I am an old runner but new to blogging. As an old teammate of Eric's from Binghamton U days, I asked if the perspective of a retired runner with a son following in the "Old Man's" footsteps would be a worthwhile addition to the blog. Eric agreed so here goes.
First, let's get the preliminaries out of the way. I ran in high school and had a pretty good, but not exactly stellar career. I'm really dating myself by referring to yards vs. meters, but my best events were the 600 yd. run during winter season and the 440 in spring. However, I was pretty versitile and ran everything from the 100 yd. to cross country as a conditioning season. By the time I got to Binghamton in 1974, I was eager to continue in a comfortable Division III program. I got a slightly rude shock when the team travel schedule got in the way of school work. While not flunking by any means, I soon realized that I had to make a choice between grades and running and grades won. I was "in and out again" between freshman and sophomore years but by the end of my sophomore year, my track career came to an end.
I was all but inactive during my junior year but by the time I was a senior, I was determined to get back into running, even if it was on my own. Perhaps inspired by the beginning of the marathon craze, I starting road running on my own and competing in the occasional 5 mile, 10K race. I was smitten from that point on. I was a road running junkie and if nothing else, stayed in pretty good shape running 40+ miles a week and racing with the idea that the New York Marathon would be a piece of cake in under 4 hours. That's when John Lennon's famous line about live is what happens when you start making other plans came into play.
My downfall was that while I ran "hard" I did not run "smart." Now Coach Truce will surely be critical of my training and justifiably so. It seems I forgot all about cross training, flexibility, upper body development, rest intervals and just about every reasonable and prudent element of distance running. Being a sprint convert, I took that approach to distance. If I wasn't running everything fast, I wasn't running. The Jim Fixx era was in and we all know what happened to him! Then the injuries started, mostly in the lower spine. I slogged on throughout my 20's and early 30's. I joined a pretty good running club in Southport Connecticut where I had settled after college. I was running every Sunday morning with marathoners and tri-athletes. Guys who thought that 26.3 miles was a warm-up for the 100 mile ultra or the 24 hour endurance runs. I thought I was pretty hot when I could still run the opening mile of a 10K under 6 minutes when I was 32 years old, but then had to throttle back to around 7:30 to comfortably finish. And more pain. Back spasms would come and go. I was lucky to put my socks on for a ten day stretch, recover and then go out and do it again. I went through periods where I spent more time recovering than running. By age 37 it was over. The simple choice was find another form of physical exercise or the spine surgery could be done at any time.
My departure from running was sudden but necessary. I found a good trainer, joined a YMCA and found other ways to stay in shape. I did all this reluctantly and still pine for a peaceful and beautiful 10K in the park. But I knew when to say when so I envey all of you who can continue to run as we cross the 50 year age barrier. But there is hope for me in my 16 year old son Greg, who has taken to track with passion. Better for me, Greg is running the same events I did so I now enjoy the vicarious thrill of reliving my past in his present. But don't worry, I'm not that obsessed to be the coaching helicopter parent from hell. Greg is doing just fine with a great coach but more about that in future posts. This is my initial entry to set the stage for my observations about watching your kid do the same stuff you did, but maybe a lot better, certainly smarter! Let's just end by me saying that I'm probably having more fun watching high school meets again than anything I have done in a long time. It's great to relive the sights, sounds and even smells.
For now, I'll say goodbye and Happy New Year!
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