Surrounding yourself with the right people and Cherry Blossom Recap

I think one of the major changes in my life over the past several years is surrounding myself more and more with a positive group of people who make me a better person.  A few years ago, I read an article and I have seen more and more of them popping up lately talking about how some of the most successful people in the world attribute a lot of their success and ideas to having a group of people around them that encourage them, promote them and just make them better each day.  An entourage if you must say, which is a great show also.  For most of my life I think I used to take that for granted and sometimes even just ignore when people would say “Great job Nick” when I accomplished something that didn’t seem significant to me.  I think we all have huge goals for ourselves and we feel like achieving them are the only ways sometimes we feel validated but over the past few years having people in my life who support me day in and out with positivity and supporting feedback I think has lead me to an overall better place in my life.

I never thought it mattered who I surrounded myself with on a daily basis when I was younger but as I have grown up into my 30’s I realized who I allow into my life to influence me is a very important decision.  Too often we let people into our inner circle or close group without truly realizing how they may be affecting our lives, sometimes in a negative manner.  Ridding yourselves of toxic people who aren’t there for your best interests, who aren’t there to support you, who are just there for themselves can have a huge impact on your success and general well-being.  In the end you are the sum of who you spend your time with. Make sure that those are people who lift you, inspire you, and motivate you to do and be more. And even as you grow up you might change friends but that’s just part of life.  In the end trust that the hard work, positivity, and keeping your sights high are things you can’t risk deviating from if you want the life you dream of.

My latest race was the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler on April 8^th, and it was my first time running this race although I have spectated it on numerous occasions.  The weather forecast called for really cold conditions but my training was really solid and I felt great.  I decided to sleep in my own bed the night before and ride down with some friends the morning of, which turned out to be quite easy thanks to some secret parking locations from the always clutch Pete Mulligan.  We grabbed a quick warmup and wore way more clothing then I figured I’d ever be wearing for an April race and jogged over to the start.  Due to people lining up way to early it involved a good deal of pushing through people to make it towards the front area but finally made it before the gun went off but being 30 minutes after my warmup I was barely warm anymore.  So off we went and I tried to be pretty calm and follow coach’s advice and settle in a little slower for the first mile and smile often!  So I let a lot of competitors I know go and settled in and rolled through the first mile in 5:28, after that mile the little pack I was in started to break off and 3 people surged ahead so I followed them for the next 3 miles and rolled into some solid splits 16:48 through the 5k 21:35 for 4 miles but then fell off that pack a little as we rolled through 5 miles and I came across in 27:04, which was right where I wanted to be halfway through a 10 miler.

However, as I continued I just never felt like I ever got in a good groove and after 5 I let my mind wander for a little bit taking in a bit too much of the scenery and not focusing enough on the grueling task at hand as the pack ahead of me started to gap me by a wide margin.  I ran by some of my friends who took time out of their morning to come down and cheer in the cold and I snapped out of it and tried to get moving again to catch that pack, coming through 10k in 33:41, which is my fastest 10k since 2002!  Right after 10k my teammate Maxime caught up to me, while wearing headphones of course and got me to go with him.  For 2 miles we ran together but I could not find a consistent pace, we’d run stride for stride but then I’d chop up my strides and fall back only having to surge again to catch up.  Right around 6.5 my hamstring started to tightened up and I could feel me having to adjust my stride, but with 3.5 to go I was not going to let that ruin my day.

Around 8 Maxime started to pull away and again I was left to my own devices to get to the finish line, 2 people rolled past me during the last 2 miles and both times I took the energy I had to go with them for as long as I could but my pace was slowing.  My slowest two miles were my last two 5:36 and 5:42, the last mile is basically the only uphill mile on the entire course.  I worked really hard getting up that hill knowing I was siphoning time that I spent the first 8 miles earning at this point.  As I saw the clock I knew a PR was in the cards and I pushed hard into the finish line closing in on 54:44 a 14 second PR.  As I look back I think I know I left some time out there but ultimately on a day where things didn’t go perfectly to be able to still PR and run tough is a big win.  I took some time to celebrate with my teammates who all accomplished many great things that day themselves and then we hit up some DC breakfast and headed home.  On the road to NJ Half Marathon this 10-mile PR was a good stepping stone and with a couple weeks left I am feeling more confident than ever to go after a shiny new half PR on 28 April.

St. Patricks Day 5k and my training so far

As I am getting back on a regular blogging routine I wanted to recap how my winter is going and my goal races for the Spring and then lastly my past race/week.  This training cycle has been a slower buildup then I am used to, as I spent much of December, January and February just grinding out weeks with long runs and the occasional speed stuff during the week.  I constantly felt like I was taking 2 steps forward and one step back between re-injuries with my hamstring and various illnesses.  At one point after 5 days straight off in January dealing with the flu to instantly be followed up with a stomach virus I was beyond frustrated.  I had started feeling like my goals for the Spring were going out the window and my negativity had quickly started festering.  At this point between the constant stream of positive energy from my coach and me just taking a step back and giving myself some perspective I was able to just acknowledge that this is just the ebb and flow of running.  No training cycle will go perfectly, no plan is perfect, it is just about being able to adapt and keep believing in yourself. 

During this training cycle I’ve had some poor weeks down to 30 miles, I’ve missed several workouts and long runs and even did not hit the times I wanted to on some workouts.  In the past I think that would have weighed heavily on me but this year I’ve been a lot more mindful with my running.  While taking time off because I was sick is frustrating I waited until I felt 100% before starting up again and I think that helped me hop back into it.  Then to follow-up the flu having to miss workouts and long runs because of my hamstring and a stomach virus was hard to stay positive through as I know in the past I would have run through these things but I kept realizing by doing the right thing in January/February it will allow me to be better off in April.  Progression is not always a straight line in front of you as there are many obstacles, barriers and sometimes steps backwards to get you to where you want to go, but the key is to make it all a part of your journey.  The good and the bad of my training so far is what has gotten me to where I am today.  It’s obviously easier to look back with confidence now that I am running well that I made the right decisions, but I’d argue it’s because of the decisions I made is why I am running well today.

I finally raced for the first time since Boston 2017, in a local 5k with some really good competition upfront.  When my fitness started coming around I pinpointed this 5k on a Friday evening as a race I wanted to run to gauge some of my fitness ahead of Cherry Blossom 10 Miler in early April but I told my coach I was unsure if I could run a fast 5k.  Last year I spent a lot of the year doing specific 5k workouts so I had confidence when I ran 16:10 at the Shamrock 5k in March.  So going into this race I was somewhat unsure and I really didn’t set a goal, although if you had asked me I would have guessed I’d run about 17 minutes.  My goal was to just run hard and race a bunch of my teammates who were all very fit right now.  I also got to run a race with my wife for the first time in several years so that was very fun!  Leading up to the race I was feeling really good on my runs and had no real hamstring concerns but I was still a bit skeptical, also this was the first real race I was going to be running with my coach so I was going to basically judge the entire experience on the outcome of this race(I kid).  I was operating on confidence in my ability to get up for a competitive race, and the fitness I have achieved over the past several months which has been very different then past training cycles. 

So Friday night came and it was of course a cold and extremely windy evening so I did my best to ignore all that noise.  Everyone has to run in this so no reason for making excuses or worrying about it.  I felt good on the warmup, tossed in some strides and rolled up to the line extremely calm(well calm for me, which is still probably super stressful for other runners.  If you ever see me at a race see how antsy I am at the starting line.  There are countless photos of me bouncing up and down everytime I get on the starting line).  The race started and it was immediately downhill and everyone was flying, probably 400 meters in I look around and I am back in about 14^th place 50 meters back of the lead pack.  The very first thoughts to hit my mind, Am I ready for this, Am I trained properly.  I quickly tossed those thoughts away, (remembering the fantastic book I read “How Bad Do You Want It?) settled in and moved to the inside to run the tangent while several other people went very wide.  As we hit the straight-away into the wind I started to get comfortable and confident again and moved up.  As we hit about 800 meters in I was in the top 5 and settled in trying to get some cover from the wind (there was none).  Andy and Conrad had pulled away a little so a pack for 3-4-5 had opened up behind them and I knew we had a big climb coming up with a lot of downhill to follow.  I knew Ed running next to me was a fantastic downhill runner so I knew after the mile it was time to break up the pack if I wanted any chance.  I came through the mile around 5:10 according to my watch and started working up the hill.  I broke up the pack a bit and came in close contact on Conrad but once I hit the top I lost some focus going down the hill.  Missing out on that beautiful sweet free energy, something I need to work on taking advantage of.  As I rolled through 2 in 10:30 or so I felt good and sitting in 3^rd but was not sure what I’d have left for that last mile.  Instead of focusing ahead on running hard I did my usual look over the shoulder worrying about getting caught, which is one of my worst traits I’ve picked up.  This time I managed to hold onto 3^rd and pushed into the finish line to run 16:21 but felt I left a little out there from all that worrying about getting caught.

16:21 is my second fastest 5k since college, 11 seconds slower than Shamrock last year and on a cold, windy evening in mid-march I’ll gladly take it.  I had some general concerns I was not ready to push this hard in the week leading up to the race but I felt I did a fantastic job to ignore all that noise on race day and just be confident I was ready to race.  During the race I did not let myself get psyched out or worried, I was very mindful to run the race I was capable of and to execute according to my strengths and I am happy for that.  And above all else I am just happy to be back to running fast after a long 9 months of getting here.  The road back sometimes isn’t all physical, I’ve dealt with a lot of mental demons/barriers over the months thinking maybe I just won’t ever be able to do this competitively again.  The pain just would never go away.  Sometimes as a runner when you get injured and can’t run you isolate yourself a bit, and a lot of my 2017 I did that and I’m sure it didn’t help with me getting back out there mentally.  So getting past all of that for me is a huge win.

My 2018 is just beginning and the best is yet to come, I have some big goals for 2018 and as long as I stay smart, motivated, and focused I think I can achieve them.  I couldn’t be prouder of all my Falls Road teammates and friends who ran so fast and kept me on my toes all race and for the past 9 months.  When I couldn’t run I pulled tons of motivation from watching them all run such fast times and I couldn’t wait to be back out there with them.  As for what’s up next on 8 April I’ll be running my first Cherry Blossom 10 miler going after a shiny new PR and then at the end of April I will be traveling back to the Jersey Shore to run the NJ Half Marathon and give it all I’ve got.  As always thank you so much for reading this and I hope you enjoyed.