We ran our local Fox And Turkey Trot in Batavia, IL. The Fox River Trail Runners (FRTRs) put this race on every year, and it’s well done. As in managed, not cooked.

We reprised a photo from ten years ago with my wife, Sue, and son Evan posing with the mascots post-race. That’s the part of this story that stuns me. Ten years went by fast!

Ten years ago, Sue and I got married. We’ve gone to dozens of races and traveled to many cities since then. I’ve gotten deeper into triathlon, working my way up from Sprints to the Olympic and Half-Ironman distances. My swimming has come a long way, the cycling pace is still decent, but my running, unfortunately, has gotten slower.

The time I ran ten years ago in the same turkey trot averaged 7:09 per mile for about 29:00. This past Thanksgiving, I ran 8:40 pace accompanied by my son, who kept me entertained with stories along the say. I couldn’t reply in kind, as I was running near my limit, given how little running I did this year compared to others. I had neither the breath nor the brain space to talk much. I was concentrating hard to stay on pace. I didn’t go into the race with any expectations, but found myself eager to run as fast as I could once the race started.

There was a time when I ran this four-mile road race distance in 19:49, a result that would have won every edition of this race, as the record stands at 19:52.

Confessions

I’ll be honest: it’s tough for me standing in the middle of the pack wishing I was young again. But hearts and lungs have their limits, as do muscles, sinew, ligaments, and brains. I felt my heart rate surge just after two miles.

I’d run 1.5 miles at 8:40 pace by then, and we turned a corner into the wind. Perhaps that’s what set it off. After that, it stayed above 170 for the next two miles.

Easing into it

This is how it is for runner’s my age. Our bodies need far more time to warm up than they once did. For me, that means twenty minutes of easy jogging. Before that, I’m not efficient.

We typically warmed up for 20-30 minutes before workouts and races in my prime racing years during the late 1970s and early 80s. And thus, blaming myself these days for not going out the door at 8:00 pace is dumb.

Perhaps you’ve experienced similar deprecating self-talk, but it’s hard not to compare today’s runs to past efforts. But I’ll make a pledge here not to do that going forward. I’ll even leave my watch behind some days, and just run. It’s even more important in the pool, where I constantly push to swim at certain rates, even though what I need to do is turn off the pressure and enjoy being in the water. I’m pretty sure I’ll swim longer and more that way.

A few summers ago, I ditched the bike data and rode for fun. Sometimes I went fast. Sometimes not. My fitness turned out about the same.

These baselines and heart rates are important to understand, but they should not control us. There’s so much to be gained by living ‘in the moment.’ These photos show that.

Still, my wife ran a 4-mile PR and nearly beat me in this race. I’m proud of her, but more than that, I’m glad she chose to marry me. I’m also grateful that my son put up with my gasping silence for four miles. He did get to see my racing instincts early on as we plied our way through the crowds after cresting the Houston Street hill.

It was fun. Those are my heartfelt feelings.