While typically I don't mind running alone, I sometimes find it's a little tough to do Fernando's famous track workouts by myself. But last week, while doing a Fernando workout in preparation for a busy racing season, I found motivation from an unexpected source.
In the middle of doing 1500m and 800m repeats at my town's middle school, I was descended upon by the 6th grade gym class. The PE teacher had them do an 800m time trial. As I was approaching the last 200 meters of my 1500 repeat, I see a little 12 year-old jack rabbit attempt to speed by me on the corner. He threw down the gauntlet and I rose to the challenge. I dug into the pain zone, kept with him, stride for stride, then cruised ahead with 30 meters to go.
The gym teacher later told me that the kid said, "That lady runs too fast and too far." At the very least, hopefully I gave him a new sense of what the Seniors Division can look and feel like!
[On September 17 in Providence at the USA Track & Field 5K Championship for New England, Holly won the Senior Women's title (50+) in 19:21. Karen Durante won the 60+ title in 23:08, and Larissa Park ran 17:47. ]
