Encouragement & the HoHa Classic

For the past few weeks, I had been contemplating whether to enter the HoHa Classic—a five-mile race and fundraiser for the Jubilee Center, sponsored by the Hoboken Harriers. (More on the race later.)

Among the many reasons this particular race had been on my mind is that I am a former HoHa.

While I was living in Hoboken, I trained several times a week with the diligent, talented, gregarious and generous (the HoHas raise money for various charitable organizations year-round) members of this running club. During our runs, my fellow HoHas drove me to push harder than the day before. (In fact, I think the club's members deserve a lot of credit for my 5k PR—which I ran at age 30).  More importantly, the HoHas provided me with companionship, and some of them have continued to be great friends to me. Unfortunately, I have not gotten to see these friends much lately, which takes me to why I really wanted to do this race: to reconnect with as many HoHas as possible.

Having heard all of this, I am sure you are wondering why the heck I would even question participating in the HoHa Classic, which begins this Sunday (Mother's Day) at 10 am in Hoboken, by the way. (Registration starts at 8 am at Pier A. See more details by clicking on the link above or just "Google" the race.)

Now back to why I had hesitated. For one thing, I resprained my left ankle and it's still bothering me. Fortunately the pain has subsided since I initially toppled on a trail (three Sundays ago). The second thing is I am out of shape; several ankle injuries have forced me to take tons of time off from running and even swimming. Having been a pretty good runner for most of my life, it is tough for me to enter a race knowing that I may be running my personal worst time for a 5-miler.

Ultimately, I decided to register for the competition anyway, thanks in part to a fast woman who gave me a little encouragement during my run on Thursday.

The Encouragement

I had just completed mile three of five, when I heard something (which turned out to be someone) that sounded like a bicycle approaching me. I looked over my left shoulder; a surging woman was a couple of strides away from passing me. At first, I sped up; in my mind, I was my former super-fit and competitive self, who never let anyone pass me—at least not without a good fight.

I maintained my lead for what probably was only three or four strides. After she passed me, I accelerated to minimize the space between us. I kept my face within a foot of her back, hoping to be able to use her to block the wind—Tour de France style. But I couldn't continue to match her pace. When she noticed I was falling back, she yelled: "Come on, you can do it. I know you can". Those words of encouragement coming from a fellow runner, who clearly shared my passion for competitive running, made me think, "yea, I CAN do it".

And I did do it—meaning I stayed with the woman for a little longer. While I was disappointed to not have been able to finish my workout with her, I felt happy to have run kind of fast for at least a half mile. I also enjoyed the camaraderie between us.

As it turned out, I ran faster when I was bustling alongside that motivational speaker of a woman than I did during the rest of my run. According to my Garmin watch, mile four was by far my fastest mile of that workout; it was also the fastest outdoor mile I have done since I returned to running in November of last year. Having accomplished this made me realize that getting back to my old race pace is not going to take me as long as I had been thinking.

It was this experience that inspired me to ultimately type my name—and credit card number—into the 2015 HoHa Classic race registration page on Friday.

I am looking forward to the race, even though I won't be running 7-minute-miles like I have in the past on this course.

I hope you all will join me in this urban, Hudson River-following and surprisingly hilly race!