Seven Minute Mile

It has been a goal of mine recently to crack the seven minute mile barrier, having come very close a few times in the last 12 months or so. I decided to stack the odds in my favor a bit and make a real attempt at crossing the barrier this evening.

I drove to Northridge High School to run on the track there. This way I would know when I had reached exactly one mile, but as serious runners know you always run faster on a track than a road or a trail. I also planned to run only a single mile. This meant that I had to conserve no energy after my fourth lap. I also decided to run in the late evening, around 8:30 PM. The air is cooler and very favorable to exercise.

I began my run well enough, I felt strong "coming out of the blocks" and as I finished my first lap, I glanced at my stopwatch. It read 1:38. This had me feeling confident, as I knew I had to beat 1:45 per lap to reach my goal. I started to feel a little winded towards the end of my second lap, but I was spurred on by my time halfway: 3:22. The third lap was my slowest, and the hardest to run. I had to balance not losing time with saving enough strength for the final lap. I completed lap three at the 5:11 mark. I knew I had it made if I just pushed myself a bit. I was really gasping on the final lap, but as I crossed the finish line, I felt very happy - my time was 6:53!

In grade school I never finished a mile "run" in under 9 minutes (my best was exactly 9:00). Being overweight at the time slowed me down quite a bit. It's interesting to see what has motivated me to become more fit and healthy over the last four years or so. I would have thought I could have fueled my exercise with anger towards those who ridiculed me all those years ago, or with the frustration that I felt myself from being overweight and relatively unattractive. These sorts of motives were of no use to me, however. They could only sustain me, at best, for short bursts of activity. Showing off is also a motive that failed to sustain me. Yes, I feel good that I've proved some people wrong, but if I were to try to perform in front of them to "show them up" I'm sure that I would fail in some way (I have before). Vengeance is no way to better oneself.

I have found a balance, I suppose. I now can run for the sheer pleasure of motion, for the joy of being an active person. Yes, it is sometimes painful and always exhausting, but what a blessing it is to be able to move about, and to seek improvement with the only motives being self-improvement and "love of the game". Only when I became seriously concerned over my personal health could I follow a strict regimen to lose the weight I had gained in my teenage years. I had to do it for myself, not to prove a point to someone else. The same has been true of my running. It is true that my motives are not always entirely pure, and there is a fair amount of vanity involved. I'd be very curious to know how fast many of my former classmates could currently run a mile. Still, that isn't what gets me out there three days a week to run. I want to be healthy to enjoy a long and happy life. I want to stay healthy so that my wife and I can enjoy doing more things together. I also count having a fully functional physical body as a blessing from my Heavenly Father. I want to take full advantage of this blessing (within reason) and experience more of what life has to offer than I could if I were not physically fit. I hope that I do not become obsessed with exercise, but I am glad that I have finally made it part of my life in the last few years. It is certainly exciting when I can see tangible improvement as well.