Blog - Racing Is Not Cancelled
Racing Is Not Cancelled
It is April 18th, 2020 and I am standing at the start line of the Yellow Springs High School track. Aside from my wife who is doing a 10K in the outer lanes, I am alone. I’ve already done a 2-mile warm up, I’m in my racing kit with my racing flats, and I’ve a leftover #1 bib from a kids’ race I previously organized that I decided to wear. My speaker is at the edge of the track playing my favorite songs. It is race day. But how did we get here? Why am I racing alone on a track and where was everyone else?
“Why am I racing alone on a track and where was everyone else?”
It was March of 2019; I went to Chicago for a conference and after checking into my hotel I proceeded to the lakefront and unbeknownst to me embarked upon what would be one of the best workouts of my life. I ended up running 11 miles while averaging 5:37/mile. My incredible happiness with the performance however would be short lived as that day’s effort was pyrrhic. Little did I know just two weeks later I would have a stress fracture in my 2nd metatarsal. That was the first of two stress fractures in my right foot in a 3-month span. 2+ years of steady training erased in a few months.
It would be early August before I was finally running smoothly again without issue, even then though I did not do speed workouts, my foot was simply too fragile. I trained through the fall and found myself at the start line of the 49th annual NYC Marathon healthy and fit. It would end up being a personal record day (albeit just barely).
Like I do after every racing season I took two weeks off, but I was thirsty. Thirsty to start the base building phase for the spring and get back to where I was and then blow by that. So, after that two weeks passed, I jumped right back into things and started building my volume. As December gave way to January, it was time to start my 18-week training cycle with the focus being a personal record performance at the Flying Pig 10K.
For those who live in Southwest Ohio, you know we had a crummy winter. More often than not it was a few degrees to warm to snow and we ended up with many very cold rainy days. I refused to let those get me down and I dropped workouts, long runs, easy runs, and everything else in all sorts of nasty conditions. My first test of the season came when I traveled to Florida to race the Gasparilla 15K. On what was a perfectly cool and dry day (a rarity for Tampa, Florida) I proceeded to have one of the best races of my life. Gaspy is a flat/fast out and back course but on this day had a tailwind out and a headwind on the way back. I turned around in 11th and fought with everything through a headwind for 4+ miles to finish 6th and set a personal record. It was crystal clear that my training was going perfectly, a big personal record at the Flying Pig 10K was going to be mine…
And then overnight, it was all gone.
“And then overnight, it was all gone.”
In what now seems like one blink of the eye, the whole spring slate of races disappeared off the map. There was that moment where it seemed like it might only impact a few weeks of races, but it quickly steamrolled the spring and left nothing in its wake.
Like millions of runners the world over, I was completely dismayed. So many miles in freezing rain. So many laps leaving everything I had on the track. So many long runs I had not wanted to do but did. For what?
Until that moment in time, I had never done a virtual race. Oddly enough I had been an advocate of Air Force Marathon adding a virtual division for our 24th annual AFM because I realized there was a segment of our audience who would benefit from that addition. However, you would not find me signing up for a virtual race. That is until that was all that remained, virtual races.
“Until that moment in time, I had never done a virtual race.”
At this point I have seen the comment far too many times, virtual races “aren’t the same”. I suppose this argument has merit. As it pertains to the Air Force Marathon, many features of our event are unique to the race day experience, flyovers, senior leadership handing you a hard-earned medal, the Air Force Band of Flight roaming around the venue playing live music, running around Wright-Patterson AFB, etc. All features that cannot be replicated in a virtual race experience. Every event has unique aspects that their virtual counterpart cannot replace.
I guess it depends why you run and race, however? We all have different reasons and drivers that fuel us. It took me far too many thousands of miles to learn my own, I have only two. The first being that no matter what is going on in my life, when I am running, everything is right. For those miles I am alone or with friends, in the rain or in the heat, I am me and doing what I love.
“For those miles I am alone or with friends, in the rain or in the heat, I am me and doing what I love.”
The other reason is the constant pursuit of personal growth. Running is extremely quantifiable which I greatly enjoy. How many miles per week? What is your personal record at X distance? Longest you have run in one go? Most miles in a year? Average pace? The sport is filled with metrics that can be computed with free apps, smart phones, GPS watches, or as simply as a stopwatch at local track. For me it has always been about running fast, as fast as I can. What anyone else can run is of little importance. I compare myself only to myself. And all that matters is I give the best effort I have day in and day out. The result of which translates into personal records. The personal records while treasured are more important in that they indicate my commitment to personal growth; they are a reward for doing something consistently and with 100% effort over long periods of time. Each PR becomes harder to obtain than the last and I have to work harder and harder for them. It is a never-ending cycle of growth.
“The personal records while treasured are more important in that they
indicate my commitment to personal growth; they are a reward for doing something consistently
and with 100% effort over long periods of time.”
When I thought back to those two reasons, it became clear to me that racing was not cancelled and that virtual races were going to be fine. Thus, when my racing schedule got wiped clean, I chose a virtual 10K, circled a date on my calendar, and prepared. I kept grinding, run after run and workout after workout knowing the season would end with me alone on a track.
April 18th finally arrived, I did my warmup and was ready to race. The next 25 laps tested everything I had trained for over an 18-week training cycle. If you have never had the privilege of racing a 10K on the track, it is mentally one of the most challenging events. As the race progresses each 400m lap becomes a race in and of itself. Slow down just a little per lap and the result is a much slower time. Lap after lap I fought alone with no one watching. 32 minutes and 50 seconds later I had bested my own personal record that had stood for over 3 years. I had run over 8,000 miles since the last time I had set a personal record in the 10K. This moment was so hard fought for.
“This moment was so hard fought for.”
There was no wild fanfare. No one to hand me a medal. No grand finish line structure in downtown of a big city. There were not even other runners as my wife had finished her run 15 minutes prior and was waiting for me, she was the only one that witnessed the best 10K I have ever raced (for now).
In the two months since I have witnessed the cancellations of races continue through the summer and now into the fall. Virtual races are quickly becoming all that remains on the calendar for 2020 and the comment, “they’re not the same” continues from some.
To that though I ask, is my personal record 10K not the same? Is it lesser because I ran it alone as part of a virtual 10K? Is it less special? Less memorable? Absolutely not. In fact I’d argue it is one of the most memorable races I have ever done. I will never forget how hard fought it was to race 25 laps alone and walk away with a PR after the physical setbacks of two broken metatarsals and the cancellation of races I had put so much effort into training for. My wife (and GPS watch) as my witness, what happened on April 18th, 2020 was one of the most memorable races of my life, one I will treasure always.
“My training is not deferred though. Workouts will resume and many long, hot, and very humid runs await me on Saturday mornings.”
This coming Monday I was set to begin my 18-week training plan for the 50th NYC Marathon, however it was cancelled this week, and I have deferred to 2021. My training is not deferred though. Workouts will resume and many long, hot, and very humid runs await me on Saturday mornings. I have already accepted that when November 1st comes, I will be racing virtually. I will taper as the date draws near, wake up early that morning, have my coffee, listen to my favorite music to get in the zone, do a quick warmup, put on my racing flats, and set out on a 26.2 mile effort in an attempt to smash my PR. Because racing is not cancelled.
Written by: Brandon Hough, Director
Related Pages:
2020 Virtual Air Force Marathon
2020 Virtual Race Registration
Meet the Team
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