I had resumed running again after the nearly 2 weeks I’d taken off to revise my script of Dig Down based off of the notes from the first script consultation I’d ever received. I was consistently running a mile a couple of times a week, and had built up the stamina to get to one and a half to two miles. It was at this time I decided to give my body a true test.
Every May, the Albany holds a Workforce Challenge. It’s an event where employees from jobs all over the Capital Region can run or walk a distance of 3.5 miles. It’s an event I had run several times in the past, but had to take a break from when my knee had taken a turn for the worst. I had entered the event the previous year, but only to walk, something I knew I could handle because it was a half mile less than what I was able to walk in the mornings on a daily basis.
I knew going into it that this was going to be a bit of a jump. I had proven to myself I could run, but I was only just getting to about half the distance of this race. On top of that, this was the first time I’d be running in such a large group since my knee had recovered. There were always people on the indoor track, and yes, some of the many workers would decide that it was fine for them to meander in the running lane, no matter how many times I lapped them. But this would be the first time I was testing out my knee weaving through tightly packed crowds.
When I signed up for the event, I didn’t tell anyone I would be running. If I ran out of gas once I reached two miles, or twisted my knee or something trying to work my way between pockets in the crowd, no one would ever have to know the aspirations that I’d had going into the run. There wasn’t really any pressure on me to run, but I didn’t want to start boasting about being able to run, only to have something go wrong and walk a portion of the race.
When I signed up, I gave myself a pretty slow pace, accounting for the possibility that I might have to walk a portion of it. I also stayed back a little further at the start of the race, in case I still wasn’t able to keep up with the runners in that bracket. All those runners in front of me usually gave me added motivation to keep chugging along, as there was always someone in front of me that I could mentally push myself to try to run down and pass.
I took it slow at the start of the race because it start off uphill. The first mile felt like it took a little longer to reach than usual. I think my eyes were scanning for signs of the second mile marker. When my legs didn’t feel tired or my lungs felt out of breath with a mile to go, I knew I had it in the bag. When I reached the same hill that had started the race, I think I was more focused on not racing down it too fast than I was anything else.
It wasn’t quite double the longest distance since I’d gotten back into running, but it was a mile and a half more than I’d previously pushed myself to run. And I’d passed this test with flying colors.
I’d started the day not telling anyone I was attempting to run again. I decided to put an end to keeping things to myself.
I met up with co-workers afterwards for some celebratory drinks. They were the first people I told that I would be running a marathon before the end of the year.