Sunday Feb 21, 2010

Training Helpers

As I began my run this morning, I was thinking about so many things, but a couple minutes into it I here a runner approaching from behind. As she goes past at a nice comfortable pace was Lucy.

As we said hello to each other there was no way I was going to interrupt her run. Then I began to think back many years of how my circle of fellow runners helped my running and they didn't even know it. There were several but one comes to the front.

Back in my prime I lived on Ellenberger Parkway on the eastside, a great park to run and a pretty awesome runner lived down the street from me. Bill Gavaghan was a Olympic marathon trial qualifier and one of the top runners around. Bill was 2nd to Frank Shorter in the 1977 mini-marathon in 1:04. Remember, back then the mini was at the end of May and pretty hot.

Anyway on most Sundays a group of us would leave from the park , head downtown Indy via Michigan Ave , loop Monument Circle and head back on New York to the park.

After the loop of the circle, our jabbering suddenly stopped, the pace intensified and Bill began to pull away, heading east to the barn. None of us said wait , slow down , we just got into our own zone and spent the next 40 minutes running.

The goal was always to be able to see Bill before he entered the park, and that equaled and really good run.

So as Lucy went by me on this morning , that was that is what I thought of , run a pace that was within my fitness and make sure I could see her before she crossed 146th. I did, and at 146th I turned and headed back.

My pace was smooth and just like the old days Lucy, like Bill never knew they had helped my run, but they did. My smooth pace was at 7:00 out and 6:30 back and it felt very normal, very comfortable, Comfortably Numb. Great song and I fired it up on the way home in the car.

I am getting in better shape, without the pressure of racing, needing to finish at a certain spot in age group, just having fun. I still am targeting mostly trail runs this year , but running to have fun makes things better.

As I headed off to church, Steve's message was about your memory and remembering the past. WOW

I dropped off my Garmin to my buddy Doug, as his was stolen at yesterday's race and I don't use it daily like he does. His account of yesterday was very good!

It is great that I look forward to my run every day , and looking back on 47 years of my running gives me a lot to reminise about.