Rember to Forget!

I did in fact work out with two very fast members of my Cross Country team (and their 11-year-old brother, who is faster than any of us, seriously the kid is blue blazes, what's up with that?), and I could not get these high school kids to slow down! My team is not one of the best around (though we are up and coming), and usually I'd give anything to speed them up, but this is summer and this practice, and I kind of have an idea what i want them to be doing. At any rate, I told them to run next to me, not in front of me. Well, it's not that i wasn't fast enough for them, it's that they were too fast for the workout.

Well, on the last lap, I said, ok, let's go all out, the same distance we had been repeating at 1:15, I now said, let's run in One minute. Still, they couldn't contain themselves, and they ran it in 58 seconds, while I cruised in at exactly one minute.

"Ok, let's do a one-mile cool down." Off we ran, I said, "Now you get to listen to one of 'Coach Mathews' stories." This is the one about my 16th try at qualifying for the Boston Marathon. Here I am in Duluth, MN, the crowd takes off fast, I have a plan for 7:20 miles, I run my first mile in 7:20. 5 miles in I want to run faster, but I decide patience is the way to go, I stay with 7:20's. In my previous 15 attempts, I was always fine through 20 and even up to 22 miles, but then I always crashed, due to too fast too soon. At mile 10 I really want to take off, but I tell myself, if you still want to take off, you may reward yourself with three fast miles starting at mile 23. Well, when I got to mile 23 I was still running 7:20's and no longer had the desire (nor the ability) to "take off." However, I was able to grind out those last three miles and run a qualifying time of 3:14:11 (a full minute and 48 seconds under what I needed, thank you very much!)

So, I told my team that the last lap proved that we were all fast, but that there was a time for fast and a time to stick to the plan. I told them in any race during the last 1/2 mile if they wanted to take off, go ahead, but until then, let's stick to the plan.

Of course, I don't always take this advice. I really don't think I was more capable of running 3:14 at 39 then at 29 (I was 29 when I ran my first marathon). I just always forgot to use my own advice. I would tell myself at the beginning of each race to run my planned pace, but then I'd always "take off" in the middle to crush some imaginary challenger. This method could only end in tears. Shoot at Avenue of the Giants in California, I even turned my head, looked the dude next to me dead in the eye and said, "Now is when I make my move!" I went from 7:30's to 6:30's, no problem except I was at mile 12 when I did this. I walked the last 6.

Of course, having a mush-brain memory isn't all bad. After every single Ultra I pledge, "Never Again!" I plan to pledge "Never Again" on July 22 after Becky and I finish Vermont. I plan to pledge "Never Again" after Chase and I finish Arkansas on Oct. 8. Then next year I plan to pledge "Never Again" on the Sunday after Labor Day when I am finished breaking the Florida Record for the Grand Slam.

When the pain, the sacrifice, the fatigue is so fresh, there is no way a sane person (or any ultra runner for that matter) can say anything but, "Never Again!" Happily, we humans are blessed with a short attention (hey, my father had a watch like that! If Jesus Christ and Superman got into a fight, I wonder who would win?) span. While I'm in 'Never Again' mode for several hours after these ridiculous conquests, by the next day I am planning the next one.

I guess I can't be too hard on a couple of high school kids for not remembering to run slower, that faulty memory may just propel them to great things one day!
AndyMan