FIND YOUR DISTANCE

My early running days were not spent on a track or trails, but instead between the bases. I love baseball. In order not to get picked last on the Detroit sandlots of my youth, I had to develop some basic skills. Given my body type and lack of pitching ability, the remaining strategy was learn to field, bunt, and run fast.

While I went on to develop an appreciation for other sports, I remain a diehard baseball fan. My team for nearly the last 40 years has been the Boston Red Sox. Currently, the Sox have a young relief pitcher, Jonathan Papelbon. Considered a “closer,” Papelbon spends most games out in the bullpen. He’s called upon in the last inning of the game to come in and retire the side, saving the win for the team and the pitcher who started the game.

Last year was his first full year in the majors and he was brilliant in the role as saver. Still, that wasn’t the plan. He’d spent 3 years in the minors under the assumption he’d be a starter. Accordingly, he was slotted for a spot in the ’07 starting rotation this year in spring training. He was working every few days as a starter and things were looking good. Except for one thing. To Papelbon, it felt all wrong. He described it as “dying a slow death.”

Before the start of the 2007 season, Papelbon and the Sox announced he’d be returning to his role as the closer. A lot of people were startled, shocked even. Starting pitchers are in many ways the prima donas, the stars of the show. Relievers, even the best of the closers, have it tough. They often come into a game in a pressure-packed situation and need to get three outs without allowing a run. There isn’t a lot of room for error.

Papelbon doesn’t make many. He just became only the fourth player in major league history to save 30 games in his first two full seasons. “It just feels right,'' he’s been quoted as saying. "Me closing games, it feels like a good marriage. Like maybe I was made for this role.''

That’s how I feel about running the marathon distance. It suits me. I don’t like 5Ks or 10Ks . I run them but they’re just too fast. In a marathon, I get to chat with other runners for the first 10 miles or so. It’s a standard piece of advice to run a marathon as if it is really 3 races: the first 10 miles, the second 10 miles, and then the last 6. If you leave it all on the road in the first 10 or even 15 miles, you are almost certain to limp in that last 10K.

Right now, it seems that marathons (26.2 miles) are a popular distance. People who keep “life lists,” i.e., goals they want to achieve over time or in the next 5 or 10 years often seem to have “run a marathon” on that list. That’s fine if it’s just the marathon experience you’re after, or perhaps the finisher’s medal to hang on your wall.

If you want to develop your running into a rewarding lifetime habit, however, it would make more sense to take the time to figure out what distance is right for you. Some people just want to run for health or for enjoyment and never consider competing in organized events. If you are in that group, you’ve probably already marked out a route or routes in your neighborhood, or have your treadmill routine that you follow.

If you compete or want to compete at organized runs, there are a number of distances available, from a mile to a half-marathon to an ultra marathon. Some common ultra distances are 50K, 50 miles or 100 miles. (A “K” is a kilometer, and .62 miles, so a 10K is 6.2 miles, a 5K 3.1) Ultras are often run on trails and at a slower pace, which makes sense due to the greater endurance necessary to complete them. There’s no reason to chase after running marathons if you are happier running long trail runs, developing your technical running skills. Perhaps you are intrigued at working out a 10K strategy that allows you to hold back something and pass people in the last mile as your turn up the speed.

Experiment with a distance you haven’t yet tried. If it is longer than your usual, do by all means get a reliable training schedule and follow it. Next to wearing cheap, worn out or ill-fitting shoes, increasing your speed and/or your distance too quickly is the best method known for injuring yourself. You need to do so gradually, and never increase both in the same week.

Here’s what I mean. You are trying to increase your speed, so you start running 3 miles with a partner 2 days a week who is a little faster than you. Don’t decide in those initial weeks of running faster to also up your normal weekly mileage from 10 miles to 15. You should wait to add total mileage until you’re cruising along with your fast friend at the faster pace, or take a rain check during the week you add on some miles. Even then, do that gradually too; going from 10 to 12 miles would be smarter than from 10 to 15.

Once you find a distance that feels right and is fun for you, see if there are races around you could enter. You can start your own life list. Maybe instead of running one marathon, you’d like to run one 5K race a month some year. Another standard running rule is take a day off from hard running for every mile in a race. If you run a 5K all out at the top of your speed, you should rest or just run easy for 3 days following the race. Clearly, one advantage of shorter distances is that your recovery time is lots shorter and you are ready to race again!

You may have heard of the “50 Staters,” a group of marathoners who strive to run a marathon in every state (and D.C. too). If that’s not for you, make your goal running half marathons (13.1 miles) in 13 states (by the way, please do not refer to that race distance as a “half-mary”—this is akin to wearing the shirt you get for running a race as you run the race. No-no-no. Wear the shirt only after you have finished the race.)

Just keep running. An open mind is useful, too as the distance that suited you when you were in high school may have changed. When you find the one that fits, that feels “like a good marriage,” you’ll know. That doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t run other distances. Most runners do enjoy competing in runs of different lengths and of course we all run varying distances from day to day on our training runs. Choose your distance by what feels right from within, not by what the latest fashion or fad seems to be. Run for a lifetime by finding your distance.