Real David H.

As I briefly detail in my video above, I hit the track this weekend for my first track workout since the summer of 2007. That was pre-marathon days, pre-being a dad and pre-being older than 30.

More importantly, though, is that this run took place where I quit on running 16 years ago (I say 18 in the video, but it was 16 years ago when I graduated high school).

The spring of my senior year at Liberty High School in Bedford, I didn’t want to run track. I had no motivation to spend a couple of hours a day in my final few months of school to run. Besides, when I was a junior, my best result was a 5:45 mile in which I still finished next-to-last place.

While I had fun at track meets and enjoyed cheering on others, my personal performances were of no help to the team. Of course in hindsight I think a little differently, but that’s the mind-frame of a 17-year-old.

I didn’t care about running then, and I didn’t care about being in shape. I went to a few track practices early in the season and, simply put, I quit.

So 16 years later I returned to the spot that I quit and started something new — a return to speed work on the track. Nearly five years after my last track workout, I pull off some consistent 800-meter splits — 3:30, 3:32, 3:31 and 3:34. My intent was to do three, but I felt so good I did another one.

In looking back at a few posts from summer 2007, it looks like my 800 times are about the same. In my first track workout that summer, I pulled out splits from 3:24 to 3:33.

Having splits within 5 seconds of each other is a great feeling. It gives me a good sense of where I am with pushing myself right now and gives me something to build on. I couldn’t be happier with the initial consistency. Next week when I go out there I’ll mix it up a bit more.

For now, though, I’m really just happy that I finally did this. I have the same feeling about my bike, which I haven’t written about yet. It’s kind of stupid of me to have not done either sooner, but I believe that my training is about to go through some major changes.