Why Chasing 18's?

It was June 23, 1995 and I had no idea what I was getting myself into.  After about 2 or 3 years of running maybe putting in 20 miles a week I decided to sign up for my first 5K.  At this point I had no running friends and by no stretch was I viewed as a runner by anyone.  I was just 'Jay' - a guy that miraculously went home from college after his freshman year and came back 75 lbs lighter in the fall.  And here I was, lining up in what I would later find out was one of Charlotte's premiere 5K's - The Summer Breeze.  

I paid my entry fee and followed the crowd trying to act like I knew what I was doing.  In hindsight ignorance must really be bliss because 100 races later I get more nervous today that I was on that day.  I had no expectations because I had never run for time, so I lined up and like every new 5Ker when the gun went off I ran like hell.  I clocked a very respectable 18:19 in my first race but running in the 20-24 age group that wasn't even good enough for an age group award.  Not even 5 deep.  Little did I know I would spend the next 20 years of my life chasing a 5K P.R.

I continued running fairly regularly running mostly local 5K's where I began racking up medals and age group awards.  Apparently guys stop running in their mid 20's so at this point I could still balance drinking beer and staying out all night with running sub 20 5K's and still feel good about myself.  As I grew into my 30's I continued running in the 19's, occasionally dropping into the 18's but never getting near my P.R. from my first 5K.  Growing tired of chasing high school kids I decided to increase my mileage and step out of the box to run a few half marathons.  Alright so that's a stretch, really I just decided to run the Charity Chase Half Marathon because it was basically in my backyard.

I began steadily increasing my mileage and balancing that with tempo runs to train my body to run further at faster paces.  Finally in June of 2012 I ran the Charity Chase race for the third time and clocked a 1:29:15 on what is a known as a difficult course.  At that point I convinced myself that with the right mindset and the willingness to commit that I could qualify for Boston.  Again, we'll save that blog for later because right now I need to get back to chasing 18's.

Oddly enough as I began training year-round and my late nights were fewer and farther between (my wife might disagree but we count things differently) I became stronger and faster.  Granted I have a really hard time walking up and down steps in the morning and my toes look like I play soccer with cinder blocks but that comes with the territory.  Last year was by far the best of my running career.  Until this year of course.  And I use 'career' lightly as I've currently earned a grand total of $40 in door prize money that I didn't get to collect because I was across the street getting gas before the gas station closed (it was a night race).  My P.Rs. are listed below and I'm making every effort to continue dropping them.  I mean while I'm on a roll why not keep rolling, right?

Oh but that ever elusive 5K P.R.....

Finally, just two months ago I did it - I ran a legitimate 18:00:42!  While most 'people' would celebrate eclipsing such a long standing personal achievement this was all too short lived for me.  I mean I am a runner.  Come on Jason, if you're going to run 18 flat could you not at least squeeze out another 1/2 second and drop a 17 something?!  So yes, I've been beating myself up over that ever since.

But my day will come.  So I guess theoretically I'm chasing 17's but until I'm bearing down on 17:30 I think 18 makes more sense.  I really have no delusions about my talent, or lack thereof depending on who's measuring me.  My last legitimate shot at a sub 18 5K is probably tomorrow.  I'm running the Hickory Christian Academy 5K which conveniently enough starts about 2 miles from my house.  It's a flat down and back and last year I ran this race just 4 seconds slower than I ran the 5K I just P.R'd.  I'm cautiously optimistic but even more so now that I've thrown that bold assertion out to Internet land.  I'll follow up with a post race recap, results, and maybe sometime between now and then I'll figure out how to actually post my blogs?  Otherwise I'm just talking to myself........which really isn't all that bad :)

Personal Bests:
5K:  18:00 (7/2014 - Streetlamp 5K, Morganton, NC)
10K:  39:19 (8/2014 - Waldensian 10K, Valdese, NC)
Half Marathon:  1:25:37 (11/2013 - Thunder Road, Charlotte, NC)
Marathon:  3:09:43 (4/2014 - Boston Marathon)