A New Week!

Sunday, April 21, 2013 · Mike Davis

Well Sunday means the beginning of a new week and the passing of a week that will forever stay with me. My own personal story of Boston has been repeated far too many times both verbally and in my thoughts. For me what took place yesterday at three locations throughout New Hampshire was far more worth of sharing and focusing on. Runners Alleys of Portsmouth, Nashua and Manchester all hosted fun runs to raise funds for those that were affected by last Mondays Boston Marathon tragic event. While no doubt the money raised will help many people, the fact that so many people (both runners and non-runners) came out to show love and support for Boston, the marathon and runners in general was the real success of the fun run! Unofficially there were 166 people at the Portsmouth Runners Alley despite the early morning rain. Before people started rolling in, Jeanine (owner) commented that we may only get some 40 runners because of the weather and she wasn’t even close! Despite the lack of sunshine, the event was all that anyone could hope for and more! I got to see many people I have coached, many that I am coaching and lots of friends. There was the buzz of a race without anyone thinking of a PR. Money was donated, post run food was provided and lots of hugs going around. I only wish I could of head more time to visit with many of the people I haven’t seen in a while. A truly great morning that represented the Seacoast running community perfectly. Time to move on but not forget! Today is Dover’s annual “Reds Shoe Barn” 5 miler that I will be running along with my wife. It will be my first road race in some time and I am looking forward to it. Someone asked me yesterday what else I have on my racing agenda and I responded: “Honestly I don’t have any races planned!” Through the past few years I have always had a race that I was planning for or at least was on the back of my mind and that would somewhat force me to train accordingly. That was not always a good feeling and it would take a little joy out of my running. I know some people feel that races help motivate them to run regularly and that’s certainly a great idea, but for me I am more motivated by the pure joy of running. Now that sounds kind of corny I know, but not having any pressure frees me up to just go run because it’s part of who I am. As I get older I try and reduce the commitments in my life so that I feel more in control of my time. Choosing not to run certain races gives me the freedom to train as I would like without necessarily needing an end result. Not to say that I don’t have something on the back of my mind, because I actually do, but for now I will go out and run Reds and whatever time I come across will be okay. This week I will sit down with one client to fine tune her strategy for the half marathon next weekend in DC and I will also meet with another client to breakdown Boston mile by mile. Despite the first 22 miles of Boston being a near success while the final 4 being a disappointment due to health; we should be able to learn something about each mile that will benefit the next marathon. Details are critical in most every race regardless of the distance especially if time is the goal. We broke down Boston into 3 separate races (8, 8 and 10.2), so we will look at each race and evaluate it that way. I am confident had my client not gotten sick she would have finished at the goal time, but we still must determine where there are some improvements to be made in future preparation. I am happy for Samantha who is headed to DC for the Nike Woman’s Half Marathon. Her training has gone great and she’s fit and ready! Nothing is more satisfying than to help a runner get ready for the different challenges they take on. Go on Sam! I started this post a few hours ago and now I am back from running “Reds Shoe Barn” 5 mile race. Without any expectations or goals I went out and just pushed myself to see what I can do? My first race in my 50s went like this: mile 1: 8:27, mile 2: 7:38, mile 3: 7:51, mile 4: 8:10 and my final mile I used the downhill finish to hit 7:30, finishing with a time of 39:44. I am extremely happy as my overall pace of 7:50 was not something I have been working on so it’s nice to know I can still run under 8 minute miles. More than anything else I ran somewhat smart and had fun with it. Will have to think about what’s next? Today is the first day of a new week and anything is possible so go out and make the most of those possibilities! God bless!