Road Man

"Road man slow it down
And you will get there safe and sound
He says no no no the show must go on
Road man running like a mad man
Breaking land speed records as he ran"

Running is all about finding your happy pace.  You know the one, where running feels effortless. Everything from your brain to your body works in unison, a place we call the zone.  Every sport has it.  I've played football and tennis in the zone but I have never felt it sustained as long as it does in running, especially marathons.  This past weekend, I had some very good tempo runs where I was zoned.  These are shorter but just as important.  This song played on my shuffle while I was zoned.  I know that there are times when I say to myself, "slow it down!".  Usually that is early in a race when I know that going out too fast is to the detriment of time at the end.  As the song says, "slow it down and get there safe and sound".  To me, this means find the right pace, the happy pace, the goal pace.  Now, yes, the show must go on so don't slow it down to a pace that you can't recover from.  But, when it comes to late in the race, run like a mad man.  When I was running marathons well (or well for me, sub 4 hours), I broke up the distance by 13 miles, 7 miles and the last 6.2 miles.  My goals were to run a well-paced half marathon under 2 hours, likely between 1:52 and 1:57, then run the next 7 miles in 1 hour hitting the 20-mile mark in just under 3 hours, and giving myself another hour for the last 6.2 miles.  Those mid-miles between 6 and 18 always seemed to be my strongest.  As I have slowed over the last few years, I find it more difficult to pace well, even at a slower pace.  With the tempo runs I have been doing, I hope to change that.  I won't break any land speed records but I will run like a mad man because the show must go on and not end until I cross the finish line.

Days 144-147: 24 miles: 2014: 756 miles