Positive Results by Sabrina

When I agreed to run with her, she said she had 12 miles on the plan. At least that’s what I heard/remembered. My goal this training cycle is to do more long runs, without worrying about the time. I’m focusing on the mental hurdles now that I’ve successfully completed the 13.1 miles four times. I need to teach my body that we can handle the miles differently. There’s nothing to fear. We can tackle the miles multiple times, so we build muscle memory and then it’s only the pace we have to push to cross the finish line before they kick us out. Knowing this, I’ve vowed to ask different people if I can join them on their long runs. I’m very comfortable running on my own. I haven’t practiced my long run conversational pace because I’m usually only talking to the voices in my head, lol. 

Recently, I’ve been listening to a lot more audiobooks and podcasts on my longer runs so that I’m not tempted to push the pace. I think it’s helping. I’ve been able to keep it casual and completed most of my runs with fuel left in the tank, which is the goal. The runs that include Luna are hit or miss because she definitely wants to push my pace but we also get extra walk breaks when she smells something that’s just too good to pass up.

So back to my run with Ingrid. A few days before the run, she warned me that we would have a surprise guest. This was a good and a bad thing in my opinion. Good because it meant that there would be another person to ‘talk’ through the exhaustion and help keep us entertained. Bad because now this meant we couldn’t pass the miles with endless girl talk and I’ve seen his run paces before. He moves faster than us. I was afraid he would be bored or aggravated with my slower goal pace. (We’ll talk about how some runners mistreat ‘slower than them’ paces in another issue…)

I’m so happy to admit that I was totally wrong. The only bad thing about that entire day was that I went into it with so much fear and negativity and almost got taken out by a lady who lost control of her bike.

Amazing things happen when you venture into a long run with great people. You learn things about yourself, and your friends, that you may have never learned. I know this and yet I forget all the time. (Did you read my AMA post about running with friends vs running solo?)

Kenny is someone who I have walked with and talked to a few times but I’ve never had the pleasure of running with him. As I said, I’ve seen his paces. He’s run multiple marathons, including the Dopey and the Dumbo challenges. He’s got a lot of miles under his belt. When the run first started, I let Ingrid and Kenny know that I planned to practice my interview skills and would be grilling him the majority of the time. He completely took it in stride. Of course, I also let them know I was really afraid of slowing them down and had no intention of running 14 miles with them. They laughed both of my fears off. I intended to rest at my turn around point, let them go another mile or so and then come back for me. That never happened. They dragged me the entire way…

Ingrid and I have been friends for almost two years now. We’ve walked together and hung out enough that I know much of her story. I know why she started running. I know why she joined BARC (and she knows I want to officially interview her for the blog). I know none of these things about Kenny. 

First, I wanted to know how long he had been a runner and what got him started. Those are the things we want to know about all of our running friends. Especially those of us who got into running as an adult and wonder about how things might have been different if we’d started earlier. That’s when I found out he was a father.  We all laughed at my surprise. I teased that as women, we know this about each other right away. ‘How many kids do you have? Do you have a partner? Do you have a GOOD partner? Are they all the reason you run…away…constantly?!?” Kenny is so private that I had no clue that he has multiple children, that he once lost a footrace to his daughter and that although he races at Disneyland and Disney World, he still can’t bribe his children to join him at a race. 

I also learned that Kenny’s one of those crazy guys that I’ve read about on the internet but never thought I’d meet. While he’s currently training hard to run the Boston Marathon in April, Kenny trained for his very first marathon, 26.2 miles, in roughly two months. Or maybe we should say he didn’t train for his first marathon? As a previous sprinter and track coach, he decided the first Fresno Marathon sounded like a great idea to tackle so he went out and did it. As you can imagine, he says it sucked!! At the time he never thought he’d do it again. But as often happens, he was bitten by the bug. He ran the same marathon the following year and he’s still racing almost 15 years later, and I’m so thankful that he is. 

Kenny’s love and enjoyment for running is beyond evident when you’re running beside him (or quite honestly, behind him). He is so encouraging and fun to run with. Lucky for me, Ingrid is training with intervals currently, so my heart rate stayed under control. We never looked at pace, genuinely enjoying a conversational pace. We joked and talked and laughed so much that the miles just passed. We hit 6 miles and started negotiating our shared turn-around point before I really started to feel it.  When they found out that my longest run to date was only my last half marathon and the ‘extra’ that tends to happen from zig zagging through crowds, it became evident to them that I needed to complete the 14 miles Ingrid had planned instead of the 10-12 I intended. Only really good friends can push you outside of your comfort zone and make it seem like a gift.

Their friendship, encouragement and company were the lubrication my muscles needed to keep pushing through. Kenny loves hills and we do not, so we watched him tackle the hills whether they hit during a walking interval or not. He even inspired a stranger to run up one of the hills with him as we laughed about his antics. He and Ingrid continually checked on me when I would get quiet. On walk breaks, Kenny checked on our friends who were running the Mesa Marathon, keeping us updated on their status and letting us know when they conquered their 26.2 miles. He calmed my fears about holding him back, reminding me that we all need slower runs in our training plans, and time on our feet is just as important as the miles passed. I continued to force him to make up for the ‘slower to him pace’ by talking more about himself. He had extra energy to burn.

Our training run was elevated when we realized we were crashing a race at Campbell park. It was cool to see friends along the trail and we joked about crossing their finish line if it was still up when we returned to the park. The weather was absolutely beautiful compared to the storms we have been experiencing. I was grateful for their combined experience convincing me to shed the jacket and gloves I had gathered, before we even left my house. That was extra weight that I did not need to carry. We reminded each other to fuel along the way, discussed the perpetual blisters on my feet from shoes that are now too big for me (thank you pregnancy) and ended our adventure with a detour for well deserved cupcakes.  

If you asked me a few years ago if this is how I’d want to spend a Saturday morning, I never would have imagined. It’s amazing to me to see how far my training has come. When I finished my first half marathon, I was one of those people who could barely walk for the next few days. Now, thanks to my BARC friends, training and education, although I was definitely sore, I was able to take a walk with AJ that afternoon and jog a few miles the next day. My heart and body were beyond proud of what I was able to accomplish. Cheers to the next adventure.