Working Together

Wednesday night is TOC night. I'm not an official member of the Toronto Olympic Club but I'm running with a few locals who are and I'm being coached by one of TOC's coaches. Honestly, I'm not sure if I have what it takes to don a TOC singlet, but I'm thrilled that they are letting me run after them once a week.
During the past six weeks that I've been running with them, I have been humbled. My first week out, I ran with Kyle, a 34 minute 10K runner. The next time, there were 2 others - both 3:35 kilometre runners in their late teens. Both nights, I went home questionning what I was doing trying to run with them, but I returned again; one thing I'm not is a quitter (although I have been known to postpone running a marathon).
I was relieved when speedy Monica, who is still much faster but closer to my pace, showed up on Week 3, and I let out a huge sigh when Alex, barely 16, appeared. Yes, I was still at the back but I wasn't completely alone anymore.

This week, I'm starting to see the payoff. My 8K race on Sunday, The Robbie Burns Run, showed me that. Even though my time was a bit slower than I would have liked (35:22), I was comfortable with how I ran; I left the race feeling good - something I haven't felt since the end of October. Nothing can beat that.
And Wednesday's workout really built my confidence: 14.4 kilometres with 6 sets of intervals in the middle. I pushed on every one, felt strong and I didn't finish last!

Now, three nights later, I'm still smiling when I remember how good I felt when I finished that last interval. On the way back, I told Coach that I didn't think I could have done that 3 months ago; he agreed.
Of course, I will likely be put back in my place this Wednesday night, but I have 3 more nights to enjoy that glorious feeling.

"Running should be a lifelong activity. Approach it patiently and intelligently,

and it will reward you for a long, long time." -Michael Sargent

Ah Ha!

Last weekend, I emailed Kevin, one of the Toronto Olympic Club coaches, who is trying to help me chase my dreams. "Without a doubt," I told him, "I have had the worst week of running that I've had in a long time."

This prompted me to really reflect on how I've been running for the past few months. In my eyes, it's been terrible. My pacing has been off, my weekly mileage is lower than I'd like it to be right now and, of course, I never seem to have enough time.

I wondered whether I just needed more time to get back on track after being off in the summer. No, that didn't make sense; it's been almost six months.

I thought that my two main running buddies' injuries which have kept them out of the running scene for several months might have been a factor. Possibly, but unlikely.

And I thought about my times. Ah Ha! That was it! It's been about time.

In my quest to run faster, I've lost perspective of what it takes to do just that. Somehow, I've been going out "hard" at the start of many, many runs and finished them feeling awful. I've started using my iPod for all of my long runs (over 10 miles) but, being a music person, my feet are picking up the beat and that is also messing up my pacing. So, I've made two little changes:

1. Get rid of the ipod. For my next long run, I'm going back to running without the tunes. Admittedly, I'm a bit worried about being with just my own thoughts again but, since I've only used my ipod for only 9 runs, it should be easy enough go old-school again.

2. Dump the watch. For every run this week, I haven't looked at my watch. I completely ignored the time I left the house, the time I got home, how fast my miles were....Instead, I ran by feel. Even on Wednesday's tempo and pick-ups, I didn't time myself (but I was really, really tempted to). And do you know what? I felt good - all week long.

In his reply, Kevin reminded me that I need my long run and my intervals. The runs in between should be easier. I hate easy.

But, like everything else in life, it all comes back to the pendulum. The ball swings from the easy side to the hard and back to the easy. Eventually, it will rest in the middle - exactly where it should be.

The Ultimate Power

Time. As runners, it is almost always about time. Do I have time to run? How fast was I? Did I set a new PB? How many more weeks?

I clearly remember my grade 10 English class in which Time was a common theme. "Time," Miss Box taught us, "has the ultimate power over man." Thirty years later, now more than ever, I clearly understand.

It's the powerful but gentle tick that has taught me to juggle work, family and running so delicately. Some weeks, I do a great job; others, something starts to fall.

Last week was one of those weeks. Work was hectic, family duties were demanding and my running suffered. But nothing feel to the ground.

Here I am - at the start of a new week: different goals, a fresh start. Time can't stop that.

It Takes a Community

"It takes a community to raise a child" but it also takes one to build a runner. After the past week, I'm lucky to have so many supports around me. Last week was evidence that my family and friends are completely behind my running goals.

On Wednesday, I run with TOC. Little Ironman was happy to see me head out the door because I was dropping off his library books on my run to the rec. centre; the rest of the house was happy to see me go because I was turning into a bear after being back at school for only 2 days.

Saturday morning, I led the 5K Clinic at The Running Company. Since I had to be there, getting out the door was easy. Then, even though I ran with the group, I headed out to do my own run after because I was already dressed to run.

The real proof, though, was on Sunday, when I had to find time to run 13 miles in an already packed day. My choices were to wake up early to run at 6:00 a.m. in dark streets and -15C temperatures or have Dave drive me to a noon appointment so that I could run home from there. Without hesitating, he agreed that I should do the early afternoon run and Skipper offerred to play with LI when Daddy was out. The family was on board.

And, to top this off, one of my Super Friends was also there to help. Katherine the Great took Skipper to Church at 8:30 on Sunday morning, which completely freed up my time so that I could crawl back into bed for some desperately needed sleep. And that I did - for two heavenly hours.

Today, my principal told me that how he excited he was to see me running when he drove past me on Sunday. Since he first started working at my school last March, he has supported my running and is incredibly excited that I'm going to Boston (and I can't wait for Running Skirts to unveil their green compression socks because he wants me to wear our school colours).

Ironically, I had very little contact with my biggest support group, my online running friends, because I was off the grid. I had to be as life got in the way - back to work, busy family, sick dog, fitness. Life is like that sometimes; you can't always do it all. Balance.

Last week was a test of my committment; I passed. More so, though, it was a chance for me to realize how lucky I am that I have support and so many people who believe in me and my chasing my dreams.

I Think I Did Something Good

On Friday night, I decided that it would probably be a good idea to check the BAA website to see if there were any updates about "The Weekend". Skipper walked in and peeked over my shoulder.

"Oh, is that the Boston site?" he asked - and quite rhetorically, I should add.
" Uh-huh. I'm just checking out the weekend's events. There's a 5K on the Sunday before the marathon."

One question led to another, we read through the 5K page, and finally he asked, "Mom, do you think I could run the 5K?"
I was shocked. Except for cross-country in the fall, Skipper has never really shown much of an interest in running himself.
"Well, you meet the age restrictions and we'd have to try to register you. If you want to do it, that's fine, but you have to train for it. You have 3 months and I can help."
The conversation ended and he went to bed.

This morning, two days later, Skipper came downstairs and asked for a drawstring bag.
"Why?"
"So that I can run home from Church. I'm going to train for the 5K in Boston."

And he did. Skipper packed athletic clothes, changed after the service and ran part of the way home - 0.6 miles.
Less than 5 minutes later, he walked in the door, grinning and cheeks rosey-red. And, like his mother, one of the first things he did was calculate his pace - 7:08 minutes per mile.

Tonight, just before bedtime, he checked tomorrow's forecast.
"Mom, it's going to be warm tomorrow. Can I run after school?"

Is this starting to sound like somebody you know? Without trying to, I think I've created a - gasp! - runner.

Getting Everyone Back on Board

Last Sunday night before dinner, I looked at Skipper and Little Ironman and told them that I was going to write out my running plans for the week for them - just so that they would know when I'd be gone.

Let's backtrack a little. In the fall, LI would ride his bike with me on many of my runs. The exception was my Wednesday night run with Shawn; LI knew that it was my running time and he was going to be home with Daddy and his big brother.

Sometime in November, LI started to get very upset whenever I went to pull on my running gear. He wanted to come with me - but couldn't. He would cry, "I wasn't expecting this!" or "Why didn't you tell me earlier you were going for a run?" My five year old was beginning to sound like my father. Of course, his tears only upset me before I headed out the door and that always seemed to impact my run.

During the holidays, I planned to help Skipper with his days of the week. He does know them but still gets mixed up when asked, "What comes after____?" Since he learns best when it's important or meaningful (as most kids do), we wrote the days of the week together and filled in Mom's Running Schedule.

"There," I said. "Now you know when I'm going to go out so you won't have to worry any more."

To which he replied, "Wait! Now I need to do my running schedule so that you know when I'm going to run."

And we left it on the kitchen table for the entire week. And guess what? When it was time for me to run, there were no tears - at all.

Tonight, LI told me that we have to do another schedule tomorrow.

"Great idea! We'll do that after I run."
Then Skipper added, "Uh, Mom, do you think you can send me a soft copy?"

I can do that - especially when everyone is back on board.

Finishing Dead Last

It has happened two weeks in a row now; I finished last in our tempo run.

In December, I started running with members of the Toronto Olympic Club. Week 1 was a disaster - completely humbling. I was way behind the others, which I expected, but it really brought me down emotionally and I was afraid to go out with them again.

Last week, during the first of my two weeks off, I was rested and feeling good so I decided to suck it up and head out with them again. We did a 5K tempo run (actually 3.19 miles if you want to be technical about the distance ) and, again, I finished last. And, once again, I felt defeated and deflated.

This Wednesday night, despite the previous runs, I was surprisingly excited about heading out with the TOC runners. Maybe it was because I had been with the boys for almost two full weeks and needed a bit of adult talk or, perhaps, I was becoming more comfortable with my spot and was developing the head space to fight a little harder to keep up.

As luck would have it, we ran the same route as last week - but in the opposite direction. I was glad because I timed last week's awful run (22:40) and knew that this week's could only be faster. But, this week's course meant running a hill for the third kilometre (yes, the entire kilometre) and it was much windier. I paced myself, felt strong (okay, so I gasped for air at the 4K point, but I was a lot more comfortable than last week), and I finished - you guessed it - dead last. But I was faster - by a whole 7 seconds. That's more than 1 second per kilometre in the wind and uphill.

Even though I'm at the back, I've been welcomed by this group of speedy runners, from 19 to 32 years. When I finished Wednesday's tempo, the youngest high 5'd me. That's all it took to make me feel accepted.

Next Wednesday, I'll be chasing them again.