Every year for the past four years, I have started a journey on January first to run 3,000 miles during the year. A goal that was instilled in me by my college cross country coach, Paul Deaton. So far, I have been successful in this endeavor for three of the four years, for a total of over 12,000 miles. This year was my most successful of the four, at least distance wise. I was able to run 3,432 miles, which is 80 miles over my previous record. It is an average of 66 miles per week, or 9.4 miles per day. I also found out an interesting thing about my health this year that also helped lead to more success and faster running than in my more recent years.
Since the end of 2018 I had been struggling with my breathing. At one point it was so bad that every run was a trudge. I could not run faster than an 8:30 mile and that was if I was lucky. Eventually this simmered out some towards the end of 2019, and I was able to run 7:30 miles again. Nowhere near where I had been, but much better than it was. So I settled for it happily, and I was still able to get a little faster from there, but in 2020 even after a large amount of training, I still was not able to beat my Half Marathon PR from before I was even really a high milage runner, so this was still incredibly frustrating.
When I moved up to New York, still during the height of the pandemic, doctor offices were not taking on new patients, but when the year turned, and the world seemed to be headed in the right direction after the vaccine roll outs, places started to open and allow new patients. My dad suggested that I go and get a physical. So I made an appointment and had my blood taken to be tested, not really thinking anything of it, but when the results came back the following day, I got a call from the doctor saying that something showed up in my bloodwork and to give them a call back. When I called, they told me that I was super Iron deficient, anemic. My iron was an 11, and normal iron levels are between 65 and 175. They put me on to an iron supplement for three months to see if my iron levels would go up to a normal level, and in those three months, I felt so much better, and I was faster, but when I got the results back from my next test, I was only at 22. Since I was still so far below the normal range, my dosage was upped to two iron pills a day. I have not gone back and been tested since then, but I feel great and have been running incredibly well, if not the best I have ever run.
A few other notes from the year, I got to run a season of cross country again, which was redeeming from my last season of cross country I ran in college. There were five races, and I was able to run in four of the five, the only one I missed was because I was in Chicago. The first race I ran an 18:03, which I did not expect to come anywhere near that, but it inspired me to push even harder the next race, where I ran a 17:43, which was my best XC 5k ever. All this surprised me, and it had me feeling great going into Chicago, I had trained hard all Summer and just about every run leading up to it had felt great, so imagine the shock I was in when my body gave up pretty early on in Chicago, and I processed slowly to finish line. Not a failure, but a huge learning experience, and it was some added inspiration for the rest of the racing season.
Two weeks later, it was time to run my first Mountain Goat, a ten-mile race through the hills of Syracuse. I had run the route a few times on group runs, but never in a speedy fashion. It has some big hills, but those are countered with some big descents as well. After my Chicago performance, Jerry, the Syracuse Track Club coach, told me to run the hills conservative and not to go out too fast. So I did just that. I figured it would be safe to say I was going to run a few minutes under 70, or if I was lucky 65 minutes, but I was off by quite a bit. I ended up 60:51, and I got 15th, both of which were incredibly surprising to me, especially since this was only two weeks after Chicago. I had earned some redemption, and it felt good, especially because I have never considered myself a good hill runner. Next was a XC 6k, which I had never raced at that distance before, but I took a similar approach. I started a little slow and then worked down the pace and ended up with a 21:12 on a beautiful, and way over saturated course that was filled with puddles.
This leads to the championship race, which was an 8k or 5 miles, which is the length of the collegiate XC races I ran, so now was my chance to really see if I was faster than when I was in college. The course was rough, it was a true XC course. There were stretches that were so muddy and slippery, it felt like I was walking instead of running, and no matter how I tried to change my stride, it did not help. Then with a little over a mile to go there was a massive hill, and at the top there was more mud as well. With all that, I still managed to run a 29:15, a 44 second PR from my college time, and it was on a harder course than the one I PRed on in 2018.
Finally, this got me to the last race of the year, a half marathon I signed up for last minute, and it was a week after the XC championship race, which had apparently messed with my knee due to all the slippage on the course, so I was not going into this race feeling great, but I was going to go for it none the less. Go for it I did! I stayed conservative through the first half and ran my race. I was in 8th going into the halfway point with a spread-out field in front of me, but as I picked up my pace, I slowly started to pick off the runners in front of me and made it all the way to fourth, where I pushed as hard as I could for the last 5k to catch the guy in third place, but I could not reach him. So I finished in fourth and ran a 77:40, an almost ten minute PR, and thus finally breaking my most illusive PR that had stood since 2017. It felt so good to finally break it, and to feel so good while doing it. By far my favorite race of the year.
The thing that I think continually draws me back to running is its ability to never really satiate the appetite. It seems like no matter what I seem to accomplish, may that be how far I run, or how fast I run, it is never completely satisfying, or when it is satisfying, it is very fleeting. There is always a want for more. After running a fast race, the first feeling might be elation, but very shortly after it turns to, “I should have run that faster.” Then thinking about the different ways in which I could have improved, and before you know it, the thoughts of success are gone, and they are filled with wanting to have done better. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it probably is what helps me to continue to try and run faster and push myself, but I do wish the joy was a little more lasting.
Another of the key running moments of the year came form my return to Berry. I was invited to a wedding that was going to take place at the college that I went to, and I was not going to pass up on a chance to return to Berry and be around some of the people that I had gotten close with during my year and a half of running in college, but this also gave me the chance to return to the routes that I loved running so much. So that Saturday I got up and did a long run with Cam, Jared, and two other Berry Alums. We ran from the cage, down VT, up Goat, and back on ORG, a classic long run route. Then the next day I got up early and ran a solo Goat as fast as I could, which considering the long run the day before and the partying at the night before, I did well. It was basically my equivalent of a religious pilgrimage, a return to my running Mecca.
When I finished my running career at Berry, I was barely running and not enjoying it. So to make this return and to be able to run the routes that I loved so much and run them well was incredibly important to me. It also provided a sense of closure. The last time I had run those routes, I had been miserable, but now I was flying down the trails and feeling great. Not to mention the nostalgia it created from running with Jared and Cam, who I had done many a long run with. The conversations were typically great, which always helps to pass the miles by. On this specific date there was a long conversation about what Cam was studying at Penn State, some reminiscing, and some comparison as to the towns we live in now, but it all made me think back to one specific long run conversation I remembered where there was a long discussion on what each person’s plan would be if there was a zombie apocalypse.
I would also be remiss if I did not mention the massive role that Syracuse Track Club and Lake Effect Run Club have played in my running success. Each Wednesday and Thursday I go and run with a great crew of people that help me push to be the best runner I can be, and they also make the runs so much more enjoyable. Each week is typically spent waiting to get to Wednesday or Thursday so that I can run with the crew, and after that the rest of the week is a breeze. So thank you to everyone involved in that.
This year also included two one-hundred-mile weeks, well one was one hundred and one miles. Both took place during weeks I had off from work, not your typical way of resting on a break from work, but it is my favorite way to do so. The second one-hundred-mile week took place last week, and as I did my last run of 14 miles, I knew it was going to cause an injury after, but I went for it anyways, and I was right, but for some reason, I will still argue that it was worth it. It has also been the least upset about a running related injury I have had, mainly due to the fact that it was a very clear choice that I made knowing the result, so there is not much to be upset about, so I have taken this week in stride, and in the past seven days I have run less than any of my single days last week, but rest is good, even if it is forced rest, which is really the only kind of rest I am willing to take. So here is to hoping for another 3,000 mile year, and congratulations to those who reached their running goals. See you out there!
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