The Eds

I have two running friends named Ed.  I have no idea if they would want to see their full names on this blog, so I’m going to just name them Ed 1 and Ed 2.  The Eds have been sources of information and inspiration for me over time, so I thought I’d take the time to acknowledge their contributions to my running career.

Ed 1 is my marathon training coach.  I probably should say “was” my marathon training coach, but he can’t seem to escape me.  Ed 1 was assigned to me by the American Cancer Society’s DetermiNation team and he helped me complete my first marathon in NYC back in November, 2014.  Somewhere around mile 21 or so, I ran into Ed 1 on the course and he somehow got me to believe that I still had the strength to continue running through the finish.  Afterwards, he stopped being a volunteer coach and went and got married (I really hope you took my advice on that pre-nup, Ed 1).  Even though he quit coaching, and even left the country at one point, I still track him down for his running Edvice (I came up with that one.)

I didn’t hold back with Ed 1 – I asked him every question imaginable as I got deeper and deeper into training.  Nipple bleeding, undercarriage chaffing, bowel movements… no topic was off-limits.  Ed 1 earned his money… although he was just a volunteer, so he didn’t actually earn any money.  But someone had to keep him honest, and I decided that someone was going to be me.  And even though he quit the job, he still can’t get rid of me until he changes his email address and gets a new phone number.  Maybe some plastic surgery.  You ever see the movie “What About Bob?”  Yeah, that’s me with Ed 1.  I’m about to crash his vacation on Lake Winnipesaukee and he doesn’t know it yet.

This past week I emailed Ed 1 to get some Edvice (there it is again… it never gets old.)  Actually, I wanted to run my impossible 2016 goals by him to see if he thought it was possible.  I figured he would either be impressed at my lofty goal-setting, or be blunt and give me some bulletin-board material.  Something like, “You’re an idiot.”  That would do.  Instead I got a quasi-mixture of both messages.  First he said, “Anything is possible,” and then added in, “but you’re nuts.”  I think he was being nice.  It’s that whole “I worked for American Cancer Society and they advised me that in my role as a marathon coach I shouldn’t discourage or say what I’m really thinking” thing.  So the worst he could do was, “You’re nuts.”  Ok, I can run with that as a mantra, but I pretty much agree with that assessment.

Now on to Ed 2.  Ed 2 is a co-worker of mine.  Before I met Ed 2, I thought I ran a lot.  After I met him I realized that I am still an amateur.  Ed 2 runs before work in the morning, he runs an hour at lunch, and runs most nights if he has the time.  He has a wife and a son – which could afford him a lot of excuses should he choose to use them.  When he started his obsession with running, he dropped a bunch of weight and tells me he’s 155 pounds now.  I don’t know, looks to me like if he weighs 155 he must have gotten on the scale after a big meal.

Ed 2 ran his first marathon last October in Hartford, where he finished just over the three hour mark and qualified for Boston.  “I typically run on the treadmill no slower than a 7:30 pace, and always with an incline.  I’m up to about a 7-degree incline now.”  (My eyes popped out of my head on that one.)

I haven’t typically run with an incline in the past, but after talking to Ed 2 I started to add it to workouts and it definitely makes a big difference.  I notice the difference in my legs and my breathing with the smallest adjustment.  Of course, I’m at a 1-degree incline, but Ed 2 swears that once you get used to running at a steeper incline, it makes running on the actual road seem like nothing.  I’m really looking forward to that part.

Ed 2 messages me every morning at work.  “How many did you do?  Did you get up this morning?  Did you do well over the weekend?”  At times I have thought Ed 2 was out of his mind.  Running three times in one day?

This past Monday morning, we checked in after the weekend.  Ed 2 says, “I did 17 miles on Saturday and 15 more on Sunday.”

It makes my 8 Saturday miles and “icepack-on-knee” Sunday feel very small.  “You can run with a torn ACL,” Ed2 assures me.  “Slap a brace on.”

Of course, I don’t have a torn ACL.  My knee is just sore – I’ve increased my running load very quickly after a recent 15 pound weight gain in two holiday months.  At times during my 8 mile Saturday run it felt as if the knee might just collapse on me, but it never did.  So I took a break on Sunday and iced it down.  It  felt much better on Monday, but Ed 2 understands leg pain.

“My legs are always sore.  In fact, the only time they don’t hurt is when I’m running,” Ed 2 says.

The best part about Ed 2’s quotes are that he doesn’t even realize what he’s saying is a quotable thing.  He just says it and I shake my head.  This is the mindset of someone who runs a three hour marathon.  He basically gets up in the morning and wonders how many miles he can fit into his day before he goes to sleep.  He doesn’t seem to worry about anything else.  When I said to him that I had to cut a 5 mile run short because my nipples were chaffing and I was wearing a white shirt, he said, “I just keep the band-aids on at all times.  I have them on right now.  I never take them off until they fall off.  They can usually last up to a week.”

So you see, if on my training journey over the next ten months I should ever need any sources of information or motivation, I have plenty of sources.  I’ll just go over to my big red, wood box.  I will pick up the hook, you will see something new – two things, and I call them, Ed 1 and Ed 2.