“What made you want to play so fast?”—Interviewer
“I don’t know, it seemed like a good idea at the time.”—Lemmy Kilmister
I was watching a show on VH1 the other night about the evolution of thrash metal, and Motorhead was mentioned as the inspiration for many of the thrash bands that followed them. Lemmy, the lead singer and bassist of Motorhead, was asked why he wanted to play fast music and he answered that “it seemed like a good idea at the time.” And I think his answer perfectly explains this whole pursuit. Why do I want to run so fast? I don’t know, but it seems like a good idea.
I just suffered what feels like my first injury. After doing the interval speed training on Saturday, I tried it again on Tuesday. In fact, I went to the gym on Monday, but there was a running club of kids on the track and it was too crowded, so I left without running. I got to the gym on Tuesday and it was clear sailing on the track. I stretched, though clearly not enough.
Before I even started running, I saw my eight year-old down in the gym with a group from his after-school program playing team handball. I was waiting to see if he would notice me up on the track, but one of the counselors apparently pointed me out to him and when he saw me, he waved. That was a nice distraction from the running.
Almost as soon as I started sprinting, I felt something in my left hamstring. I did the first lap (1/16 mile) in 20.23. The second sprint lap was faster at 19.60, but the pain in the hamstring was still there. By the third sprint lap, I had slowed a little bit to 21.38 because the pain in the hamstring was getting worse. At that point, I probably should’ve stopped, but I was hoping the pain would subside with further running and loosening muscles. But the pain wasn’t going away and the fourth sprint lap was 22.55. I had a slight uptick in speed on the fifth sprint lap, 21.15, but the pain was getting worse. My last sprint lap was 24.16 and by halfway through the lap, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to run any more laps. I sat down on the edge of the track and tried to stretch out the hammy, but it hurt. The next day was Veteran’s Day and it still hurt, though not as badly, so hopefully it was more of a soreness issue than an actual injury. I’ll see how it goes next time I run.
My sister, who had knee surgery today, texted me at close to midnight the night before surgery. After thanking me for the well-wishes, she wrote “And B is extremely interested in your quest for the four minute mile—was the subject of much discussion tonight.” I’m definitely curious to hear more about the discussion. My niece is, like my oldest son, 10 and a half. Unfortunately, we don’t live near my sister or parents, which is something I have a lot of guilt about. I can’t even really get into the depths of that now, but I wish we lived closer to my sister and her family and that my kids got to see their cousins more often. My niece is a really good soccer player and apparently, last year she ran the fastest mile in her class, a 7 minute mile. I hope to speak to her soon and provide some clarity on my quest.
Every night, when we put the kids to bed, I snuggle with my two youngest, who are 8 and 5, respectively, and share a room. I always start by snuggling my daughter (5), who usually falls asleep within a few minutes. The 8 year-old rarely falls asleep during the snuggle, and it’s usually a struggle to get him to stop talking or at the very least to speak quietly enough that he doesn’t wake his sister. The 10 year-old usually stays up and reads in bed, sometimes asking my wife for a snuggle, but rarely asking me for one.
When I went into his room to tuck him in tonight, he asked if I would snuggle him, though without touching his shoulder, he said, because they all got flu shots today and it was sore. My oldest has asked me, more than once, if he could run with me. He asked me if I was planning on running tomorrow and if I was, if I could pick him up from his after school program early so he could run with me. It’s definitely an interesting thought for a variety of reasons. For one thing, I’ve been running by myself and it wouldn’t be a bad thing to have someone run with me. I’m not sure he really knows what a mile is, especially since he seemed in total shock when I told him how many laps we’d have to run in order to run a mile.
But second, and most important, he and I have had a rocky relationship over the past year to year and a half. I don’t clash with anyone in my family the way he and I clash. If I say go left, he goes right. If I say no, he goes and asks my wife. He thinks I hate him much of the time, which couldn’t be further from the truth. I love him more than anything, but a lot of the time I struggle with his attitude and how to deal with it. As he was lying there asking me to get him early so he could run with me, I thought that maybe this is a good way to start to fix things. Maybe spending time together a few times a week, just the two of us, working towards something almost impossible, would be really good for us. Maybe this will help start to repair something that has seemed broken. I’ve been enjoying the break that running has given me from my kids, but maybe if I let him train with me it will help create a bond that is meaningful on a different level. More than anything, I would love to not feel like we’re always on the verge of a fight, that when I say something, he won’t run to Mommy for a different answer.
And hey, if we happen to be the first father-son team to break a four minute mile together, that’d be alright too.
Stay tuned.