Past, Present, Future

A year ago I was training for the Ohio River Road Runners’ Club half marathon and the Flying Pig half marathon.  I felt, at that time, that my training was going quite well.  I was getting decent miles each week, monitoring my pace and working on my running form.  At that time I was a smoker.

Fast forward a year and I find myself doing much of the same, though the training is ramped up this time.  Instead of two half marathons I am training for two full marathons (same as above), roughly five weeks apart.  Last year’s February mileage was about 55 miles for the month.  After yesterday’s 8.14 mile trek I stand at 99 miles for this February.  Another key thing to this year as opposed to last, is that I finally made the decision to quit smoking. 

This is now week 4, and so far I have only had a couple of occasions where I felt I wanted to smoke.  Times where I have tried before there had always been days, even weeks where I wanted one at least once a day, not this time.  I truly believe that this will be the last time I have to quit smoking – after almost 23 full years, I think I have finally kicked that bad habit!

I have already noticed changes in my running.  Where a fast 5k used to be around 26 – 27 minutes I am now running sub-24 minute 5k’s.  My mid-distance runs have steadily improved as well.  Take yesterday’s 8 miler, for example.  My average was an 8:53/mile pace which is only (1) one second slower than my fastest 10k (6.2 miles), and I didn’t feel like I was pushing myself hard.  Only 3.5 weeks into this and I’m already seeing remarkable changes, ones that will keep me around longer, make me stronger and faster.

Thankfully I’m not in this alone.  So many of my friends and family have been there with encouragement, kind words and no condemnation of the habit I have left behind.  Keep that in mind for those you know who are smokers, do not condemn for the addiction, love and help them through it in a positive way.  Showing them pictures of trashed lungs, cancer patients, or people with trach rings will not help, it only hurts – and for me it was something to show that would not happen to me, even if I did not quit.  So, be kind as you help those you know.

With my life span extending and my running times getting shorter I can only look forward to what will happen; those two things only getting better.  This weekend I’ll push my body to 16 miles, and the following week will see 20, distances that will only be easier now that I no longer smoke before and after a run.