Coaches' Order

Running without my running buddy is hard sometimes. There's no one there to joke with, no one to rant and rave with, to keep our spirits up, and to help pull each other at the end of a long run. Yep, it's hard. Running by myself is even harder when a coach pulls you aside and gives you a very slow pace and forgets to tell you're running buddy.

"Gabby, you're pace should be 10:30 but I'm going to have to start off at 12 minutes a mile."

"What?! Are you sure?" I question back in disbelief.

"Yes, this is for your own good. Every mile decrease the pace by 15 seconds until you hit 10:30 minutes a mile. Trust me, you won't be tired at the end of your 14 miles," my coach says with a smile.

I snap a few photos of my running group and head out with the fast runners only to be left behind in the dust, literally. None of them are following the coaches pace he gave them and he forgot to give most of them their paces! Here I was, the last one in my running group, basically walking the first few miles in the heat, by the drying stinky sulfurous marshes of the Baylands Park. (An entire region of the Baylands are used to produce salt. When the water evaporates the only living creature/bacteria that lives in the saline water dries up and stinks the whole place up.)

I don't know what was harder, running slowly by myself or seeing my group run by me and finish before me. I did though, I stuck with the pace Coach Hao gave me and I wasn't happy at all. When I finished both Coach Tim and Coach Kris asked what was wrong with me. "You didn't smile once out there. Are you OK?"Coach Kris asked with a concerned look on her face.

I explained what Coach Hao had said and the only thing she kept saying is, "that's too slow for you."

Word got out to Coach Hao and he promised to pick up my pace. He was just being conservative with my time. He then told Victoria what had happened and told her that we must run together and maintain our pace. There's an order that made me happy.