“I’m going to the gym to get one step closer to a 4 minute mile.”—Me
“Or one step closer to breaking your knees.”—My son, 10.
The wife and I went out to a bar for a friend’s birthday party last weekend, and I spent a good deal of time talking about my 4 minute mile project with some of our friends. As we walked in, I saw my friend Dan, a podiatrist. “Do you do, or know about, knees? Or is it just feet?” I asked. “Just feet. But if your knees are hurting, we could look at making you orthotics. That might help.” We got drinks and discussed my flat feet and how that might be the cause of my knee pain.
As I moved towards the back of the room, I ran into another friend who told me how much she loved reading this series. “I think what you’re doing is great,” she said, “but 4 minutes? Why don’t you shoot for a 5 minute mile?” I’ve been getting that a lot, the whole “Why don’t you run a 5 minute mile instead of a 4 minute mile” thing. I recognize what a monumental achievement it would be to even break five minutes, let alone four. “Because there’s nothing sexy or mythical about breaking a 5 minute mile,” I answered. “Lots of people can run a five minute mile, but not many can run a four minute mile. Most likely, that group includes me. But I want to see how close I can get.” “Do you think you can do it without hurting yourself?” she asked. “That’s an excellent question,” I laughed. “I don’t know, I doubt it. My knees already hurt.”
I finally got back to the gym this past weekend in between taking my daughter to dance at 9 am, my boys to basketball at 11 am and the 8 year-old’s lacrosse game at 6 pm. On the advice of the potential coach, I was working on stamina instead of speed, so I got on the treadmill and set it for 20 minutes. My knees hurt immediately, and not just sore, but a buckling “maybe I can’t run harder than a light jog” kind of hurt. I kept going, hoping that it would ease as I got into a rhythm, which it did. I settled in and kept increasing the speed so that when I stopped at 15 minutes, I had run 1.6 miles.
I am SO far from 4 minutes that I wonder if there’s any chance that I could even get close, what with a full-time job, three kids and bad knees/old body. I can’t get discouraged yet because I feel like I haven’t even really begun to train in earnest. I know I really WANT to do this and I want to put the work in to get close, I just don’t know HOW I’m going to accomplish this feat. I guess it will become a little bit clearer after I meet with the potential coach/trainer after Thanksgiving. Also, we’re going to a one mile Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning, so I look forward to seeing how I’ll do in a “real race.”
Stay tuned.