A welcome change of pace

I was an avid runner when I was in high school and in college. I went to a small high school, where I was the only long-distance runner on the track team. As far as high school runners go, I was ok, but not outstanding - I consistently placed in the top three in our league meets, went to sectionals my junior and senior year, but never made it to the next level. In college, I walked onto to the cross-country team and competed for both the cross country and track teams for all four years. My experience highlights the advantage of going to a small Division III college, where a student with average athletic talent but an abundance of drive and determination can participate in intercollegiate athletics.

I have started running again. I have told several people that my goal is to run faster now than I did when I was 20. Not likely to happen, as my best cross-country time for 5 miles was a few seconds over 25 minutes - or 5 minutes/mile pace. This was back in the day when the cross country distance for Division III schools was 5 miles while Division I and II schools were running 10K courses. A more realistic goal is a 5K in under 21 minutes - a sub 7 minute/mile pace.

I'll be looking for several local 5K road races to run in this spring and summer. In the meantime, the 5K time of 23:30 on a treadmill that I ran today provides a benchmark for where I am. I'll keep you posted.