Nov 28, 2024
1:08:52pm
1:08:52pm
I used the "I'm running this race with my kid" excuse this year to hide my
massive drop in performance (I haven't been able to make enough time to get quality runs in the past few months)
This was the first time I've been able to convince one of my kids to run in an 8k with me. We did ok, I did a few runs with him ahead of time and realized his bravado and estimated paces he could run were not matching up with reality - but no big deal. We went out with a goal to feel like we were holding back for the first mile, feeling easy through the second, keeping steady in the third and forth, and only being willing to dig deep for the last mile.
The specifics of the race are too long to go into here, but he did well and I tried to make it clear in that last mile that I was fine with whatever he wanted to do. He complained a lot that last mile but he kept going. He thought I was lying when I told him the finish line was just around one corner (it loops back a city block and when you are about a quarter mile away if you look left through some buildings you can see a steady stream of runners so it LOOKS like you really have a half mile to go. They somewhat stupidly have the finish line maybe less than 100 yards from a turn so if you're one of those people who relies on seeing the finish line to know when to kick you won't have a very long kick at the end) - after passing through the finish line you keep moving down that line towards the huge party and that's the mass of people you can see when you are getting closer...
I have run this particular race about six times now - it's a point to point course that I know very well how to cut tangents on etc and where the hard parts are etc... At the finish line on my watch I was only at 5.01 miles for a 4.97 mile race which I was pretty happy with.
Eventually he'll need to learn how to pace himself and come up with a good plan. I thought a doable goal was 48:30, with negative splits being the plan - I didn't want him to experience a total blow-up on his first race, but wanted a decent time that he'd feel like he worked for in this one that he can pretty easily shatter if he trains regularly between now and next year.
My PRs in this race are probably not going to be beaten by me now that I'm getting older - but we'll see.
This was the first time I've been able to convince one of my kids to run in an 8k with me. We did ok, I did a few runs with him ahead of time and realized his bravado and estimated paces he could run were not matching up with reality - but no big deal. We went out with a goal to feel like we were holding back for the first mile, feeling easy through the second, keeping steady in the third and forth, and only being willing to dig deep for the last mile.
The specifics of the race are too long to go into here, but he did well and I tried to make it clear in that last mile that I was fine with whatever he wanted to do. He complained a lot that last mile but he kept going. He thought I was lying when I told him the finish line was just around one corner (it loops back a city block and when you are about a quarter mile away if you look left through some buildings you can see a steady stream of runners so it LOOKS like you really have a half mile to go. They somewhat stupidly have the finish line maybe less than 100 yards from a turn so if you're one of those people who relies on seeing the finish line to know when to kick you won't have a very long kick at the end) - after passing through the finish line you keep moving down that line towards the huge party and that's the mass of people you can see when you are getting closer...
I have run this particular race about six times now - it's a point to point course that I know very well how to cut tangents on etc and where the hard parts are etc... At the finish line on my watch I was only at 5.01 miles for a 4.97 mile race which I was pretty happy with.
Eventually he'll need to learn how to pace himself and come up with a good plan. I thought a doable goal was 48:30, with negative splits being the plan - I didn't want him to experience a total blow-up on his first race, but wanted a decent time that he'd feel like he worked for in this one that he can pretty easily shatter if he trains regularly between now and next year.
My PRs in this race are probably not going to be beaten by me now that I'm getting older - but we'll see.
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- ryebrye
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