The Mile.

"The Mile"

It has been the talk of track and field since it's beginning. Why? Well, honestly, I'm not sure. Perhaps, due to the simplicity of it, 4 laps around the track, "not too long, not too short," it is THE event. And people love it. Even common folk will implore upon other 'common folk'... "What's your mile time?"

I 'implore' to you, "What's yours?"

"You're not a Miler?"

It doesn't matter, because that's the limitations of what non-runners know. You might as well get used to it.

For me, this event has never been my strong suit. As I was made for the marathon.... 26.2 miles of racing. Did I tell you how lucky I was? "Lucky," my friend... Lucky indeed. Shi... I mean...shoot! (Am I talking to myself again? Outl oud you say? No, I'm not crazy... I'm normal....
....
...
..ish)

As my past trianing, when healthy, was 140+ mile weeks... It was obvious what I was made for. Working the streets.

"Wait, what?!"


But as life would have it, plans change. I got hurt, "cry me a river."

In case you haven't noticed, I'm different. For what that's worth, a good or a bad is besides the point, but rather, I never like to follow the norm, NEVER. I set my own path and make my own decisions. I know the marathon will be my future in running, but during my injury I played with a thought, "The Mile." The question that came about, "How fast could I go with 2 and a half months of cross training, and only 5 ample weeks of running?" That being, a simple race at home, on the indoor OU track. No races to sharpen up, a simple 200 meter, notoriously slow and impossible to run fast on. Why? Because it's green and the turns are really tight... And it's GREEN... Did I mention that?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fge5ufo9CDY Deekie.

11 weeks to the Mile:

CUE MUSIC: Right click, and listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioE_O7Lm0I4

I began lifting, as my weight skyrocketed up to 144 pounds... 'of muslce'. Only 21 pounds above my racing weight when I ran my 5k pr in California. As I documented my comeback... Well, not really. I just have a bunch of yellow post-its, that I wrote stuff on, like, "Today I ate four donuts, two chocolate bars. Oh, and lifted for 20 minutes"--- "Today I watched 3 hours of cartoons and did crunches in-between the commercials," one post-it just had doodles on it, a smudge of what appears to be jelly, and a sketch of a cheetah. I must say, VERY cool.

Oh, and let's not leave out one post-it, to which, I believe I wrote after one of my sugar highs, "I love chick flicks".... KIDDING! Seriously... I'm kidding.


















But seriously.


9 Weeks to the Mile:

As I was able to inlcude biking, I did 'stoopid fast' intervals on it, as to ignite the fast twitch fibers. Techno cranked up, pouring sweat, heart pounding upwards to 190+ beats per minute at times (try getting your heart-rate up that high). To explain such a high heartrate on the bike... Either 1.) I'm pushing overly hard or 2.) My heart doesn't beat on pattern, to which explains my abnormalities...  probably a mixture of both. You're abnormal!

All and all, this was the plan. As I had the mile in the back of my head, it was drawing closer. As people, teammates, friends, and the random squirrel I'd talk to on campus began to wonder if I was joking or not about racing the mile. No one would know for sure, except me. Little do they know... not even I knew... "know?"


"Wait, what?!"



www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaPepCVepCg&feature=relmfu All animals like to socialize, proof.
5 Weeks to the Mile:

I would not stop there. Finally okay'd and allowed to run, I was able to do one thing to similate speed work for a mile, Hill repeats. Since there is not the same amount of pounding put forth if done on a treadmill at an incline. Basically, preventing the normal pounding on legs from speedwork... I did this. To add, it was a way to ensure I wouldn't get hurt again, and to be 'oober' careful with my leg.

What, you're not impressed?

Well, go to your local gym and put the treadmill at 12.5 m.p.h.'s. 1.) And foremost, most gym treadmills will only go 10 m.p.h. *clear thoat* And 2.) You will look like an idiot when you do this. 3.) Put the incline at 7.5% as well. And 4.) You will look like a Jackass when you do this. 5.) Do this 10x45 seconds, with a minute rest in-between.

In a nutshell, that's what I did. I not only looked cool, but was cool. As people pointed out, and were most likely saying, "Wow, look at that kid go! He is SO neat!" As girls wanted to date me, and guys wanted to be me. In reality, the onlookers probably thought(s)....

"What the hell is he doing?"

"Is he wearing a fanny pack?"

"Why is he sporting a blue bandana?!"


Okay, First off! I was NOT wearing a fanny pack. It was a "fuel belt."











Btw, I was joking and NOT actually wearing a fuel belt.
















But seriously.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCjjf8a1WYY Super Squirrel: Now Super Heroes.

2 1/2 Weeks to the Mile:


As I repeated the hill repeat workouts every 2-3 days, it was not long before I could do some actual speedwork, "200 meter repeats." As they say, "Do work."


Problem: "Blizzard".

No problem: Indoor track.

Problem: Tight turns.

No problem: Sucked it up.


Finished with workout...



Problem: shins and joints hurt from tight turns.

No problem: Shit load of Advil Gel.

Problem: Took too much Advil Gel, going to hurl.

No problem: Handled it like a champ!

I was joking about hurling.





















But seriously.

As the joke of racing the mile is becoming more and more uncertain than it was from the start, the race I marked on the calender is drawing closer. That being said, -OU INDOOR MEET - FEBRUARY 19TH-

Some of my teammates are more optimistic than I orginally thought would be. That and I was now a solid 132 pounds to my previous 144... a.k.a. "Chizzled"... Battled, hardened from miles and determination put forth, to achieve the task at hand... Obtaining a DAMN good Mile.

Everyone writes their own future, I just happen to be a more creative writer than your average Joe.

2 1/2 Days till the Mile:

To be written,

As planned...

-clay j. mayes the 3rd

Stats on the OU mosier indoor track, 200 meter, tight turns and the facility record is 4.09.91 - Held by- Jordan Powell - This is a shout out to you, Jordan! Surprisingly, there's been a lot of legit guys 'try' to run fast(er) there, but have NOT been able to do it. Perhaps a bad day, perhaps just a tough place to run fast. Powell is now the man to beat...

 "Am I racing it?"

To be continued: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvQkl7qa6RQ



Last, but certainly, not least:

I have a good friend/runner I used to coach who is an up-and-coming runner in college.... To be a 14.10 5k guy and faster before his college career is over. That being said, checkout his blog! -

http://wwwmentallytough.blogspot.com/?spref=fb