I've managed to complete an entire month of training and have started (once again) seeing the results of that training. In the meantime, I've also started creating photobooks of my training/racing from the beginning of my journey (Sept 09) until now, so I've been reliving what periods of training and lack of training do to my performance. It all just serves to keep me hitting my workouts when I ultimately am feeling lazy. But what keeps those training runs interesting isn't always knowing the results that will come down the road, typically it's just flat out competition. Sometimes competition with myself...how many pink smiley faces will I be able to get in my log vs. how many blue frowns will I have? And sometimes it's competition with others during a race...can I keep up with that runner? Can I pass that one? And every once in a while, it's just a good ole fashion competition/foot race during the training run! This was the case on a recent 4 miler...as the weather is getting cooler more and more folks are hitting the road to train. I parked in my usual spot for 3-4 miles and hopped out, totally not feeling a run, but determined to put in 4 easy miles so I could check the workout off in my log. I immediately realized I'd forgotten my headphones...oh well, find a satellite, start the Garmin, go. Goal pace for the run was 10:30mm, nice and easy, course was rolling hills, nothing crazy.
About a half mile in I'm descending a decent hill knowing that I will soon be hanging a left and beginning the biggest climb of the course. Looking ahead of me I see another runner approaching and silently hope he keeps heading straight and doesn't make the same turn. I'm pretty sure I see a look on his face that is also hopeful we aren't going for the same turn/hill. He looks fairly fit, I'm feeling fairly weak. We approach the turn at the exact same time and both angle onto the road and begin our climb. I feel myself pushing it harder than I typically would and try to reel myself in...I know it's just a competitive drive and I'm not wanting him to 'beat' me up the hill...but I also know I shouldn't push too hard because this particular hill tends to drag on forever. I can feel him trying to surge, and my pace immediately picks back up. I realize I'm not going to be able to fight the urge to beat him so I focus on fighting the urge to cream him....I'll just stay slightly ahead and not go all out and kill myself...that said I keep my steps short and light and my breathing slow and controlled as I power up the incline. By the halfway point I'm no longer feeling him on my shoulder. By the top of the hill I'm SOOOOOO tempted to glance back and see just what the gap is, but I don't...no need to rub salt in the wound..and at this point it wouldn't really matter if it were 2 steps or 20 yards, I beat him. :) As we approach the main road I use the opportunity to glance over my shoulder (checking for oncoming traffic of course!) and see that the gap is only about 15 yards...I also see that he is turning in the opposite direction...defeated by a chick! Oops....reel in that competitive nature and keep going...I've got 3 miles left!
As I tick off another half mile or so I see another runner approaching...I focus in to see if it's the same guy...nope, someone new. As we head towards each other we both pick up our pace a little....we're going in opposite directions, but we don't want to be seen as 'slow'. We nod and semi-grunt a greeting as we pass...and both register we're at about the halfway point of this particular loop of the neighborhood going in opposite directions. I know my thoughts went to getting to the other side of the neighborhood and past the halfway point there before he could and I'm pretty sure I saw the same look cross his face. The race was on. I pushed it up the next small hill, cranked it out on the descent, and went hard through the 2nd biggest climb of the course, knowing that he only had 1 slight uphill on his half of the course and determined not to let these hills let him beat me. As I pushed past the halfway point, trying to slow my breathing and look relaxed, I saw him rounding the corner. I made a right to head back to the big hill knowing that he'd spotted me and satisfied that he knew I'd finished .9 miles of hills in comparison to his .6 miles of semi-flat.
As I approached the hill I'd overtaken my initial victim on I was scanning the area for new blood...nobody. As I wound back to the neighborhood loop I again scanned for another runner...nothing. In the distance I saw someone walking a dog. I'd passed them during my last push to beat neighborhood guy. They were walking, not much competition...just as I thought it, she started jogging! She kept running and I kept closing the gap. Just as I approached I suddenly realized this was pretty stupid...that dog was pretty big and I was running up behind it fairly quietly...I did NOT want to surprise it! I tapered off a little, and as if reading my thoughts the dog turned and lunged in my direction. There was still plenty of space and the owner held the leash tightly and stepped to the other side of the road. I didn't slow my pace and passed quickly, and kept running...noting not to let my competitive nature be the end of my training!
I secretly wondered if neighborhood man was doing multiple loops and if I'd pass him again along the way. I quickly realized it was nearly dark and I was the last fool on the road, so I switched the competition to personal, push the pace through the last half mile and climbed the hill to the end, trying to beat my intended pace of 10:30mm. I finished 4.25 miles in 42:29...yep...beat my pace and my distance!
I'm not a fast runner...never have claimed to be...I know I won't likely ever pull an age group award, but if you happen to be running in the neighborhood when I'm out there...there's a chance I'm going to engage in a foot race...even if I don't mean to. And I'm pretty sure you're gonna accept the unspoken challenge...maybe we weren't really feeling the run when we started, but it'll certainly be powered by competition and we'll both knock out a great training run.
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