Running

I'm happy to say that I've been able to keep up the running since graduating from the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps cross country and track programs. Of course, I am not running as much, partly because I've also gotten back into swimming and playing soccer. Soccer I play once a week with people in the Math department, originally just as pickup games, but now for the Math graduate team in the school-wide intramural tournament. And I've been able to get in the pool usually once or twice a week, after which I generally lift some weights, as well. But running still makes up most of my exercise--I usually do around 4 runs per week, each between 5 and 12 miles, and usually at a pace between 6:30 and 7:15/mile. It's so great to be in control of my own training--it's nice to determine how fast and far to go based on how I feel, rather than what someone else tells me to do. And though it is tough sometimes to get the motivation to run (particularly when I have a deadline the next day and tons of work to do), I find that once I'm running, it's not hard for me to push myself to keep up a fast pace or to run a long way.

It helps A TON that there are very nice places to run around my house. Probably my favorite routes are through the Druid Hills neighborhood, where tree-lined residential streets with few crossroads wind past grand houses (close to Buckhead grand, but less pretentious) up to Emory University. But I also have Piedmont Park, Ansley Park, Inman Park, East Lake, Lenox/Morningside, Little Five Points, Decatur, Midtown, Downtown, and of course my home neighborhood of Virginia-Highland at my running disposal.

It also helps to have some goals to strive for. Georgia Tech's campus recreation services put on a 5k race on the morning Oct. 31 called the Halloween Holla, and, it being free and short, I decided to do it. Around 80 people showed up (mostly Tech students, and a handful wearing costumes) on the chilly morning, and at 7:15 AM we were off. The route was the "Pi Mile"--a route that circles around campus for a total of 3.14 miles (just slightly over 5km.) I had run it once over the summer, but wasn't entirely sure about the directions, so I was a little nervous when I immediately took the lead. Thankfully, one guy kept up with me, and when we approached a turn, I would questioningly point in a direction, and he would give me the go-ahead. About halfway through the race, this guy dropped off, and for a while I could still hear him and perhaps another guy just behind me, but I kept up my pace and ended up winning with a time of 18:15. This time is exactly equal to my high school personal best, and I suppose technically could be my overall best in a 5k race (since I only ran 5ks in freshman year track at Mudd, and never beat 18:15…although, I have split better than 18:15 for a 5k several times on my way to finishing an 8k.) So, I was actually pretty happy with my time. For winning the race, I received a t-shirt and a coupon for a free 1-hour massage, in addition to some flip-flops I got as a door prize, and of course the free bagels and apple juice. :-)

Anyway, after the race, I talked a bit with the guys who finished 2nd and 3rd (15 and 30 seconds behind me, resp.) and found out that they were both first-year PhD students like me (in Mech Engineering and Computer Science, resp.), who had run in D3 cross country/track programs! (Incidentally, the guy who finished 4th was in a FULL BODY BANANA SUIT…yeah…we three top finishers were pretty relieved to avoid that embarrassment.) We chatted for a while, and exchanged emails to possibly train or race together in the future. This we did--I invited them to meet at my place last weekend for an 11-mile run east through Druid Hills, Emory University, VA-Hi, etc. This run turned out to be exhausting (combination of run the night before/some huge hills/being pushed by running with others), and very successful. It's really nice to have found people whose running abilities and fitness closely match mine. And I think I picked the route well--they were both talking afterwards about how they're going to look in this area for housing next year (they currently live right off GT campus, in the "undergraduate ghetto" of Home Park.)

My regular running regimen may decline a bit in December as I spend an exciting and busy three weeks in Argentina, then head home to wintry Iowa for New Year's. But when I get back to Atlanta in January, I plan to commence some serious training for my next challenge: the Georgia Marathon on March 31st! Goal to shoot for: Boston Marathon qualifying time of 3:10:00 (7:15/mile pace.)