My history with running is long and distinguished. My early attempts were in preparation for the Army’s Basic Training. Once I worked for our Uncle Sam, I did lots of running but not what you would consider athletic running. When you’re wearing combat boots and carrying a rifle, it’s just different. However, upon completion of training, Army running became slightly more traditional as part of daily PT (physical training). I was never particularly good at it, and knowing my personality, the forced aspect of it was a major factor. The annual PT Test included a 2-mile run and for my age, I had to come in under 16 minutes, i.e. running 8:00 miles. It was always a struggle.
Upon exiting the services of the government, I decided I wanted to do something unique and I thought about running a marathon until I saw a commercial for something called a Sprint Triathlon. I was immediately enthralled–triathlon wasn’t the well known and popular sport it is today back in 1992–and began training in earnest. The only problem was, I couldn’t swim. I tried for a year, but could never get to the point where I knew I could finish the 1/4 mile open water swim without having to break my freestyle stroke. My cycling and running however took off.
Using a training program written by Ironman Triathlon legend Dave Scott, my peak running performance was a 6:30/mile for a test 10K run. I almost don’t believe it myself, but I was there. Eventually I gave up on triathlon, briefly considered a Duathlon (run/bike/run) but they are significantly less popular, and therefore hard to find, so I hung up my gear and never competed.
In 2009, my wife at the time decided to run Charleston’s Cooper River Bridge run, a popular annual 10K road race across the Ravenel Bridge. I said I would accompany her and for the first time in years, laced up some running shoes and hit the streets. However, I was coming off my first Powerlifting competition in 2008 and was quite plump. I had dropped some weight since the competition, but was still over 200 lbs so I was really pounding the pavement. I managed to complete the race without walking, which was my only goal, and finished in 1:09, about 6 minutes behind the Mrs. After the experience, I toyed around with trying Triathlon training again, and actually went to a local pool on my lunch hour a few times, but was soon exasperated by my lack of aquatic skills and gave it up.
Fast forward to the present day and my daughter had told me a few times over the last year or so, that she was playing around with running. I figured she’d get over it and didn’t pay it much mind until she sent me a picture of her smartwatch after a particular run and it showed 10.03. At first glance I thought she had run a 10:03 minute mile. Upon closer inspection, I saw that the 10 was the mileage she had run. 10 miles?! I guess she didn’t just go for a few jogs and get over it, she was training for a half marathon and had already run longer than I’d ever run before (my longest was an 8-miler). She completed the Savannah Women’s Half Marathon and inspired me to once again lace them up and hit the street. Fortunately, I currently weigh under 165 lbs so I’m a much lighter version of the man who last chose to run competitively. I am hopeful that this, along with the significant amount of low intensity aerobic work I did for 9 months as a USPS substitute mail carrier, will start me off on good footing.
I’ve got a week of Couch to 5K training under my belt so far, and I feel good, excited to be training for something again after saying goodbye to Powerlifting. I broke out an old heart rate training book I bought many years ago and poured through it to plan my training intelligently. I’m no spring chicken, so my health is a top priority over performance. I still want to run well of course, and I’m confident I will, but I won’t leave it to chance. I love gadgets, so I bought a nice Garmin running watch and a heart rate strap. I still need to get some proper shoes as I’m running with some basic ASICS I bought a few years ago just for wearing around town. They’re essentially new, so they’re fine, but I want someone knowledgeable to look at my feet, my gait, all that stuff, and set me up with the right shoes for me specifically. I plan to do that this week.
So here we go Faithful Readers. There are lots and lots of races around Charleston so once I’m ready, I will sign up and quickly do one to get the nerves out of the way. There’s a father/daughter race in our future, which is only fitting since it was her inspiration that set me off on the path once again.
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