Having returned to running, albeit slowly, I decided to register for the 1-mile race at the All-Comers' meet, sponsored by the Atlanta Track Club. It was mostly to keep up my streak with the Grand Prix events - and I'll get a T-shirt in December if I complete all 11 events this year! Also it was nice to catch up with other Atlanta Track Club members, including Carol Gsell from runningnerds and recent Boston Sleetstorm Marathon finisher, Tommy Daniels who I met last fall at the Boston Half Marathon, Colleen Curran from the Spring 2018 marathon training program, Dung and Kathy Nguyen, who are both on impressive multi-year streaks of completing all Grand Prix events, and speedster Kathy Wiegand, who is always in the mix among the fastest women masters runners.
When I registered a few weeks ago, I entered a projected time of 9:00 minutes. If I had been healthy, a 7:00 minute finish would have been realistic, but right now, the 9 minute projection was overly optimistic. On Sunday, Bonnie and I took a walk on the Eastside Beltline, and I decided to try running one mile to see how I might do: the answer was 9:55. When the schedule of heats was published on the morning of the meet, I was relieved to see that I was in the final men's heat, so there would be no pressure. My goal was simply to finish 4 laps at an easy, consistent pace, without too much pain.
Before the 1-mile competition, a small group of elite runners competed in an 800 meter race. The men went first, with the winner finishing in 1:47, followed by the women, completing two laps in just over 2:00.
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| Photo from the back stretch of the second lap: The men's race was won by a fraction of a second. Look at that gigantic check! |
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| The lead women were even as they entered the final straightaway. But one had a bigger kick than the other in the final 50 meters. Nonetheless they were both literally flying into the finish! |
While waiting for my assigned heat to begin, I had plenty of time to warm up, with dynamic stretching alternating with easy jogs across the field, including crossing the field to take the photos posted above. My legs felt OK, so at least I could run this evening. As we lined up for our heat, I reminded myself: just run easy, run at a comfortable pace, run with good form and without limping, don't look at my watch. It will be a very good run if I can complete each lap between 2:15 and 2:30.
Wearing #4, I was lined up near the inside of the field. The starter called out "Take your mark!" I started my watch, and with the report of the starter's gun, we began running. Most of the other runners quickly moved ahead of me. No problem, I felt comfortable heading around the first curve, taking an easy pace. At 200 meters I restrained myself from looking at my watch, and just kept running steadily. On the second straightaway, I caught sight of the clock, well under 2 minutes! To my immense surprise, I finished the first lap in 1:53. So much for running conservatively! Colleen Curran was cheering as I passed, probably surprised, after I had insisted that I would be happy to break 10 minutes, 2:30 per lap.
On the second lap, I began to pass a few people. I started to notice my breathing, wondering how much my conditioning might have dropped during the running hiatus, but felt good as long as I maintained a six-step breathing cycle: three steps breathe in, three steps breathe out. Still passing people, I crossed the lap marker at 3:46 elapsed! So exciting to maintain a sub-8 minute pace - and there wasn't much pain, as I began the third lap!
Maybe the two Advils that I popped a couple of hours ago were kicking in! Or maybe running on the completely flat track didn't put much strain on my injured quadriceps. Then I saw Dung Nguyen just in front of me. He had been well ahead shortly after the start. I was going to hide behind his shoulder, but on the back stretch found myself drawing even with him. I think Dung was surprised to see me, given my insistence that I was recovering from injury. I gasped "This is going better than expected!" Dung said "Go ahead" and while I had just intended to run even with him for the rest of the lap, I think he may have slowed a bit, as I pulled ahead. 5:47 elapsed on the third lap: I heard Colleen cheering again as I passed.
Now it was HAMMER TIME! (What injury?) I accelerated as I began the final lap, almost out of breath, yet confident that I wouldn't bonk in the final 400 meters. I was lapping a few of the slower runners - remarkable, I had expected to be lapped before we began the heat. I heard footsteps immediately behind me on the back straightaway and just kept pushing myself, thinking "Try not to let up, or they WILL pass." As I came off the last curve, I saw 7:15 on the clock. I could hardly believe it! On the final straightaway, a young man wearing a black shirt rocketed past me. No worries, I was so happy that I was running well. Then Dung passed me, more gradually but definitively. Dung is just a couple of years younger, so I tried to find a higher gear, but ran out of track. I wasn't mentally prepared to make a hard push at the end, and I may have been physically incapable of it, but was still delighted to cross the finish line at 7:36.30 (official time). Unfortunately I accidentally bumped an older fellow at that moment - oh no, that was Phil Limonciello that I bumped as I essentially lapped him at the finish line, so sorry Phil! He's in the 75-79 age group, although he looks a decade younger, and is still running well. Fortunately neither of us fell.
I congratulated the young man and Dung for their strong finishes, then stepped into the infield. I needed a moment to catch my breath, but I was so happy to have run so well. When Phil finished a couple of minutes later, I apologized for bumping him. He was really gracious about it, knowing that it was an accident. I mentioned to Kathy Nguyen afterwards that I was concerned that my physical therapist might not be happy that I had run that fast, but she said "I think that he would call that a win!" She was right, the goal of physical therapy is to get people back on track with their normal activities.
I'm not yet all the way back, but a month ago, I couldn't run at all. And I'm motivated to keep up with the exercises, as they have really helped!
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