Day Seventeen - "Off Season"

If I was a betting man and I had to wager on who I thought would inherit the earth, my money would be on the curious and not the meek.
Jim Coudal

Today actually started out yesterday afternoon. Bob, Jay & Michele scheduled to 18 miles starting at 4:45AM this morning. Bob fired off the route to Jay & I to peruse so I could pick a place to hook up with the trio during their run. The route was a double loop past LTF that allowed for refueling of liquids, foods and the much need potty break for some. As I reviewed the route and passed the route onto Michele, I noticed that the pick-up place was a little low on mileage for me. I pulled up Google Map and plotted the route enabling me to see where the mileage and cross section areas where.

I discovered a place where the runner’s could hook up with me where I could get in 11+ miles but did not alter them from their 18-mile goal. I shot Bob & Jay the checkpoint on where and when I would meet them this morning. “Corner of Westside Parkway and Old Milton.” In my correspondence back to the organizer of this event, I asked what the pace would be…
Now, if you now Bob & Jay’s history, pace has always been that untamed animal in them that they have not been able to break. No matter how many times they get on the back of the pace beast , the beast has bucked them off and they either go too fast or are so sporadic in maintaining the pace they are thrown out of whack. A lot has to do with their competitive nature and not the lack of any physical attributes. Bear in mind, these to veteran marathoners are excellent athletes in above normal fitness. The one thing they have lacked in the past and are attempting to tame is pacing.

Bob replied to my request for a pace and quoted, 8:35’s for the first 9 miles. The average pace for the full 18 miles is an average of 8:30’s, so 8:35’s is a good speed to complete the first half of their endeavor. With the 8:35’s for 9, the pace on the back 9 would need to be 8:24’s. This is very doable for this running trio since Michele had indicated a 8:30-8:45 pace plan.

I verified the route and enlightened Bob and Jay via electronic correspondence that an 8:35/mile pace would land them at the corner of Westside Parkway and Old Milton at 5:49AM. I proceeded to inquire if they would be able to control themselves and harbor the beast within them to hold the goal time? Within seconds a response from Bob, “That sounds good… “ and from Jay, “Soundsa good…”. This is not a spelling error from the highly educated manager of VW Credit, but a light hearted joke at the situation. You can take this two ways, 1. Jay is just being funny or 2. Jay is being funny knowing what he is agreeing to will never be and he will be tearing up Westside at a 7:10/mile gallop and holding on to dear life while he is being bucked by the beast of pacing he eludes to control.

After I saw the response from Bob, Mr. “Pace? What’s pace?” M I knew I had to sweeten the pot. I fired off an offer I knew Bob could not refuse, “Wager?’ This dangling of the carrot on a bet that any real man would take after being called out was, “Okay a six pack of Sierra Nevada?” Which my reply was, “you’re on.

With a wager placed out, I knew that this was going to be a good run…

I awoke at 4:45AM eager to prep myself for the journey I was about to embark on with the running trio in 1 hour and 4 minutes. I made the coffee, drank the my beet juice, got my bag ready and even last night I made sure to limit the wine to less than a half a glass. I could have had a bit more, but I wanted to make sure that I was fully alert and in the right frame of mind for the run. I guess I need to make something clear at this point. This run is not a race or even a competition. I wanted to run with these outstanding runners for the sole purpose of pacing and to have healthy fun training run. From Bob & Jay’s history, pacing as I indicted has been a cause of contention. I wanted to see how they have been progressing on the Furman Plan and to help them with their running on the back half of their 18 miles. Michele is on another training program but shares the same common goal this morning, mileage and controlling her pace. I was more excited to run with my friends that I have not shared a long run with in over 7 months more than racing and beating them on the back portion of their run. In addition, running with Michele gives me a little redemption since the LSU swimmer tears us up in the pool week after week.

I arrived at LTF at 5:15AM and got ready to head out to meet the group who had been out for a half an hour. I ran into Ann Marie in the lobby with all her workout gizmo’s and we talked about how she is “back on track” and was ready to go again. She indicated that her schedule is on course and wants to switch a run up so she can spin on Monday’s or Wednesday’s. She is fine to do that with the Furman program as long as there are not back-to-back runs. We chatted about an upcoming ride this weekend for a fallen cyclist (Kelly) who has been in the hospital for over 60 days as well. When we started to head our separated ways I volunteered to Ann Marie to switch up track either for Monday or Wednesday if she makes changes to her training plans. Ann Marie is training solo on the Furman plan as I have indicated due to her pace and work schedule. Bob & Jay do track together but if Ann Marie cannot make Wednesday I suggested that I could hit the track with her on Monday’s so she is not fishing for someone to go with her. We parted and I left that up to her.

I made my way from the inside of LTF to the outside in the parking lot. I had 19 minutes to make it ~2 miles to the checkpoint where I was to meet the running trio. I started out with a slight head wind blowing against me on Tradewinds RD, (see the irony) and guided by only the white lines of the road reflecting the stop light off in the distance. Turning on Academy and heading towards Westside, I thought that it was not smart to be wearing two layers with the top layer a long sleeve technical shirt. The air was still on this stretch of road and my core temperature spiked. I thought of taking the top layer off but knew that Westside was heading the same direction as Tradewinds so the head wind would cool me down again. As I turned and made my way up the curvy road to the junction point the wind blowing from the south lowered my core temperature as I made my way up the road to the corner of Westside and Old Milton.

I arrived a few minutes early on purpose. I wanted to make sure that the wager we had established 12 hours before was going too monitored by me. Honestly, I thought they would tear out the first 7 miles and slow prior to getting to the pickup point to insure a victory. As my watch was nearing the 5:49AM mark and bet time, here they came. Side-by-side-by-side cruising up the sidewalk at the most effortless stride I have ever seen. The three of these runners look fresh, alive and strong.

Jay, Bob & Michele

They hit the mark of the checkpoint at the exact time they said they would, 5:49AM. I had lost the bet. But, at this point I was not upset or sad that I had lost the wager that between Bob and I, no I was actually proud of them. For this was an accomplishment of epic portions! They had stuck to the pace! You could see it in their eyes and body language. It said, “bring it on”. At that moment, I felt like the 4th wheel of a 3 wheel motorcycle. They had all meshed on this portion of the run and was I going to cramp these “in the zone” runners? I decided to start moving down towards our destination not to mess with their “zone”. As we started down Old Milton, Michele said to me that I was going to be hot in that long sleeve shirt. I knew what she was saying and decided when we rounded at LTF that I would peel it off for the remainder of our adventure through the cool morning streets of Alpharetta.
The four of us…The 4Runners, headed down Old Milton towards Academy for a brief pit stop at LTF. The pace was comfortable and I could feel that the 3 of them where in tune because none of them started to pick it up and spread their wings to show who was the biggest peacock there. It was controlled, relaxed and focused. We conversed about the first portion of their run, Michele dropping her coat due to her getting too warm, Bob cracking jokes and keeping the conversation light and Jay floating along on his Nike wings like he was running on clouds. Oh boy, they are getting stronger…

The 4Runners made a few turns and ended on Academy down to LTF. After 1 ½ hours and drinking Jay needed to unload his thimble blatter. He sped up a notch and bee lined behind a large oak tree to water the grass. Bob suggested I take a snap shot of the “reliever” which I could not pass up this opportunity to do:

After a few words, that I will leave out we continued on our path towards the parking lot of LTF 2 miles from where Jay had marked his territory. We hit LTF and the four of us dispersed quickly to do our little tasks to in order for us to get back on the road and head off for the remainder 7.5 miles. 1 minute 16 seconds later, we were off. At this juncture of the run the pace need to increase to 8:24/mile in order for the average to hold for the run. Bob and Jay lead Michele and me down Northpoint towards Old Milton again. While cruising down the road Michele indicated to me that the pace had picked up to 7:36’s which was way too fast. I knew the stop would had fueled the beast in Bob and Jay to hit it a little too hard, but coming up on Old Milton and crossing over the river of cars rushing to work would divert them and the pace would change on the other side of the bank. We gingerly crossed Old Milton and the traffic (we were safe) and pinpointed the run continuously down Northpoint heading for our next turnoff.

When we were making our way down the road Michele advised me that she did not know if she could hold the pace Bob & Jay were running. Knowing that this run was a little aggressive, but manageable for her I told Michele I would get the rest of the course from Bob and we could back off to a reasonable pace for her. I ran up to Bob, he spurted out the way to me and I told the dynamic duo to forge ahead without us. I saw a pickup in both their steps as they slowly progressed forwarded widening the gap between Michele and me.
Michele and I settled into a pace that was more comfortable for her to finish the run and still hit her time goals. Realize, we did not back off to a pedestrian’s crawl, we just notched it back a peg in order for her to run strong and finish stronger.

We headed onto Haynes Bridge with its up rollers as Bob and Jay’s distance increased. I commented to Michele that the duo had kicked it up and hoped they were not driving too hard over the desired pace.

As we ran the rollers of Haynes Bridge eyeing oncoming traffic, cars turning left and right, I couldn’t get the image of Michele lugging her 20oz water bottle in her arm like Walter Payton with a football making his way down the field. She had to be getting tired? Her arm must be sore? Why doesn’t she have a bottle holder or a Fuel Belt. So, I asked her. “Does that bottle make your arms sore?” She mentioned that it did and she was going to borrow Brian’s fuel belt but forgot. Michele said that she was a little unprepared for the longer distance out since she usually did shorter loops to rehydrate. It is time for Michele, endurance runner to carry a hydration belt.

When we reached the end of the roller coaster called, Haynes Bridge we needed to slow in order for Michele to grab her jacket at the Shell Station where she had dropped it earlier on the run. The only problem with this task was the exact drop off point was unknown. We looked up and down the sidewalk looking for a black pole she had dispersed the jacket near, but the task was unsuccessful. In order for us to maintain the pace we needed to head back out and I told Michele that Bob would swing by and pick up her jacket for her. We left the unmanned jacket and headed back on our path towards LTF. Crossing HWY 9 our next turn was Maxwell. We headed for the first light, Roswell. We made our way towards the second road, Marietta St. We wondered if the next road on the right was going to be the prize we searched for and it was…Wills Dr? No Maxwell? We went the right way? Michele looked at her Garmin, almost 16 miles. Oh, oh…we had gone too far. There was no way that it was only 2 miles to our destination from our location. We made a quick decision and turned onto Wills knowing that this dead end into Milton, which will lead us, home…LTF.
Hitting Milton Avenue I knew that is was a straight shot back from here. Michele said, where are we? I pointed out the Old Milton High School and I said we are close to the end. She said, “how close?” “2 miles or so”, I said. “Oh”, Michele stated, “that will put us at 19+ miles”. Nothing we could do now but trek our way back. Heading down Academy with a mile to go at 18.2 miles on her Garmin I heard the sound of her step increase and quicken. Following Michele’s lead our pace increased as we made our way over 400 and left onto Tradewinds. Michele did not let up as we turned onto Tradewinds but instead I thought she was buckling down to finish strong and at a more upbeat pace than mile 17 and 18. We turned into LTF and maintained the exact pace all the way to the door of the lobby. Not knowing the exact mileage and time, I am guessing that the pace on average was around 8:45’s. Michele’s email from yesterday was right where she wanted to be if you average the 8:35’s from the first portion and 8:45’s from the remaining 18 miles.

It was an excellent run and it was good that I was able to run with Michele so she had someone to talk to and have someone else to run with while she navigated the early morning streets.
We saw Bob & Jay as we entered LTF, already showered and heading to Cracker Barrel for a recovery breakfast. I was to join the dynamic duo running team but due to the time, I needed to take a rain check for another time. They headed off with Bob picking up Michele’s jacket, Michele heading to stretch and me heading for the showers.

All three of these awesome runners looked strong on this October morning run for 18 miles. I am proud that each one of them is progressing and learning more about “the run” and how to conquer the beast within in order for them to reach their goals, if it is a PR or the Holy Grail of Qualifying.

The bet I made was not to witness the meek, which by no means are my friends and their abilities, but the curious side of me to witness their progression of marathon training. A losing bet that I would make any time.