The Fanwood Double (2003)

For the past eight years members of my unofficial track club have partaken in what we call ‘the double”. The unusual time slotting of a summer Saturday night race, the Fanwood 5K has given my Saturday morning running group the chance to do our distance in the morning and run the race at night.

For many of us it has become a ritual, made more sadistic by the fact that the race almost always coincides with one of the most humid days of August. I have done the “double” most of the time and when I haven’t I never noticed any race improvement so this year with marathon training looming there was no doubt about my decision.

Predictably August 16 dawned with warm sticky stagnant air. I struggled through 10 miles with huge puddles forming in my shoes. I finished my run a little after nine meaning there was about 7 hours to recover for the evening half. Summer afternoons with two kids are not hard to fill and many of the tasks were far from relaxing. I tried to mostly drink fluids and eat easily digestible food.

The nice part for me about Fanwood is that the race starts less than a mile from my house so I was able to use a warm-up run as my transportation to the race. My wife would meet me with my racing flats and other important reinforcements.
Local races are great chances to catch up with people that have vanished during the summer and the time passed quickly.
I was quick to mention to everyone within earshot about my morning activity. The reactions were predictably erratic from admiration to derision.

I delighted in the reduced expectations, which sometimes enhances my performance. This time around I just had sore quads from the morning and was happy to find a fellow morning runner who quickly convinced me that we should run together. That turned out to be the best idea of the day and he managed to keep me from running too hard. We did well to concentrate our efforts on the small upgrades, At two miles we were together and the splits were encouraging so with so little to go I decided to let loose and left my partner behind.

I finished the race with my quads actually feeling better than earlier in the race and wound up with a time that for me was acceptable. Then I finally got to enjoy some food before I finished the day with a cool down run home.