Marc Schollett reflects on his progress so far in the Race to Bayshore program, and how far he has yet to go.
/ upnorthlive.com photo
Remember the commercial from years ago, with the Duncan Donuts man passing himself in the doorway? He mumbled "it's time to make the donuts." He replied to himself "I made the donuts." I have to admit, I feel like my running has become that, but in a good way.
I knew this spring would have to be this way. Running would have be a 7 day a week commitment, with Coach Lisa having me run 5 days a week and our awesome friends at Excelerate Run/Excel Rehab prescribing strength and stretching the other two days.
It seems as if I am not running, I am fueling up to run, planning my next run. This is really such a contrast to my past training plans, which were always a little unstructured. I would run a day, take a couple off. I was always religious about getting in my long runs, but I often let the midweek ones slide. The short runs never seemed as important. My logic was I wasn't running a 5k on race day, why run one on a random Tuesday 10 weeks before race day in training?
Going into our training program I knew it was time to do something different. Doing the same type of training this year would once again lead to the same results come the Bayshore. This spring I am aiming to do something I am not sure I physically can, run my fastest marathon ever so that I can qualify for Boston. I need to smash my personal record. I need to take 13 minutes off the fastest race I have run. That's 30 seconds a mile faster per mile than I was able to run on what was a very good day for me last Bayshore.
It may not seem like much time, 13 minutes over a 3 hour run. After all, 30 seconds in just one of those Duncan Donuts commercials. But it is a lot of time when you have to trim it off a mile 26 times! With that in mind I know that this year I must train differently.
Coach Lisa has me running a lot. The miles aren't huge yet, but she stresses it's the consistency of getting out there often, running on tired legs so that I know I can, and still be fast! I know each time I lace up those sneakers, I am doing what it takes to put me in the best possible situation to reach my goal. I will be the first person to admit that sometimes I am not very excited to go for a run, but a mile in, I am always glad I did!
It’s been hard these past two weeks with my cast, and the slushy weather, but I think all those “little midweek miles” will pay off come race day. At least that’s what I keep telling myself as I pass myself at the door, mumbling about “its time to go for a run.”
