I wanted two times I could not run.
The first was a 5K under 17 minutes. The second was a marathon under 2:54, which would get me inside the New York City and Boston qualifying standards I was looking at.
My current race times were 18:54 for the 5K and 1:28 for the half marathon. I did not have a recent marathon.
I was not pretending the goals were close. I wrote that I was really far away from both of them.
The frustrating part was that I knew what faster running felt like. My younger personal bests were in the 16s for 5K, 1:22 for the half, and 2:42 for the marathon. Those times were also old. They did not tell me what I could do at 33.
I had no idea what the answer was.
My schedule was part of the problem. I was moving it around constantly to run a couple of times each week. I wanted to take a real shot at getting faster, but I needed somebody quick and motivated to train with.
I also did not want to get in that person's way.
The note came with a screenshot of four weeks of training from late September into October. It was not empty. There were short runs, eight-mile runs, bike commutes, longer rides, a Peloton workout, a chest session, one rest day, and a sick day marked “sinus.”
There was plenty of training in the screenshot. It was not a clean running block aimed at one race time.
Some days held more than one workout. Other days changed with work, commuting, or how I felt. Cycling could keep the volume high without giving me the exact running work I needed. A run could happen, but not always at the same time or with the same people.
That was why I sent the note. I was open to changing the schedule. I did not have a specific plan I was defending. I had two goals, a set of current times, and a training calendar that showed the mess in between.
Two nights later, I registered for the Queens Turkey Trot. It was not a sub-17 attempt or a marathon qualifier. It was simply the next race I could put on the calendar.
The larger goals stayed where they were.
Sub-17. Sub-2:54. I did not know if I could get back to either one. I wanted to take a real shot and find somebody fast enough to come with me.