We all love to watch the Olympics and see the fastest and the best, it is thrilling to see their speed and the ease with which they compete. It is also fun to watch the Boston Marathon and see the people who had to qualify with a fast time or through a charity partnership compete. Watching them on TV it is hard to get an idea of their pace until it flashes on the screen and we see that the front runners are averaging a 5:15 per mile pace. They are amazing and exciting to watch. I think that it is just as thrilling to see new runners who are just starting their “running career”. Being with a group of new runners for the first time is exciting and motivating. With our new groups, we run for time not distance and our new peeps are always so surprised and excited when they find out how far they went the first time out.
When we start running we may just be interested in covering the distance no matter what our pace or the time it takes us to complete a mile. To run faster, you have to train to run faster. You need to do tempo runs, speed work, hill work, you need to push yourself to move faster. It is great to have have those goals and push yourself. It is also great to want to run to keep in shape, Your pace is only important to you, you need to run the pace where you are comfortable and with what fits in with your life and other activities.
A mile is 5,280 feet no matter how you complete the distance, it is the same distance for a sub 5:00 minute miler to a 20:00 minute miler. Our running is based on distance and the distance is the same to everyone. When we talk about running races and finish times and people are feeling down about their speed my friend Mary Kelly always asks “do you get the same shirt and medal as those people who finished ahead of you?” And the answer is always “yes”. We all can’t be Olympic champions or run Boston, but we can all be a part of this amazing sport. It is important to have Olympic champs, NCAA champs, college records, high school state champs and the fastest kid at recess in elementary school but it is also just as important to have those people who are out moving every day.
I think about my friend Fred who is 85 and trains with us in the summer. One day last October he and I were out for a run on a very warm night. We were running along and Fred said to me “I think that there are people who walk faster than I run”, my reply to him was “it does not matter what your pace is, you are out here moving”. Fred is an amazing role model and motivator, on that run he also reminded me to drink my water and when we returned to the parking lot, we had to run around the lot until his Garmin reached 3.0 mile, 2.8 was not good enough for him. His pace was not important, being active is what drives him to run.
The top of the pile is a very small group of people and lucky for us with running and walking there is room for everyone on that pile. I have known some fast runners and the thing that I remember about them is that they are very rarely satisfied with their race or their performance. They usually feel that they could have gone faster, or raced smarter and ended up closer to the top of that “pile”. For the majority of us, the important thing is that we get out and move. Cover the distance, have fun with friends, run or walk a bit further today than before. Participate in some races, run a PR (personal record), earn some “bling”, travel to new places to run or race, just get out and move. Your pace is important, but only to you, run your pace and enjoy the ability to move.