No Need for Speed

At right is a view of a recent winter snow from my backyard. Snow is rather rare in Maryland so I wanted to take pictures, and this time it melted the next day.

I was doing a recovery run last weekend around Lake Elkhorn and I had a variety of aches and pains that don't usually happen. I sensed that I was running too fast, especially for a shorter recovery run. When I got home, I realized that I had just run at my 5K race pace! When I ran the numbers in the Runner's World training calculator, it showed that based on my typical 5K race pace of 34 mins., my long runs should be at 13 min/mile. It will take me about 1:11 to finish that upcoming 10K and I'll finish the half-marathon in 2:36.

My running mantra is going to be the title of John Bingham's column and book, "No Need for Speed." This week I ran 6.5 miles without any walk breaks. I purposely tried to run slow, as if I were going in slow motion. The third lap around the lake was still a bit difficult and at the end my hips ached a bit, but whenever the going got tough, I reminded myself that there's no need for speed and tried to slow down and keep going at an easy pace. Even so, I'm still going faster than the recommended 13 mins.

This weekend spring was in the air and the temperature got up to 60 degrees! I broke out my tights and jacket. It was a beautiful day and a lot of people took a break from Saturday chores to enjoy the nice weather. A woman from church came up to me and asked me if I'd been running at Lake Elkhorn and said that she was there and didn't recognize me. No matter, I told her. One of my biggest joys in my life with a cochlear implant is hearing people say "hi" to me as I run by. I think of all the times when I didn't have the cochlear implant or wore a hearing aid and didn't hear anybody saying anything--how rude it must have seemed when I didn't say "hi" back to them.

A big "hi" and "good morning" to everyone that passes me in the park! You make my day!!