Gary says I gotta write an article for the newsletter, now that he’s in charge.  { Gary's the Web maniac/editor for the new website at morriscountystriders.com. Gene is the newsletter editor. Ed's note} Who’s gonna argue with a running partner. So, y’all can decide whether my writing’s any better than my ‘telling’ (e.g. the last Striders holiday party).

Always best to talk about the present (not that my past is filled with running triumphs, aka Mr. Olympic Trials). Where I am is still… searching for that elusive PR. Thanks to my detailed running log containing intimate details of every run I’ve done almost since I started (first race in 1987), computerized in MS Access with full search and query capabilities, I can easily spout statistics of my top 10 5ks, or all runs with Gary, or all runs on the Strider Sunday course, etc. So now I looked it up. My last PR was 10/25/97 Dover 5K 17:53, a race Gary was ‘pacing’ me in (he helped a little). A good season apparently – before that, 9/30/97 Harvest Festival 5K PR in 17:54, Liberty Half 9/1/97 1:24:25, two other PRs that year and one at Picatinny 10M in Dec. 1996. The closest I’ve come to PR nirvana since is a 5:15 ‘training’ mile on the track 3/29/98 with Gary helping on 1^st and 3^rd quarter. I remember clearly what he said after this time-trail effort: it (a sub-5:14 PR) is in the bag, if you can do this in early season, without specific training. We didn’t do the training, I didn’t improve on that mile.

Bulletin: Steve comes close to PR on April 23rd Sunday Run: Fisher Does it Again!

How can I be thinking (absurdly, it seems) PR at my unseemly age (43)? Simple – I started running way late, comparatively. Not till well after my college days. Fairly recently, March through May 1999 saw my second lifetime injury, a nasty Achilles Tendon (I had no idea what that was until it broke) which sidelined a promising start to the year (63:12 Chillout 10M, 45 secs off PR pace). Having previously (after my first injury) vowed to crosstrain like an animal if I ever got injured, I didn’t – and lost all fitness. It seemed over – after months of therapy at Health South, I still couldn’t run, and basically gave up on the therapy. Then… it got better – a miracle. Balance came back into my life. PR’s were not as important as the joy of building up my mileage, doing insane long runs, hanging and running with my running friends (my only friends), restoring the balance between exercise and consumption of the spirits.

This past winter was good. Lots of mileage, long training weekends. Suddenly, a new development. My new wife (lucky her) is in the shape of her life (I won’t let her edit that out). She’s kicking ass. She’s in PR shape at 40. Now, the ultimate running couple’s race experience is simultaneous PR’s. That has happened for us – I believe way back in 1991. But for me, watching her set new marks has been great. So this year, we decided for both her and the Strider’s masters women’s team to do the circuit. In a word, we’re race happy in a way not seen for many a moon. We’re talking field trips to the shore. Doubles on a weekend.

This weekend, our first ‘double’. Saturday, the Spring Stampede in Denville, Sunday the Parsippany Contact 5K. We did them. Which in case you’re wondering is what this article is about (sounds like a line from Alice’s restaurant). (Oh yes - next weekend we’ve got Mountain Challenge 15K x-country and Cherry Blossom 10K back-to-back)

To diverge – those of you who know me and my running ways affectionately dub me ‘Mr. Training’, a man who is extra careful to go all out to beat his training partners while leaving his worst efforts for races, especially the big ones. Witness the Strider Sunday runs. 9 mile time trials extraordinaire. This was bred into me way back to the RVRR days, racing my good buddies in their regular training runs and excursions to Jockey Hollow and such. To those of you who say training times don’t count, I say, eat my shorts.

Getting back to racing. Ya train long, ya race long, and it hurts – but in a good way. That’s what Eva and I started with, three long races (you know what they were), and they turned out OK for me, minutes off my best, but respectable, in distant range of PR’s, and sort of fun. You don’t go anaerobic in 10M-1/2 marathon, you can enjoy the scenery. But… suddenly, spring is here, and a couple of things have changed. I have a new baby training partner at work who is half my age and twice as fast, forcing me to actually do some tempo runs. Good training for short distance, but came too late for that first 5K.

That BIG, IMPORTANT, MASTER’S CHAMPIONSHIP 5k. With everybody showing, even including my boss Chuck Astor who is another of a long list of rivals who are just itching to whip me (in my own deluded mindset). So, I set up some expectations. 18:34 my best 5K of 1999. Six minute pace with well under six first miler my good goal. Sub-19 minutes my acceptable goal. Beating Joe Sikora, with whom I’ve recently had some epic duels, beating Chuck (they have a field day with our rivalry at work), and placing well in Striders while beating a few unnamed regulars a sub-goal. Oh- lest I forget, the RVRR rivals including nemesis Doug Brown and Chris Lehman, and Jen Stachula (getting beaten by certain women is a whole new bag to me – the ego thing is left for another story) are here in force. But the pressure, heat and late start have me feeling really crappy in the warmup. I should have known. Out in 5:50 (hey – that’s a positive I take away from this), but I’m faking it, it’s the bad thing. Now I have to let Joe go, Chuck passes me, I’m with Charlie Castiglioni and pass Chris (faking it worse now), but the little voice in my head says, this pain is not worth it. Voice gets too loud. No excuses. Gary later tells me that Iquit AFTER two miles, which I didn’t know about. Wimp – couldn’t hold off for a mile or less? I pull off lame, wait around on the course, finish up with Eva, but whatever – it’s a DNF, my second 5K DNF but a mental lapse of the first order, in a word disgraceful. I even tried to talk Eva in quitting when she pulled over for a second with cramps. Sad. Looking back, I’ve got the base, but not the speed training, I suck in heat. Race over, time to sulk. Which I’m good at.

OK – second race of the weekend – Contact 5K. Nice and early start – 9AM. Even without the absurd weather conditions, comic relief. Heck, we’re too old for doubles, aren’t we? It’s the lowest of low-key races, the opposite of pressure. And it’s a 35 mph windstorm combined with a blizzard – did anybody else run on Sunday? Of course, all thoughts of PR’s or times in general are not on the radar. We call – sorry, the race is NOT cancelled. Will anybody be there – hopefully not, maybe Eva wins and 500 points. A pretty small field (apx 70 stalwarts) are there. I’m bundled up, and in lightweight training shoes instead of flats. And the icy storm feels great. Mini-warmup feels good; I tell Eva, I’m going for it. Haven’t run in these insane conditions in a race in ages. I WONT DNF two in a row – that’s extra motivation.

We start facing the blizzard, and the race is delayed, just to ice us over a bit. We’re off, and I’m with the leaders. This doesn’t happen – to me. In a quarter mile, I’m STILL with the leaders, including Charlie Slaughter, a first-order rival. Then, I somehow leave him behind and there’s a few ahead of me, but very few. Never see a split time. No way to draft – I’m alone. Turnaround at 1 mile, suddenly with the galeforce wind at my back, and absolutely floating, slight downhill. Long strides. Two I can see out ahead of me, I think there’s another ahead of them but not sure. See Eva coming other way, battling Jane Parks. Now I’m looking for the turnback into a wind, long time in coming, the boys ahead of me are pulling further ahead. At the final turnaround, I’m still OK, ready mentally for the final ¾ mile into the gust, and I see there’s someone not too far back. Last part is tough – but it’s the good pain, the on-the-edge-but-not-over pain, checking behind me, he’s gaining, but I hold him off. Third. Ya gotta be kidding.

Great effort. I’m on top of the world. What a difference a day makes. OK – I bask for a while, but NOW what I gotta know is – what does my time mean? 19:46. What is the EQUIVALENT? I’m sure, sub-19. Hey look, ma, I can still run under 19 if you believe that. Jane beats Eva, 1:15 slower than yesterday. Eva is 55 secs slower than yesterday. Charlie is minute slower. Later I call the race director to E-mail results, so I can figure everybody in both races, and really prove my point.

Well, there it is folks. Rantings of a disturbed individual. Any volunteers for our training cadre? Gary has personally mapped out some off-road specials; please sign release form first.
(and I thought Bruce was verbose...ed.)

There we were all lined up at the starting line praying for the gun to go off so that we could do our "job" and proceed to enjoy the perfect Spring Saturday. Most of the runners complained about the late morning start (the temperature was rising with each passing minute), but then again runners always find something to complain about.