Just thought I'd make sure everyone had seen that our Deena Kastor went and broke Joanie B's 21-year-old American record for the half at yesterday's Philadelphia Distance Run. It's a little surreal for us mere mortals to look at her time. Just seeing the number yesterday, 1:07:53, inspired in me a sense of awed wonder. And a little jealousy too, I have to admit. Could I train as hard as she does? Would my body hold up and get stronger and ever faster like her or would I quickly succumb to injury and fatigue?
Anyone who has a job with standard hours, a family, friendships, trash to take out, meals to cook, laundry to wash and even the vaguest interest in current events knows that there are hardly enough hours in the day to fit in all these things and still have time for a six mile run every day. Once you start adding in track workouts and long runs, sit-ups and stretching...you realize very quickly that something has to give. Anyone who has seen the state of my apartment will see where I make my compromises! But I can't help but be curious about the Deena question. Can I train that hard and still stay healthy? And even more fundamentally, can I even find the time to train anywhere near that intensity?
This week wasn't encouraging in that regard. I feel very busy lately, coping with an increased workload at my current job while, at the same time, trying to find a new one. I got in my miles, but it required getting in two runs on Friday and a longer-than-I'm-really-ready-for run yesterday. Still, I made it to 46 miles, which is one more mile than I ran last week, which was one more mile than I'd run the week before, so there is progress going on here.
I do not however have any delusions that I'm really running anything that could truly be called high mileage. While I was visiting my parents in Richmond, VA this past weekend and feeling pretty proud of myself for getting in 18 miles with an area running group, a local runner from there, Christopher Calfee made a bid for a Guinness Book world record by trying to run 350 miles without sleeping. He (only?) made it to 316, but he finished off the feat by racing a 5K in 19:15!
I suppose I'm awed by his feat as well, but given the choice, I'd rather aspire to be Deena.
