Outer Banks Running

We have been here for a little over a week, at Duck, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and I have written in my Writing Journal nearly every day.  But very little of it is about "Highlands Roadrunner" so I have not posted it here.  That is because the Roadrunner is taking a little break from running: 4.15 miles Monday, three miles Wednesday, and a planned run of indeterminate length tomorrow.  This is exactly what I need to be doing right now - easy, flat, laid-back running, in this place that we love so much.

Here was the entry in my Journal for Monday: 


This was a perfect day at the beach – nice and cool this morning, but warming quickly.  We went running this morning, to one of our favorite places, along Highway 12 to the tennis courts at Four Seasons, and then down an unmarked sidewalk that ends up going nearly a half-mile alongside some nice vacation homes, ending finally at the beach.  When we returned from our run (a little over four miles), we slathered on copious amounts of sun-block and sat out in the sun until lunch time.  

And so it goes.  I am sure the situation will change when we return, but for now it is nice to be simply running for pleasure, without any races or goals on the horizon.

Backing Off

Running fast, the title of my last post, was followed Saturday by running long - 9 miles.  And then on Monday of this week, I climbed Big Bearpen.  It has not rained for awhile, so the second switchback from the top was especially treacherous - loose dirt and rocks - and I thought I felt something twist just a bit in my knee.  So I backed off, slowing down and completing only 3.81 miles instead of the planned 6 miles.  And yesterday I only ran 2.14 mile, including two moderately fast 400s.  Everything seems to be doing fine today, but I am taking another day off and "playing it by ear" tomorrow.

Backing off.  There can be no ego in a runner; humility is the key to continuing to run in the long term.  It was not easy to watch Vicki pull ahead of me Monday (after I led the way up the mountain), not has it been easy on my long runs to watch nearly the entire group of runners pull ahead of me.  I have been humbled by the worst injury of my running life, and it wasn't even because of running.  Now I need to be careful.  Backing off is that necessary medicine when a runner has been pushing just a little too hard.   

 We are preparing for some nice, slowly-paced, flat miles at the Outer Banks next week - just in time! 

Running Fast

I posted this on the Highlands Roadrunners Club Facebook Group today:

I would have to go back to last year's running log to see when I last ran 400-meter intervals as fast as I did today: 2:13, 2:10, 2:08. 2:06. It is satisfying to finally be recovered from injury enough to be able to run FAST again!

Or should I say "half-fast," as certain of our members like to say.


Of course, everything is relative, but it really did feel good, and I attribute it all to the long, slow build-up of base miles, forcing myself to run "tempo" runs by entering four races so far this year, and surely to simply trusting in God and listening to my body.  Alleluia! 

There is a certain dogged kind of perseverance in being able to run long, and running steep is also a matter of focus and discipline, simply putting one step in front of another and never giving up.  But running fast!  It is thrilling to be able to hit these splits again, no matter how much slower they are than I those I used to complete 10 years ago.  And it is also the only way to improve speed.  It sounds almost simpleminded, but Coach Richard Smith once gave me this good advice while we were timing runners coming across the finish line when I was Race Director at one of those old Highlands School PTO runs:  "The only way to run fast is to run fast."

So true.  So Thursdays will become Interval Day for awhile.

Black Mountain Greenways Challenge

Martha and I have not run this race since 2011, but I remembered as soon as we began the long climb up the first of many hills both how tough it was and how scenic it was (thus the word “Challenge” in its title).  Both courses start and end at Pisgah Brewery, then climb relentlessly through rural Black Mountain hills surrounded by green grass and flowering trees, with the 10-K taking an additional loop around the pedestrian path circling Lake Tomahawk and stunning views of the Seven Sisters mountain range.  Very nice, and with a 2:00 p.m. starting time, I heartily encourage Highlands runners to try it next year.  

Continuing her winning streak this year, Martha took home her fourth first-place award on a very blustery day and finished the 5-K in a time of 30:34.  I completed the 10-K in 1:08:18, and although not placing was elated to be racing this distance again after my injury over the winter.  (It was also very satisfying to finally pass that six-year old girl at the first mile marker – I thought I would never catch that little thing).

Nun danket alle Gott

It seems as if whatever wandering path I run in Highlands - both actually and figuratively - I can always hear church bells somewhere in the distance.  With the advent of GPS watches, we don't have to be tethered to pre-measured courses and mile markers (although we still have one or two of those), but instead we can run where we please.  And sometimes I find myself cutting through roads I have not run on in awhile, or exploring new paths. - as Tennyson would say, "Forever roaming with a hungry heart."  Sometimes I will be turning around at the end of Fifth Street and the beginning of the Kelsey Trail, with tightly-furled rhododendron rattling all around, or sometimes back around lovely unpaved Lower Lake Road with its ancient rock walls and lily-pads on the lake.  And it is not uncommon to hear the Presbyterian Church bells chiming out a hymn - they sound at 10:00 a.m. each morning, which is the hour I might be finishing up a six-mile run if I start at 9:00 a.m.

Today I had a very satisfying four-mile run, which included a final mile by Harris Lake and a 2:14 400-meter, which equates to a sub-nine-hour mile and the fastest I have run in several months.  This in preparation for a planned 10-K on Saturday, my first 10-K in a long time.  I was feeling especially thankful for healing and strength, for recovery, for the beautiful morning flashing all around, when I heard the old familiar hymn "Now Thank We All Our God" (that 17th century masterpiece often used by Bach, Nun danket alle Gott - see BWV 79).  As has happened more often than mere coincidence would make possible over the years, I heard this hymn just when I needed to.  And I let those calming words of thanksgiving roll over me:

Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done, in Whom this world rejoices;
Who from our mothers’ arms has blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.