Running is about the most individual sport I can imagine. The only one who is going to make you go faster, or slower, is you. The only one who can put aside the pains in order to surge late in a race is you. And in racing, success is all relative to your goals. Whether you are trying to break 15, 20, or 30 minutes in a 5k, only you will be satisfied or otherwise with the result.
About the only time teamwork comes into play in running is in cross country, when you often see a pack or runners from one team trying to stay together to keep the slower runners from falling back. I suppose occasionally you see that dynamic in track as well as a couple runners from one team will try to run up front and control the pace to fend off a others. But you rarely see that in local road races. That's why the situation I found myself in last week was so unusual.
The race was the Jim Gibbons 5k, a race that started 16 years ago to honor the former channel 7 reporter who
died of leukemia. It raises funds for the the Leukemia Research Society, and it's always been a high priority of mine to participate in, given that I filled Jim's position at channel 7 after his death.
I have run some pretty good races over the years in this event as well as some pretty mediocre ones. But this year I was focused on a specific goal. I wanted to comfortably break 20 minutes. And, as it turned out, the running Gods offered me some help. A couple weeks before the race, a friend who writes for Competitor magazine, Danny Smith, emailed me offering to run together and push each other to that 20 minute goal. Then, at the starting line, Danny and I ran into my friend Stephanie Wagner, a really strong runner I sometimes train with as part of the Elmhurst running club. Stephanie was planning to run the race as a tempo workout, and wanted to maintain about 6:20-6:30 pace.
So I was set. Danny and I basically had a pacer in Stephanie, and we could encourage each other to stick close. And that's pretty much the way the race played out. Once we got going a bit we realized there were no mile markers on the course, but we felt pretty confident in our pace regardless. Danny ran easily the whole way, offering encouragement, and making sure we stuck close to Stephanie. I joked that she is like a metronome, with her pacing pretty exact.
We hung behind her until about the last half mile when we began to surge past her. Had she been racing, I'm sure she wouldn't have allowed us to do that so easily. But we picked up the pace just enough to pass a few people in front of us, including, as it turned out, the second overall female finisher.
When we crossed the line, I felt like I had given pretty much all I had, and fortunately, that was enough to meet my goal. Danny and I both ran 19:51
, and finished in the top 25 overall for the race. Because I'm quite a bit older that him, I managed to take 3rd place in my age group. I don't generally put much stock in age group awards, because those are really just a function of who shows up to race on a given day, but I do enjoy collecting medals from this race given my attachment to it.
Stephanie was surprised to learn she finished as the third female overall at 20:00 even. She even got a small cash prize. That had her thinking about how close she was to second place, but she followed her workout goal, and has no reason for regret.
In any case, I hope Danny and Stephanie got as much out of the race as I did. We had nothing to gain as a team per se, but teamwork really can push you to run through the tough spots and inspire you to get the most out of your ability on a given day.
See you on the roads.......
Comments