Out the gym and onto Stuart Street, past the Park Plaza hotel, circle of the Common, the length of Beacon to Mass Ave, and around for the last .4 miles of the marathon route down a Boylston Street amazingly devoid of traffic for 8 p.m. on a Monday. I skipped the sidewalk dodging and ran down the middle of the road. For the first time ever, noticed the number "26" painted on the street in front of the Prudential Center. Crossed the finish line on the paint.
I felt good. The core stabilization training from physical therapy paid off in the power I felt through my thighs. My left ankle twinged for the first 5 minutes and some overworked quad muscles protested occasionally, but no groin pain. Orthotics seemed to do their job.
I was all ready to come in before work today and pen a thoughtful retrospective about what seems a very real return to running. Meanwhile, as I waited for my morning iced black-eye at Starbucks, our company president (K) and a woman (M, about my age) from our marketing department got in line behind me.
K is tall and lanky, good-natured, but occasionally hard to read .... as in when we converse he conveys a joking tone about things that are not jokes. He reached over for a shoulder hug and asked how I was doing, and if my manager was treating me right. And since I am known primarily in my office as the marathoner who bums donations for Children's Hospital, I knew what his next question would be.
"So, you been running?" he said.M did not offer any assistance here, smiling because she knew where this was going
"I haven't been," I replied. "Been having some hip issues ... but it's been improving so I'm starting up again."
"You should go for a run with M," he said, gesturing to our colleague.
"Oh, should I?"
"Really. Do you know why?"
"Do I want to know why?" I teased back. "I don't know if I do."
"Well you do realize that M is a long-distance runner. A marathoner, actually," he said. "You realize that she qualified and ran in the Olympic trials in 2004, and then ... M, you did the ones last year in Boston, too, right? And didn't you lead for awhile?"I had not realized this, not at all. M is so self-effacing that 14 months after the fact, I had no idea one of the top 150 female marathoners in the U.S. sat down the hall from me. Personal record of 2 hours 42 minutes. Walking back to work, she explained she had indeed run in the 2008 trials, even having taken 6 weeks off from work to train, but injured herself during the race and wasn't able to finish.
Meanwhile, I was going to come here to boast about my fabulous 3.57 miles in 32 minutes.
It's good for the ego to occasionally be humbled in such a fashion.
4 comments:
I know we Midwesterners are supposed to be self-effacing, but really. You had an enjoyable, mostly pain-free run after a period of rehab, and that seems like a victory to me; it should be an ego boost, your own personal best. Don't let others take away that pride!
The beauty of a running is the ability to measure yourself against yourself, hence the term PR. Few people have the ability to compete at the elite level, either from natural God-given talent or from a stubbornness to endure the disruptiveness to their personal life or the pain of training at that level. Does that mean you are less of a runner than someone who can maintain a 6:11 pace over 26.2 miles, or more of a runner than someone who needs a 13 minute pace to finish a marathon? It's about a commitment of training to your ability, a desire to put on your shoes and hit the road because that's what you do. Run for the joy of running, measure yourself against yourself, and remember to be thankful that you have a body that allows you to do this and live in a country that allows you as a woman to run outside at 8 PM on a Monday because that's what you want to do.
Here, Here Anonymous--very well said! I long gave up comparing myself to other runners. That doesn't mean I can't be challenged to run with someone who is faster than me, but it also means that I compete against myself. I have accepted the fact that I will never be a 6/min mile runner or even a 7/min mile runner for that matter---I am still a runner though!
Thanks for all the confidence votes.
My first reaction, actually, was that M has worked in my office for about a year (we don't work directly together)and I had not known this about her. So she obviously has not been talking it up. Which, for keeping up at that level of achievement, I greatly admire.
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