[Blog Update from Running Ambassador Chris Stuchko]
Remember that countdown clock to the 2018 St. Luke’s Half Marathon I mentioned in my last blog post? Well, it didn’t stop and time literally keeps racing closer and closer to the 8:10 a.m. start on Sunday, April 22.
I felt the sense of urgency this past week as I ran my highest weekly mileage, 33.1 miles, during this training cycle. I am beginning to make mental and physical preparations, as well as tapering, for race day. I even made the mistake of checking the expected weather.
In my initial blog post, I talked about the different aspects – father, husband, teacher and runner – that make me the person I am today. This edition of the blog is supposed to focus on my hopes and goals for the race. But I wanted to go in a slightly different direction and talk about how each of those different aspects of my life impact my outlook on the race in a deeper way than just gutting out a well-executed, negative-split run through the streets of Allentown.
Father
As a father, I have accomplished a goal that I have gotten two of my three children interested in running the St. Luke’s Youth Run on April 21. My son, Cole, 9, had run the youth races sponsored by the Lehigh Valley Road Runners when he was younger, but had no interest in squeezing in a race after baseball practice. But my two girls, Grace, 7, and Joy, 4, were fired up to run like dad and even get a free t-shirt this year. Grace and I ran last week in our neighborhood, covering 1.3 miles in 15 minutes. She wants to run on a team when she gets to third grade. Seeing that desire to run and compete from her is more rewarding than my own results.
Husband
Without fail, my wife expresses the same goal for me as I walk out the door on race day: don’t die. While it sounds morbid, I know what she really means is to stay safe, race smartly, and listen to my body. She gets nervous that something bad will happen to me since she has seen the occasional story of an unfortunate race incident. She also knows that running and racing is one thing that I enjoy and keeps me healthy and moving, so she accepts it and keeps giving me those words of “encouragement” each time. As runners, we should remember to appreciate all those people in our lives who allow us the opportunity to do things we love and will make sacrifices to allow it to happen.
Teacher
One of my goals as a teacher is to get students to consider doing things that they normally wouldn’t. I don’t think a lot of them see me in the front of the room and think that I can run any distance, let alone 13.1 miles. But those that see me on the streets or the track at Emmaus High School see their teacher out of the classroom as a person that has hobbies and interests that are different than expectations. I hope that in showing them my passion and dedication to running that they can find something in their own lives that sparks excitement and passion.
In preparing for this post, I went back and researched my last three races at the St. Luke’s Half Marathon in 2013, 2014, and 2015. I analyzed the data, saw my weak spots, and thought about how I could craft a 500-word opus on what I needed to run my perfect race. But then I realized that the real simple goal of my race is just to run my best. I am not sure what that will be in two weeks, because of the many factors of life, training, weather, etc. Whether I am elated or disappointed in the results, running is something that I love doing and will continue doing no matter the race day outcome.
Good luck and keep getting out there!