Autumn Marathon

Autumn Marathon - Part I

This blog was given its particular name for several reasons.  I have promised that I would write about all those reasons over time, but I can now reveal that the common themes are as follows: 1) it takes time, effort, and dedication to accomplish big goals; and 2) with focused effort, great achievements are within reach, but success is never taken for granted and also requires humility, luck and help from one’s friends.

In part, the title is literally about marathons, or at least about the sport of distance running.  I have been a runner since my teenage years, but my focus and dedication varied with a series of jobs that required extensive travel, with the demands of raising kids, and with the location where our family was living at a particular time.  Last summer, when I lost my job, I rededicated myself to the sport and set some goals for the fall running season.   Those goals were modest: to train steadily, to compete in the Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot, a 5-mile race in Brooklyn, and to be able to run that race in a respectable time.

Among other things, New York is a great city for runners.  A person has lots of company in one’s training, many parts of the city are pedestrian friendly, and the parks are well set up for training runs of varying distances.  It was fairly easy for me to build up to a steady 20 miles of running per week.  Not only did I enjoy the anonymous companionship of neighborhood runners, but David, one of my college friends and an accomplished masters runner himself, set aside time to run with me and to push me gently to faster pace and higher mileage.  My son, Max, in his freshman year of high school, decided to join the cross country team.  Though a dedicated athlete, I don’t think Max had ever run a distance greater than one mile before the season began.  This did not stop him from enjoying his coach and teammates, running some very impressive race times, and occasionally joining his Dad on a training run.

Max and David encouraged me to enter a couple of open cross-country races during the fall season.  Of all types of running, cross country is among the most aesthetically pleasing and the best exercise.  The combination of great scenery, soft running trails and steep hills make for an exhilarating combination.  My finish times were not impressive, but they did improve, were a great intermediate goal before the Turkey Trot, and were lots of fun.  As the weather grew colder and Thanksgiving approached, however, I started to doubt whether I could meet the informal goal I had set myself of running the 5-mile race in 40 minutes (or 8 minutes per mile).  My speedwork, though improving, was peaking at about 30-45 seconds slower than the goal pace.

On race day, I decided to go to the race relaxed and aimed to run hard the whole distance, but not to concern myself much with the finish time.   There was a big crowd (approximately 2000 entrants), so the start was predictably slow and I found myself passing the two-mile mark in a little over 17 minutes.  Staying relaxed, I then surprised myself and found another gear.  I was able to run the final three miles of the race in about 23:30.  Discounting the delay at the start, I am pleased to report that on Thanksgiving Day, I met my goal and crossed the finish line in just under 40 minutes.