Long road ahead

The comeback trail is long, winding, with plenty of hurt -- but it is not necessarily a lonely one. 

I was out there tonight, hammering in an eight-mile run with some striders. Two things about the run made it an indicator that I was working harder than usual. It was longer than a usual five mile weekday run, and I was putting in some quality work.

About 40 minutes into the run, on a trail on the eastern waterfront, I saw a familiar face, a friend. As we neared, him striding toward me, I waved and we both stopped. Sweat pouring down our faces, we started chatting.

Me: "How's it going? Looks like we're both working hard."

Him: "Getting the miles up, but the tempos are tough, trying to get them sub 5."

Me: "I know we're you're at, I'm working at a comeback. More miles, eating better, dropping some pounds, getting back to where I know I can be."

My friend has been an inspiration -- he's a marathoning veteran, a multiple Boston finisher who has a substantially fast PB, and who aspires to get back to Boston with a sub 3:40. A few years ago, we traded talk about how he'd pull of such faster times.

We don't take the past for granted. As we stood there, trading war stories of being on the path toward better marathoning, we knew what it took but, as he said as he is now in the 55-59 age group, "I don't take that for granted." More miles (55 miles for each one of us last week), more training, more running, taking better care of ourselves.

Many of us want to run Boston again, a simple fact. The bombings have something to do with it, but in that race we saw the self that we aspire to regain. The disciplined runner, the strong athlete, the person who ate miles for breakfast then munched on a double run for after-dinner snack. Sweat, oxygen-sucking runs and fast splits were the building blocks of that excellence. Some of us forgot how much hard work it was, and part of the reason why we cherished the times that were needed to qualify was that it was -- for most of us -- damned hard to get there.

(I, by the way, have no illusions -- I'm not getting back to BQ pace at least this year. My goal is to get back into marathon race shape I think I can be, run a decent race in the 3:20s and see where it takes me.)

My eight miler became more than nine, but I wasn't rushing to finish the run. By the end of the hour and 10 minutes on the road, I was striding hard, marvelling where my conditioning has gotten me so far this year, pushing harder than I've pushed in a long time. The road ahead is tough -- I remember now the difference between training to race a marathon versus training to prepare for multiple completions.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one back on the path to a better self. You know what they say about misery, company included.

--

Run Now wristband giveaway

My buddy Lee came back from NYC about a month ago and gave me a Run Now Boston wristband. The funds go to The One Fund benefiting the victims of the Boston bombings. I've worn it since and it's helped kept me focused during this training cycle, and has a small part in inspiring me to train harder, run more, eat better.

I wanted to donate more to the fund (luckily my work has a Boston office and I was able to donate through a matching program), so I picked up an additional few bands.

I obviously don't need five, so I'm giving one to a friend, keeping another and giving away the other three. 

So here's the deal. I'll send to anywhere in Canada (i'll throw it in the post) so all you'll have to do is indicate in the comments that you're interested -- tell me why, plain and simple. No retweeting, no following me on Twitter (though you're welcome to) or such nonsense. If I do by chance get more responses than bands, I'll throw it in a random number generator.

UPDATE: Thanks so much for your comments. Good news is I've come across another batch of them so I'm giving away EIGHT. I'll send out the first four this week. Email me your mailing address at yumkerun@gmail.com

Ririnette 

Dana 

Robin 

Marlene 

Mari 

Macnic 

Albleafs 

erma