Breakthrough

Last week at clinic our coach asked myself and a few others who have had "breakthroughs" over the past year to talk to the group a little bit about our success. While each of us clearly has unique circumstances affecting our training and results, we can often learn from others - and who doesn't get inspired by a good success story?

break·through [breyk-throo]


any significant or sudden advance, development, achievement, or increase that removes a barrier to progress

 
Coach started with a brief intro on each of us, including our running history. He referred to my first marathon in September 2008 with a time of 4:42, to my second a year later in 4:26 - a pretty significant improvement. 8 months later I ran my "breakthrough" marathon in May 2009 with a time of 3:58.

 

 
 

I was honoured to be asked, especially since this coach and this group have played such a huge role in my life running over the past couple of years. They've been with me for my best and worst days and, most importantly, for everything in between.

The truth is, one of the biggest contributing factors in the improvements I have been able to make has been, in fact, training with this group. The support and guidance have by far exceeded my expectations as I've worked my way through the pace groups - each having a leader who continually sets aside his or her own goals to help others achieve theirs. I find inspiration daily in the success of fellow runners, from the old-timers to the newbies. There's no better feeling than finishing either a tough run or a great one and exchanging high-fives with those who have been there too. This group makes training fun, even when it hurts. They make bad weather more bearable. There is never a shortage of spectators at the marathons we attend, where we often have more runners out for support than those running the actual race. Sharing every triumph and disappointment with this coach and this group make the journey so much more worthwhile. I have the "fire in my belly" to succeed, and they make me want it even more.

I'm pretty confident that I'm due for a "marathon breakthrough" this year, but of course that remains to be seen. Stay tuned on May 15th. The story is not over yet...