Runner's Dilemma #18 — Will I Actually Get Faster in Fall?
Runner's Log | Runner's Dilemma #18
Will I Actually Get Faster in Fall?
Three months ago.
My second kid, who started running after watching me train for marathons, said to me:
A little caught off guard,,,
Back then, the race felt like it was still a long way off.
Now, somehow, it's barely a month away.
here's where I'm at:
"Can I actually do this?"
Anxious, I went out for a 30km long slow distance run. No sun, but a muggy afternoon. Not long after I started...
6:20 per km. 6:21.
Past the turnaround, sweat ran down my back and soaked through my shorts.
My pace started slipping past 6:40.
Drinking an electrolyte drink at the 20km mark,
For two months now, I've definitely been putting in the miles.
And yet, somehow, the first thought that comes is that it won't be easy.
My son's a junior in high school this year. I really want to break 4 this time, so I can turn to him and say,
"Dad kept his promise on sub-4."
That's what I want to be able to say, quietly, through my actions... but it's turning out to be harder than I thought.
Everyone says the same thing.
Summer's just like this.
Come fall, your pace picks up on its own, they say.
Unfortunately, for the past two years, injuries have kept me from ever getting to experience that for myself.
Maybe that's exactly why I'm looking forward to this fall a little more.
will all these hard, sweat-soaked hours from summer
come back to me at all once fall arrives?
I hope that kind of luck finds me too, this fall.
And once the race is over, there's something I want to say to my son.
