I am: a runner.
I spent plenty of time over the past three months training for the Boston Athletic Association's 2009 half-marathon, which I completed yesterday.
Somewhere along the training, right about when 2-3 miles felt like a really short distance to go, I was finally able to call myself a runner. I fought with this label for a long time. I don't have a runner's build; in fact, I'm far from it, as I'm basically short and a bit stocky, still with a fair amount of pudge in the midsection. But by running 15+ miles a week since August, I transformed my body, attitude, and, in a small sense, who I am.
In intermediate school, we had to complete the Presidential Fitness Challenge test (or whatever it was called). It included such gems as sit-ups, pull-ups, sit-and-reach, and... the one-mile run. I remember taking nearly 16 minutes to complete my run, finishing as the second-slowest kid in the class. For obvious reasons, I hated running. Even to this moment I don't know that I would say I love running. But it does good things for my mind and body, so I have slowly stepped it up.
When I returned to BU for my sophomore year, I signed up at the kung fu school I'd profiled for a journalism class the previous spring. I slowly became a bit more active. I gained quite a bit of weight in college, especially junior year when I was depressed after a bad relationship and breakup. But I started running short distances to supplement kung fu and, when it was completed, I started going to the Agganis fitness center on campus. In my first runs, I would take the C line to Coolidge Corner and run just one mile, downhill, back to Park Drive and Beacon Street. If I was feeling really brave, I'd run TO Coolidge Corner and try to run/walk back. And on the treadmill, I'm talking 10-minute miles or maybe 9:45.
I'm not sure what made me sign up to run a 5k in June 2008. Julia, Eli's sister, is my partner in crime for almost every race I've done. She's been running for years but that 5k was the first race either of us had ever run. I remember it being pretty hot and taking some lengthy walk breaks and generally not pacing myself well. Somehow, the following November, I ran a really solid 5k on a very hilly course as Julia attempted her first half-marathon.
With racing season over, I continued to run on the treadmill, my locale of choice, with very similar playlists each time. When I bought new running shoes at Marathon Sports during the winter, I decided to sign up for the Marathon Sports 5-Miler, scheduled for very early April. It would be the longest distance I'd ever run... so I started training on the treadmill to complete 5 miles. That race went very well, so the next goal was a 10k. It was super-hot (people came out of their homes with garden hoses and wet those of us who wanted to cool down!) and it took me FOREVER to complete the 6.2 mile course at the James Joyce Ramble in late April. On Memorial Day, Julia completed her second half marathon and I did another 5-miler. The 5 mile course at Boston's Run to Remember was something I loved--very urban, good spectators and stuff to look at.
I spent much of the summer just enjoying running outside. I plotted routes that involved the Charles, often running along Memorial Drive), or busy streets like Mass. Ave where there was a lot to see. I was doing 7-8 miles on my own now, with no pressure for time or distance. When Julia told me she was planning to do the BAA half marathon, I realized I probably could do it too. I quickly made the decision to sign up (registration closed in 25 hours!!) and found a training plan I could follow.
At first the training was pretty easy, 12 miles a week. This sounds like an impossible beginning point since the actual race course was longer than 12 miles, and yet it worked. For the next 12 weeks, I squeezed runs in during lunch time, before work, after work, and, sometimes, after a Kaplan class. I'm not going to lie--it was exhausting. But I realized I started to love the long runs more than the shorter ones. Truly, the first 2 miles were the hardest and just felt like a warm-up! I learned a bit about how long-distance runners work and how uncomfortable it can be to have to go to the bathroom for the majority of a long run. (May you never experience that!!) And I got to know a few routes really well, including Fresh Pond and some of the area surrounding it (Huron Avenue heading toward Belmont), Memorial Drive, and Mass. Ave. On Labor Day, as my confidence was wavering, Julia and I ran a 10k in Malden that I completed in just over 55 minutes, clocking in an 8:55 mile. This was by far the fastest I'd run on the road for that kind of distance. I think that all the outside running I had been doing all summer (combined with a running watch I purchased in the winter) really helped me learn how to pace myself. (Side note: I now hate running on the treadmill, whereas I used to hate running outside because it's harder on the shins/calves. I think this is part of my conversion to "runner" status.)
So, getting ready for the half. I had a great 8-mile run 3 weeks before, a solid 9-mile run 2 weeks before, and a crappy (but complete!) 10-mile run the week before. Just as I advise my students not to do too much test prep in the final week, for a big race you end up tapering your runs the week before. My final pre-race run, on Thursday morning, was just 2 miles! On Saturday, Eli accompanied me to Roberto Clemente Field to pick up my bib, D-tag (a plastic strip that has a computer chip; you loop it into your shoelaces for individual timing), and shirt. I listened to a course preview presentation, which was helpful and provided some good affirmation. I ate plenty of healthy (and not healthy) foods, since the race started at 8 am Sunday, and I honestly was most nervous that I wasn't able to go to the bathroom before the run. There were port-o-potties every 2 miles (near water stations) but I really didn't want to stop. The lines for the port-o-potties at the registration area were pretty long too, but we made it in. Without going into detail, I'll say that fortunately, everything ended up being okay with that whole situation.
I started my watch as soon as my foot crossed the timing mat. By Mile 1, I realized that I had started a full 3 minutes after the gun. That's what happens when there are nearly 4,000 runners doing a race with you! It was right about Mile 1.5 or 2 where I started to warm up... the first few miles were pretty shady, as they were along the Riverway and alongside Jamaica Pond. I ran the first 5 miles without a break, in 46:15. A solid 9:15, which was great given my goal was a very conservative 10-minute mile, about what I run on my worst days or in the hottest weather. Oh, it was right around the 4-mile mark for me, running along an overpass toward Franklin Park, where I saw the lead men returning. Yes, they are twice as fast as me, and no, I don't care!! Actually, this was a great moment because all the plebes and I started cheering for those lead runners. I wish they'd cheered back, but it was still exciting to think we are all in this together and we were all going to achieve this pretty awesome goal.
After a quick walk break, I picked up again. I caught sight of Julia at this weird loop inside Franklin Park but before the zoo. I had spotted her on a big downhill approaching Mile 4 but this time we were face to face. She was only 1-2 minutes ahead of me. Inside the Franklin Park Zoo, I had to stop to tie my shoe, but I quickly picked up again. At least I didn't make a pit stop in the zoo bathroom, like I saw some runners doing. Inside the zoo was both the course turnaround and a 10k checkpoint I didn't realize we'd be measured at. I hit that at 1:01:28, quite a bit slower than my 55:14 race from September, but hey, I wasn't even half done yet!
Leaving the zoo, I saw there were plenty of runners behind me. That, combined with when/where I saw Julia, who I know to be faster than me, led me to realize I was running a really strong race. I took another walk break around 1:10; I needed it, and besides, I was climbing that steep hill (where I'd seen Julia when we were going down it). I still got to Mile 8 somewhere around 1:17 or 1:18, which was still really good. This section of the race might've been my favorite. We didn't run on the Jamaicaway in the approach to Franklin Park but it was really pretty, nice houses to look at and a few people out to cheer. I did see one guy peeing on the side of the road, against a tree, which might have been in Franklin Park. That wasn't so nice, but it wasn't as bad as the dead squirrel on the road near the course end!
I carry water with me when I run and since race day is not a time to try new things, I had my 20-oz water bottle with me yesterday. At Mile 10 I opted to take a cup of water, not realizing I could've grabbed Gatorade (BOO). My goal was to have the bottle to get me through Miles 11 and 12, then junk the bottle for the final 1.1 miles. That's exactly what I did and I think it worked okay. The last 3 miles of the course, however, were by far the hardest. I feel like the first 9, maybe even 10, miles FLEW by. I couldn't believe I'd been running for an hour and a half! But those last 3.1 miles were hard. I took some overly generous walk breaks. Where I'd thought several times during the course, "I am really doing this. I am running HALF. A. MARATHON," by this point I couldn't wait to be done to say I had DONE it.
When I saw the marker for Mile 13, I started to think, oh man, 0.1 miles more. But then I immediately thought, "I've done this 130 times already. I can do one more!" I sprinted to the end and finished with a clock time of 2:07:37 and 2:04:35 on my watch. (It took 3 minutes to get to the start line.) My watch time was my official time. This means I ran 6.9 miles, more than half the race, in 1:03:07. Amazingly, that difficult second half was better than the first... Julia suspects the hills.
I was in a total daze at the end. It was a zoo after the finish but I put on my medal and after a shower, I wore my t-shirt for the rest of the afternoon, which I spent at the HONK! festival parade, at Oktoberfest in Harvard Square, enjoying a beer on my couch, and then taking a glorious nap. If baseball had gone the way I wanted, yesterday would have been the perfect day, but I digress. The point of this entry is to say that I AM A RUNNER and I have earned the right to call myself one.
Somewhere along the training, right about when 2-3 miles felt like a really short distance to go, I was finally able to call myself a runner. I fought with this label for a long time. I don't have a runner's build; in fact, I'm far from it, as I'm basically short and a bit stocky, still with a fair amount of pudge in the midsection. But by running 15+ miles a week since August, I transformed my body, attitude, and, in a small sense, who I am.
In intermediate school, we had to complete the Presidential Fitness Challenge test (or whatever it was called). It included such gems as sit-ups, pull-ups, sit-and-reach, and... the one-mile run. I remember taking nearly 16 minutes to complete my run, finishing as the second-slowest kid in the class. For obvious reasons, I hated running. Even to this moment I don't know that I would say I love running. But it does good things for my mind and body, so I have slowly stepped it up.
When I returned to BU for my sophomore year, I signed up at the kung fu school I'd profiled for a journalism class the previous spring. I slowly became a bit more active. I gained quite a bit of weight in college, especially junior year when I was depressed after a bad relationship and breakup. But I started running short distances to supplement kung fu and, when it was completed, I started going to the Agganis fitness center on campus. In my first runs, I would take the C line to Coolidge Corner and run just one mile, downhill, back to Park Drive and Beacon Street. If I was feeling really brave, I'd run TO Coolidge Corner and try to run/walk back. And on the treadmill, I'm talking 10-minute miles or maybe 9:45.
I'm not sure what made me sign up to run a 5k in June 2008. Julia, Eli's sister, is my partner in crime for almost every race I've done. She's been running for years but that 5k was the first race either of us had ever run. I remember it being pretty hot and taking some lengthy walk breaks and generally not pacing myself well. Somehow, the following November, I ran a really solid 5k on a very hilly course as Julia attempted her first half-marathon.
With racing season over, I continued to run on the treadmill, my locale of choice, with very similar playlists each time. When I bought new running shoes at Marathon Sports during the winter, I decided to sign up for the Marathon Sports 5-Miler, scheduled for very early April. It would be the longest distance I'd ever run... so I started training on the treadmill to complete 5 miles. That race went very well, so the next goal was a 10k. It was super-hot (people came out of their homes with garden hoses and wet those of us who wanted to cool down!) and it took me FOREVER to complete the 6.2 mile course at the James Joyce Ramble in late April. On Memorial Day, Julia completed her second half marathon and I did another 5-miler. The 5 mile course at Boston's Run to Remember was something I loved--very urban, good spectators and stuff to look at.
I spent much of the summer just enjoying running outside. I plotted routes that involved the Charles, often running along Memorial Drive), or busy streets like Mass. Ave where there was a lot to see. I was doing 7-8 miles on my own now, with no pressure for time or distance. When Julia told me she was planning to do the BAA half marathon, I realized I probably could do it too. I quickly made the decision to sign up (registration closed in 25 hours!!) and found a training plan I could follow.
At first the training was pretty easy, 12 miles a week. This sounds like an impossible beginning point since the actual race course was longer than 12 miles, and yet it worked. For the next 12 weeks, I squeezed runs in during lunch time, before work, after work, and, sometimes, after a Kaplan class. I'm not going to lie--it was exhausting. But I realized I started to love the long runs more than the shorter ones. Truly, the first 2 miles were the hardest and just felt like a warm-up! I learned a bit about how long-distance runners work and how uncomfortable it can be to have to go to the bathroom for the majority of a long run. (May you never experience that!!) And I got to know a few routes really well, including Fresh Pond and some of the area surrounding it (Huron Avenue heading toward Belmont), Memorial Drive, and Mass. Ave. On Labor Day, as my confidence was wavering, Julia and I ran a 10k in Malden that I completed in just over 55 minutes, clocking in an 8:55 mile. This was by far the fastest I'd run on the road for that kind of distance. I think that all the outside running I had been doing all summer (combined with a running watch I purchased in the winter) really helped me learn how to pace myself. (Side note: I now hate running on the treadmill, whereas I used to hate running outside because it's harder on the shins/calves. I think this is part of my conversion to "runner" status.)
So, getting ready for the half. I had a great 8-mile run 3 weeks before, a solid 9-mile run 2 weeks before, and a crappy (but complete!) 10-mile run the week before. Just as I advise my students not to do too much test prep in the final week, for a big race you end up tapering your runs the week before. My final pre-race run, on Thursday morning, was just 2 miles! On Saturday, Eli accompanied me to Roberto Clemente Field to pick up my bib, D-tag (a plastic strip that has a computer chip; you loop it into your shoelaces for individual timing), and shirt. I listened to a course preview presentation, which was helpful and provided some good affirmation. I ate plenty of healthy (and not healthy) foods, since the race started at 8 am Sunday, and I honestly was most nervous that I wasn't able to go to the bathroom before the run. There were port-o-potties every 2 miles (near water stations) but I really didn't want to stop. The lines for the port-o-potties at the registration area were pretty long too, but we made it in. Without going into detail, I'll say that fortunately, everything ended up being okay with that whole situation.
I started my watch as soon as my foot crossed the timing mat. By Mile 1, I realized that I had started a full 3 minutes after the gun. That's what happens when there are nearly 4,000 runners doing a race with you! It was right about Mile 1.5 or 2 where I started to warm up... the first few miles were pretty shady, as they were along the Riverway and alongside Jamaica Pond. I ran the first 5 miles without a break, in 46:15. A solid 9:15, which was great given my goal was a very conservative 10-minute mile, about what I run on my worst days or in the hottest weather. Oh, it was right around the 4-mile mark for me, running along an overpass toward Franklin Park, where I saw the lead men returning. Yes, they are twice as fast as me, and no, I don't care!! Actually, this was a great moment because all the plebes and I started cheering for those lead runners. I wish they'd cheered back, but it was still exciting to think we are all in this together and we were all going to achieve this pretty awesome goal.
After a quick walk break, I picked up again. I caught sight of Julia at this weird loop inside Franklin Park but before the zoo. I had spotted her on a big downhill approaching Mile 4 but this time we were face to face. She was only 1-2 minutes ahead of me. Inside the Franklin Park Zoo, I had to stop to tie my shoe, but I quickly picked up again. At least I didn't make a pit stop in the zoo bathroom, like I saw some runners doing. Inside the zoo was both the course turnaround and a 10k checkpoint I didn't realize we'd be measured at. I hit that at 1:01:28, quite a bit slower than my 55:14 race from September, but hey, I wasn't even half done yet!
Leaving the zoo, I saw there were plenty of runners behind me. That, combined with when/where I saw Julia, who I know to be faster than me, led me to realize I was running a really strong race. I took another walk break around 1:10; I needed it, and besides, I was climbing that steep hill (where I'd seen Julia when we were going down it). I still got to Mile 8 somewhere around 1:17 or 1:18, which was still really good. This section of the race might've been my favorite. We didn't run on the Jamaicaway in the approach to Franklin Park but it was really pretty, nice houses to look at and a few people out to cheer. I did see one guy peeing on the side of the road, against a tree, which might have been in Franklin Park. That wasn't so nice, but it wasn't as bad as the dead squirrel on the road near the course end!
I carry water with me when I run and since race day is not a time to try new things, I had my 20-oz water bottle with me yesterday. At Mile 10 I opted to take a cup of water, not realizing I could've grabbed Gatorade (BOO). My goal was to have the bottle to get me through Miles 11 and 12, then junk the bottle for the final 1.1 miles. That's exactly what I did and I think it worked okay. The last 3 miles of the course, however, were by far the hardest. I feel like the first 9, maybe even 10, miles FLEW by. I couldn't believe I'd been running for an hour and a half! But those last 3.1 miles were hard. I took some overly generous walk breaks. Where I'd thought several times during the course, "I am really doing this. I am running HALF. A. MARATHON," by this point I couldn't wait to be done to say I had DONE it.
When I saw the marker for Mile 13, I started to think, oh man, 0.1 miles more. But then I immediately thought, "I've done this 130 times already. I can do one more!" I sprinted to the end and finished with a clock time of 2:07:37 and 2:04:35 on my watch. (It took 3 minutes to get to the start line.) My watch time was my official time. This means I ran 6.9 miles, more than half the race, in 1:03:07. Amazingly, that difficult second half was better than the first... Julia suspects the hills.
I was in a total daze at the end. It was a zoo after the finish but I put on my medal and after a shower, I wore my t-shirt for the rest of the afternoon, which I spent at the HONK! festival parade, at Oktoberfest in Harvard Square, enjoying a beer on my couch, and then taking a glorious nap. If baseball had gone the way I wanted, yesterday would have been the perfect day, but I digress. The point of this entry is to say that I AM A RUNNER and I have earned the right to call myself one.