised back to a level I prefer has the same benefits of training 110 miles a week. I feel much fresher and don't feel like I am constantly on the verge of breakdown like I did this spring.
My expectations for the race this weekend are not extremely high, and I am not putting too much pressure on myself given the fact that I have had only 8 solid weeks of training leading into the race. My training this summer got off to a late start due to how long it took me to recover from my spring races. My legs did not feel good running until the end of August. Part of this was due to over-racing in the spring and then taking on new responsibilities with my new company. I spent much of July and August inspecting bridges in Maryland. Being on your feet for 8 hours a day in the sweltering heat is not exactly good for the body's recovery!
But my body did finally come around, and my desire to train hard and race at a high level was as strong as it ever was. My training was very simple. I ran twice a day 3 or 4 times a week and took one day of decreased mileage. My workouts were primarily aerobic - threshold pace intervals with short rest and tempo runs - and my training runs were run comfortably hard each day. I believe this type of training has prepared me very well to race well for a half marathon. I kept the rest very short on all of my workouts and felt very comfortable running at 5:00 to 5:05 pace. I also touched on some shorter speed intervals at the end of my workouts and felt very quick which should serve me well for the later stages of the race when it's time to call on the fast twitch muscles to carry some of the load and keep me moving forward.
Last spring as I trained for the Vermont City Marathon, I was consistently putting in close to 110 miles per week. I would have loved to keep my mileage at that level, but with everything going on, it would have just been too much for me. I also don't necessarily think I need to run that many miles a week to succeed. I have always loved running hard day in and day out. Averaging low 6:00 pace for an entire week of distance runs is not uncommon. When I was hitting over 100 miles a week, I was often too tired to train the way I preferred. I believe toning down my volume to 80-90 miles a week with the intensity raised back to a level I prefer has the same benefits of training 110 miles a week. I feel much fresher and don't feel like I am constantly on the verge of breakdown like I did this spring.
My expectations for the race this weekend are not extremely high, and I am not putting too much pressure on myself given the fact that I have had only 8 solid weeks of training leading into the race. My training this summer got off to a late start due to how long it took me to recover from my spring races. My legs did not feel good running until the end of August. Part of this was due to over-racing in the spring and then taking on new responsibilities with my new company. I spent much of July and August inspecting bridges in Maryland. Being on your feet for 8 hours a day in the sweltering heat is not exactly good for the body's recovery!
But my body did finally come around, and my desire to train hard and race at a high level was as strong as it ever was. My training was very simple. I ran twice a day 3 or 4 times a week and took one day of decreased mileage. My workouts were primarily aerobic - threshold pace intervals with short rest and tempo runs - and my training runs were run comfortably hard each day. I believe this type of training has prepared me very well to race well for a half marathon. I kept the rest very short on all of my workouts and felt very comfortable running at 5:00 to 5:05 pace. I also touched on some shorter speed intervals at the end of my workouts and felt very quick which should serve me well for the later stages of the race when it's time to call on the fast twitch muscles to carry some of the load and keep me moving forward.
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