Chapter 2: Running Patience
Breaking 100-miles
Week two went by in a blur with moments of clarity that brought the important things into focus. Overall I logged nine runs covering a total of 31.24 miles resulting in breaking the 100-miles per month mark, something I haven’t done since March. It became clear during Week 2 that running was the easy part of training. The hardest part of running this many miles is time-management, expectation management, planning and execution of the plan. Then on top of all that being flexible enough to deal with life emergencies, like when my son broke his arm this week.
It was part luck and part dedication to strength training that saved my sons arm. He crashed on his mountain bike pretty hard but avoided any serious injuries that would require surgery or a hard-cast. He’s put on 25lbs of muscle over the past 8 months and has bulked up his shoulders and arms, which prevented further injury beyond his radial crown fracture.
The training this week started on the treadmill due to bad weather and ended with an incredible outdoor run on the trails with friends. I conducted a track workout at the center of the military universe and another four runs with my run club, all while commuting over 400miles this week for work.
Despite the constant on-the-go feeling this week, the highlight was a Run Club Lake Day social where we got to spend a few hours on the lake with Paddle Boards, Kayaks, Tubes and BBQ.
Monday: 7.22.2024 (Day 8 of 118): Treadmill Miles at the YMCA
“Never miss a Monday” was the mantra that bounced around in my head throughout the day. I was out the door early to the jobsite and arrived home later in the evening. All day long I kept a close eye on the weather and the rain was relentless. The weather app projected rain well into the evening. I’m not opposed to running in the rain, especially these summertime warm showers, however I generally avoid running in Lightning.
Despite dumping inches of rain on us, those lofty clouds above who float so effortlessly somehow still kept dumping rain for another few hours. I’m always amazed at how heavy water is when I’m carrying a case of water into the house, yet amazingly the floating mosaic above me can carry over 1-million pounds of water.
With discipline driving me to the YMCA and the relentless inner voice demanding that I never miss a Monday, I found myself on the treadmill with headphones in for my 4-mile easy run. It wasn’t fun, it wasn’t sexy or entertaining. It was a 4-mile grind.
4.0 Miles | Avg Pace: 10’27” | Avg HR: 132 | Best Mile: 10’16” | Feeling: Determined
Tuesday: 7.23.2024 (Day 9 of 118): Avoiding Lightning with CAR
Southern summer weather patterns are predictable and with predictability people can easily make adjustments and manage expectations. The basic weather pattern starts with an early morning temperature around 72F with 85% humidity. Both of those will rise throughout the day until it peaks around 3pm with a Real Feel over 100F. The Humidity and heat finally give way to an evening thunderstorm, sometimes with the intensity worthy of a cameo in the new Twisters movie.
This Tuesday seemed to fall into pattern by design.
Before the group photo I went and got a 1-mile warmup run in because I had 4-miles on the day and my spidey-senses were telling me I wouldn’t get this done if I started at 6:30pm.
After the group photo, all the runners take off. The majority of runners took the normal 5K route, in the direction of apocalyptic black clouds and impending rain. We had a few new runners trying to talk themselves out the run because of the possible rain. I convinced them otherwise.
“The only run you’ll regret is the one you didn’t do”
Funny enough, they went towards the rain clouds and I turned my back to them and ran another stage of the Tour de Clayton. I was literally running on the edge of the storm. Behind me was clearly a torrential rain storm being held back by the thinnest of silver linings of the cloud and in front of me the sun was shining through broken clouds.
About 1-mile into my run Kevin joined me pushing along his daughter after initially going towards the rain. He said the sky started to open up so he turned around and went in my direction. Literally we were on the edge of storm, just a half a mile of distance meant you were either running towards the sun or getting rained on.
Kevin and I finished the 3-mile run without one drop of water hitting us! We arrived back to the restaurant and within 15 minutes the sky opened up! The ferocity of the storm seemed like it was being directed by Steven Spielberg. Lightning hitting all around us and the rain so thick you couldn’t see across the street.
Then before we knew it, it was over.
Wash, rinse, repeat. It’ll happen again this week.
3.01 Miles | Avg Pace: 9’57” | Avg HR: 147 | Best Mile: 9’22” | Feeling: Dry
Wednesday: 7.24.2024 (Day 10 of 118): Wednesday 5K with CAR
Wednesdays are my regularly scheduled running day. The family already knows, if it’s Wednesday, then I’m going to run my 5K.
Today was no different and after a long day of work I crossed paths with Elizabeth as she was pulling into the house, gave her a quick kiss and off I went to run club. I can’t stress enough how important it is to have a spouse / partner who is supportive of your running goals, especially when training for The Marathon.
Besides the heat, there was nothing too exciting about this run. It was my usual out and back route where I got most of it in with Dave. The conversation flowed easy and it was exciting to hear about his upcoming 7-hr ultra race in Virginia he was preparing for. Without even noticing we were reaching the end and the conversation continued on the back porch of Fare Game.
3.13 Miles | Avg Pace: 11’00” | Avg HR: 133 | Best Mile: 10’37 “ | Feeling: Thankful for friends.
Thursday: 7.25.2024 (Day 11 of 118): 5-miler with CAR
I’m not a great runner, but let me tell you about my friend Leah.
She’s a consistent runner who is now a staple regular at our Thursday runs. She’s usually a back-of-the-pack runner but that doesn’t deter her from consistently showing up and putting in the effort. Her consistency is contagious.
Last weekend on our FAR run in the club, we linked up on the return trip and she set a new 10K PR! It was great to be able to run with her on this personal record event.
Today I knew I was going to do 5-miles and I’ve had previous conversations with Leah about her completing the Deep River 5-mile route, something she’s never done. My only advice to her was to wait until the first “cool” evening in September / October and then just pull the trigger.
Needless to say, she didn’t heed my advice.
On this evening’s run, three of us found ourselves running together after the first mile. Anthony, Leah and myself. My friend Anthony is on a run streak who will be hitting 1-year soon enough and is training for his first Ultra. Then there’s myself training for the upcoming November Marathon.
At the turn for the 5K route, both Tony and I asked if Leah was doing the full 5 mile with us or turning back. With a simple shrug and a “Sure, I’ll go 5-miles I guess”, we kept on going!
I knew she could get the DR 5-miler done as we did a 10K just the weekend before. To me this was just a mental hurdle to navigate, physically she could easily get this done. She brought up a great point during the run, when you only do a 5K you can get back to the brewery sooner and get a cold beer in hand. Funny, because in my mind I thought, “The faster you go on the 5-miler, the earlier you can get a beer”.
The three of us stayed together and slogged through the 5-mile course at a conversational pace. It was a good run and once again I found myself running with two great people who consistently put in effort.
5.00 Miles | Avg Pace: 11’04” | Avg HR: 132 | Best Mile: 10’28 “ | Feeling: Lucky to be here.
Friday: 7.26.2024 (Day 12 of 118): Hedrick Stadium
It was a track workout and I was excited to be working on Fort Bragg (Liberty-biberty), so I knew exactly where to go. I’ve been running this track and stairs for 25 years and it felt very familiar and nostalgic to be back.
The workout was a 1-mile warmup then 4x 2min at 7’55” w/2min jog recovery and a 1.5mile cool down.
I’m not sure if it was being at the stadium or the amount of water I drank, but I felt great. Not even the 100% humidity could keep me down as I started my training.
The training was great and it felt good to be passing up active duty Paratroopers. I have no illusions, these young men could bury me if they wanted, it just felt good to pass them a few times on the track.
So, what really happened?
1-mile Warmup: 10’15”
2-minute efforts: 7’33” / 8’02” / 7’38” / 7’48”
1.5 mile Cooldown: 9’30”
Saturday: 7.27.2024 (Day 13 of 118): CAR Lake Day
Saturday was a ZERO day. However I did get in some floating and Stand Up Paddleboarding. It was a great day.
Sunday: 7.28.2024 (Day 14 of 118): 3 Runs totaling 11+ miles.
When the day started I had a planned 11-mile Long Run as prescribed by my coach, but I also had to get 3 stages of the Tour de Clayton completed. It was clear that it’d all work out, I could complete the 3 stages and end up with over 11-miles on the morning.
Run #1:
The morning kicked off at 7am with a 3.7mile trail run with friends. All of our GPS watches seem to have issues in the woods and paces and distances vary, sometimes by up to 0.25mi or more. The trails are marked and we knew exactly where we needed to go.
The group let me set the lead pace for the first 1.5 miles or so before I passed it on to those behind me. It was good to be up front and setting the pace, in those moments I get flashbacks of being a Platoon Sergeant in the Army and leading my Platoon on a run through Area-J. I really need to fight the urge to just start burying people, picking up the pace until I can no longer hear them breathing behind me because they’ve fallen out. No, these are civilian sand my friends. I’m not training Paratroopers to go to war. The reality is, even if I wanted to do that, I couldn’t. These people are incredible runners.
The run was absolutely incredible with a cool start at 65F and the sun blocked out by the overhead canopy. The humidity was ever-present but running in the shadows with friends was so great that the humidity has little to no effect.
3.70 Miles | Avg Pace: 11’17” | Avg HR: 130 | Best Mile: 10’41 “ | Feeling: Free.
Run #2:
Following the trail run we made the 10 minute drive to the next stage of the Tour de Clayton. A very hilly, 4.3 mile route from the YMCA that ended with a loop around the pond.
The heat was cranking up and this run would prove difficult with 351ft of elevation gain. We pushed through and kept the pace but inside I was thrashed. My legs were smoked and the heat was getting to me. I knew I could finish the run, but I was feeling like tapping out on the 3rd run and just completing it the next morning.
4.31 Miles | Avg Pace: 10’21” | Avg HR: 139 | Best Mile: 9’46” | Feeling: Fatigued.
Run #3:
I was about to tap out after Run #2. I was walking back to the Jeep when Robert and Jon were having a conversation about going on to the next stage. The next stage was a killer. Multiple steep hills with 312ft elevation gain in 3.3 miles. Little to no shade and the sun was already high in the sky.
Carlos agreed with me, running this stage may be better in the morning. At this point we’d already run 8.01 miles and dehydration was setting in.
Unfortunately as Robert and Jon were discussing it, I felt a need to finish this trifecta with the group. “Fuck it”, that was my gameplan. I can run another 5K. Carlos agreed and the four of us moved on to the final stage of the day.
“What’s another 5K anyway?” - Robert
So we made another 10 minute drive to our next location and got it started.
It was exactly like I knew it would be. Steep, hot and short. I got it done and was grateful to be out there with 3 other men who have a shared interest in being better runners and taking on challenges knowing that getting through discomfort leads to growth.
3.30 Miles | Avg Pace: 11’12” | Avg HR: 141 | Best Mile: 10’29” | Feeling: Capable
The Three runs on Sunday culminated in me breaking 100-miles on the month. I haven’t done this since March of this year. It felt great to be back to consistent running and having these last two weeks of Marathon training providing structure and a path forward to accomplishing my goals.
It was an incredibly busy week with work, traveling, planning and on top of that all my son broke his arm which required my attention. Have I mentioned that my wife and I also own and run a small business? It was an incredibly busy week but the miles were completed and training continues.