I am not a super fast racer. I have had some success in racing, and seen tremendous improvement over the last 7 years since I started. But the statistics speak for themselves: although I've taken an hour off my marathon time from my first race in 2007, it took 12 tries to do that, and that was 2 years ago. My marathon average time is 4:37. While I set a new 10k PR this year, and finally finished sub-50 minutes, the last time I PRd at that distance was in 2009. And my last 5k PR was 9 5ks ago.
But that's okay--I have a plan. I'll get to that in a minute. Right now I want to get back to why I'm on the race team. I think a very important quality those of us on the team have to show, apart from being a fast racer, is being an ambassador of the sport and, more importantly, the Runners Roost brand. Since I'm not an age group winner like so many more on the team, I believe this is the area where I have a responsibility to excel. To a certain degree, this is easy: to be a good ambassador of running, all I have to do is go to races and have a positive attitude. No problem; I do that anyway. And, by running races in multiple states to fulfill my 50 in 50 goal, I'm doing my humble part to gain the brand national exposure (to the extent that racers and spectators can see where I'm from and who my sponsor is when I wear the Roost kit on the course). But that's, like, the bare minimum I can do. And I try to do more.
I am an enthusiastic supporter of running, and of other runners. I make it a point to acknowledge and congratulate success--not just when my teammates place in their age groups (or overall) in races, which happens a lot; but also when I meet folks who are running their first race at any distance, or placing in their age group for the first time, or even running their longest distance ever in a long training run. Because each one of those is an accomplishment and deserves to be recognized.
Make no mistake: I am not one of those "everybody deserves a medal just for showing up!" types. The racers who finish first deserve their awards: they worked hard for them, they trained relentlessly, and they ran faster than everybody else. I don't consider them at the same level as someone who's training for his or her first 5k. They are to be respected and admired, and serve as an inspiration, something the rest of us can aspire to. But "the rest of us" deserve respect and admiration, as well. Every runner who makes it to the finish line of a marathon is a winner (except in the sense that there can really be only one actual winner, and that's the person who crossed the finish line first). As the tshirt says, "No matter how slow you are, you're still lapping everybody sitting on the couch."
So that's where I stand. That's why I see my chief duty as a member of the Runners Roost team to be a cheerleader, a supporter, and a booster. I know there are a lot of people faster and stronger than me, and I want to support them and laud them and congratulate them on their successes. And I know there are others who are slower, or are just starting out, and they deserve support and encouragement. They have, to paraphrase Obi Wan Kenobi, "taken their first steps into a larger world."* And with support and encouragement, they will continue to push themselves to succeed and excel.
And now, a word as to my own plan for 2014. I'd really like to set some more PRs in the coming year. And I would really like to start getting some podium finishes, too. So going into 2014, I need to work on my speed. One way to do this is to run more races--in looking at my race history, I see that I had some pretty good results in 2009, when I was running 2 races a month. And I know people on the team who race practically every week, or at least every other week, who consistently get podium finishes. I'm also going to try to incorporate more miles, and specifically more speedy miles, in my weekly running. I need to train my body to run faster and more efficiently. Which brings me to my next tweak: my diet. As my coach has said, it's easier to move 160 pounds (150?) over 26.2 miles than it is to move 180. Over the summer I went on a very strict diet-and-exercise regimen and lost 20 pounds; within a few months after stopping that I gained about half of them back. I need to eat smarter. (But I don't see myself going vegetarian, let alone full on vegan, so don't ask!)
By incorporating these changes, I hope to see some improvements in 2014 in my own racing. But even if I don't, I will continue to be a strong supporter and enthusiastic cheerleader for runners of all abilities and levels, particularly (though hardly exclusively) my teammates.
2013 Year In Review:
- Races Run: 10
- Marathon: 2
- Half Marathon: 3
- 10k: 2
- 7k: 1
- 5k: 2
- PRs: 2
- Both in the 10k
- Destination Races: 2
- Olathe KS (marathon)
- Detroit MI (marathon)
- Pairs of shoes: 6
- Total Mileage for 2013: 1551.7
