My Carrot is a Geezer
Let's not dance around it: I would LOVE to qualify for Boston when I run the Toronto Waterfront Marathon this coming October. Is it reasonable to expect this to happen? Sadly, no. Asking my body to hold what is currently my 10k PR pace for 42.2 kilometres is a bit of a stretch at the moment, but it all depends on how training goes. Ultimately I should just train smart, train hard, and use the results of said training to set a challenging, but reasonable, goal for race day.
Then comes along the spry 80 year-old Ed Whitlock in Rotterdam this past weekend and I get to thinking... He's more than twice my age, a world class athlete, kicking ass and taking names wherever he goes. I'm just a schmuck attempting to force my wonky limbs to do something resembling a running motion for long enough at fast enough a pace to get to Boston.
I have no idea why I'm thinking this way. It could be the spicy chicken and bean burrito I just ate, but I think I have my Nemesis. Nitmos has Beardsley. I have Ed Whitlock.
Oh, you want to know his time from this weekend? Minor detail. He only broke the old age-group world record by 14 minutes, and his BQ standard by a mere 1 hour and 35 minutes, so you know: meh...
3:25:40
Yup. That may be the goal for yours truly. Not the 3:10 or less I need to qualify for Boston for 2012 (and likely not get in anyway given their new application process). Not the 3:15:59 that was up until recently my BQ mantra and a series of numbers and symbols that magically found their way into a variety of my many computer passwords. And not the nice round 3:30 that I was shooting for last year.
3:25:40 means 4:53/km or 7:51/mile
Take that Ed Whitlock. I'm coming to getcha! My carrot comes not in the smile of my children's faces when I cross that finish line, or the full body massage that I'm certain my wife has waiting for me shortly thereafter. No, it comes in the form of a geezer. And hey, I say that with all the respect in the world that he deserves. He's a spectacularly fast geezer...
... but he's GOING DOWN!!!
Because you're never too young to beat somebody many years your senior.
And yes, you may quote me.
Then comes along the spry 80 year-old Ed Whitlock in Rotterdam this past weekend and I get to thinking... He's more than twice my age, a world class athlete, kicking ass and taking names wherever he goes. I'm just a schmuck attempting to force my wonky limbs to do something resembling a running motion for long enough at fast enough a pace to get to Boston.
I have no idea why I'm thinking this way. It could be the spicy chicken and bean burrito I just ate, but I think I have my Nemesis. Nitmos has Beardsley. I have Ed Whitlock.
3:25:40
Yup. That may be the goal for yours truly. Not the 3:10 or less I need to qualify for Boston for 2012 (and likely not get in anyway given their new application process). Not the 3:15:59 that was up until recently my BQ mantra and a series of numbers and symbols that magically found their way into a variety of my many computer passwords. And not the nice round 3:30 that I was shooting for last year.
3:25:40 means 4:53/km or 7:51/mile
Take that Ed Whitlock. I'm coming to getcha! My carrot comes not in the smile of my children's faces when I cross that finish line, or the full body massage that I'm certain my wife has waiting for me shortly thereafter. No, it comes in the form of a geezer. And hey, I say that with all the respect in the world that he deserves. He's a spectacularly fast geezer...
... but he's GOING DOWN!!!
Because you're never too young to beat somebody many years your senior.
And yes, you may quote me.
Labels: ed whitlock is my chump
posted by Vava at
1:23 PM
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