My running has taken a more serious nature as I signed up tor the Paavo Nurmi marathon. I did some searching in the Paavo website and found that there was also a half marathon. I found the map of the course then Lois and I took a ride to investigate the course. (Afterward I said to Lois, "I can do this!")
The course starts in Gile, Wisconsin and initiates one's legs with an approximately medium climb on otherwise busy Highway 77 past well-kept homes nestled in spruces and pines. There is a blacktop lane for runners and cyclists and the road surface integrity is excellent, as it is for the 13.1 miles.
I ran the course June 6, and made rookie mistakes, the first of which was to charge too fast up the hill until the turn at Highway C. My legs were warm but not burning. I stopped and consulted my Fitbit activity tracker. I thought I had run farther than the two miles indicated. My time wasn't too bad, at 20 minutes but I would regret this later.
Onward! My shoes slapped the pavement over hill and dale in a pastoral setting. I stopped regularly to consult Fitbit and I was on the pace that I desired. I ignored the article in Runner's World stating that first-timers should not have a time goal. Just finish the race. I've been running for five years. What do they know? My goal was 2:20.
Fatigue started in my calves after about an hour and I remembered that I hadn't slept well the last two nights. I slowed my pace to the beat of the song, Richard Cory, the ballad by Simon and Garfunkel about a much-envied rich man who had the world by the tail but went home one night and killed himself. I began to sing this out loud as well as I could, pausing as I ran past fishermen at the Gile Flowage.
At three-quarters of the County C stretch my legs began to ache seriously. I couldn't understand this since I had run 12.86 miles the previous Saturday. (I would research more on running marathons later and find out that I shouldn't run half-marathons in consecutive weeks.) I had also read that first-timers especially should intersperse intervals of walking. I was too bull-headed to heed any of this Runner's World crap.
At the somewhat residential stretch I knew Highway 51 wasn't far ahead but I was running out of gas. I started walking intervals at seven miles and I was mad at myself. What the hell is wrong? I can run this, I know I can!
Highway 51 afforded a downhill stretch so I ran (much slower than Richard Cory tempo) but when the road flattened out so did I and I was back to running-and-walking intervals but when traffic passed by I made sure I was running.
The intervals changed with more walking, less running and my legs were burning, my hip joints were killing me but I was determined to make this course. I have sisu as did Paavo Nurmi the great Finnish marathon runner who won nine marathons, (I think.) Fatigue and pain trumped my pride.
By the Gile Flowage I consulted Fitbit and my time was lousy. I was ashamed but I pressed onward. By now my pace was three-quarters walking. I had only two miles to the finish line.
I ran and walked several intervals and my upper back ached. I realized that I was out of gas a mile from my goal and I couldn't run any more so I walked on aching legs and hips. Cars sped past me and I wished I was sitting in one, headed for home.
Runner's World has great insight into running and I recalled a bit of training advice I had ignored: do easy runs, don't run hard at all two days before the race. On Thursday I intended to take an easy run, but the hills of Jessieville beckoned and I scaled and descended then ran up a long, hard grade, First National Street, thinking this would condition me for the hills in the half-marathon. I ignored expert advice.
I did finish the course but I won't disclose my time, but it was considerably longer than the two hours it to me to run a week ago. I started to realize that running wasn't all legwork. Strategy must be deployed, such as taking it easy at the start, the two- mile hill. I've got to listen to what my body is telling me, not the vanity.
I had read expert advice and ignored it. The book of Proverbs says, "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes." It also says "Pride comes before a fall."
This week I stuck by my training plan, running easy for three or four miles Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and not running Friday. I researched the benefits of slow runs. I also found that muscular micro-tears from the 13.1-mile venture needed to heal.
Today will be a six-miler and the pace will not be Richard Cory but Tuxedo Junction, composed by Glenn Miller (1930s) and there will be slower intervals in hilly terrain, Stuck in the Middle With You (The Steeler's Wheel) will be playing in my mind.
My goal for the race has changed; just finish it.
