10 weeks for 10 miles
The Observer-Reporter’s Mike Kovak finished the EQT 10-miler in 1:22:39 after training for 10 weeks for the race in Pittsburgh on Oct. 25.
Mike Kovak holds his medal after completing the EQT 10-miler Oct. 25.
Mike Kovak gets his walk analyzed by Julie Amsdell, former Fleet Feet Sports Pittsburgh director of marketing, at the store in late August.
PITTSBURGH – The steady rhythm of sneakers pounding pavement was interrupted shortly after crossing David McCullough Bridge, which connects Pittsburgh’s North Side and Strip District neighborhoods. That’s when the time came to make a left turn on Penn Avenue.
Sunday mornings are typically busy in the Strip District – stores, street shopping and landmark restaurants provide visitors plenty of distractions – and Oct. 25 was no exception.
The sidewalks were lined with people, and the streets were packed, as the Strip District and four other neighborhoods – West End, North Side, Lawrenceville and Downtown – were overrun by more than 4,000 participants of the EQT Pittsburgh 10-miler. A rising fall road race in its third year and one of six stops on the 2015-16 PRRO circuit, the race attracts elite distance athletes from the United States and beyond, marathon regulars and aspiring runners.
Despite years of running and thousands of miles logged, count me among the latter.
The reason? A growing list of exercise-induced injuries beyond the typical pangs and pains associated with keeping fit at an advancing age that derailed goals. Shortly before my 40th birthday, sharp pains in my left calf muscle lasted for weeks before I sought a diagnosis – a strained calf muscle. Once healed and reading to resume my passion, a sprained right foot required crutches and lots of rest. Not long after resuming activity, a second left calf muscle strain put my days as a runner in jeopardy. If a 3-mile run brought injuries, training for longer runs appeared impossible.
Enter Fleet Feet Sports Pittsburgh, a store for all things running and walking, at 1751 Highland Road, Bethel Park. The store, owned since 2007 by running enthusiast Bob Shooer, not only sells all the necessary running accessories, it hosts running seminars, offers expert training tips and designs programs for runners of all levels. Despite my background, I was basically starting over when I first walked inside.
“Our job is to provide information. We’re extremely well-trained as a group, and that’s what we do,” Shooer said. “We go through a process with our guest, our customer, to determine what it is they want to do and what we can do to help them.”
I wanted to run regularly again and Fleet Feet Sports had a program for me.
For 10 weeks, I followed the 2015 EQT 10-miler Train to Run program, designed by Karen Harr of Canonsburg, the store’s director of training programs and running group. An avid runner, dubbed the “Goddess of Running” by Shooer, Harr is a marathon regular who didn’t tackle distance running until her early 40s.
The program required four runs each week for nine weeks, including a Sunday long run, which increased in distance for seven weeks before tapering. Three runs were scheduled for Week 10, the final being the race.
“This is stuff you can’t get anywhere else. Karen is on the job 24 hours a day, if she’s not awake dealing with running, she’s dreaming about it,” Shooer said.
Harr’s dreams were my reality as a total of 210 training miles were logged and three trips were made to Pittsburgh for Sunday morning runs with Fleet Feet Flyers, a growing group of runners of all abilities dedicated to camaraderie and improving. Harr maps the routes for those runs as well.
“We have a really large group of people who come to our store who don’t realize that a training program may be right for them,” Harr said. “They think it’s for really fast runners or real efficient runners. Anyone can discover running, and Fleet Feet Sports is your pathway to getting started.”
Getting started meant my walk and running strides were analyzed at Fleet Feet Sports before I tested four pairs of running sneakers designed to help my mid-foot strike (a good thing), my right-foot splay (not the worst thing) and help prevent those recurring injuries (a bad thing). I learned about muscle maintenance, proper hydration, better training techniques and equipment to make running easier.
It was an informative 84 minutes.
“We are not health-care professionals or medical professionals … we get a lot of referrals from them, but we sell a wide array of products to prevent injury,” Shooer said.
There were a couple early setbacks – more than a year passed since I ran regularly – but as time progressed and the miles piled up, those setbacks turned to triumphs and confidence grew, particularly after completing a 10.12-mile training run Oct. 4.
So, thanks to Fleet Feet’s help, I made that left turn on Penn Avenue – half-delirious, half-winded and fully determined to finish the EQT Pittsburgh 10-miler on my feet.
Then, about a block into Penn Avenue, it hit me.
A smell so heavenly, the urge to stop running, toss aside 10 weeks of training and investigate the aroma was strong. Was it chicken? Could it be kebabs? Was it something exotic, something I never heard of? I needed to investigate.
Then, just beyond the sweet smells, was a vision – the 7-mile marker. This journey had a little more than three miles remaining. It wasn’t going to be easy, as most runners tend to push harder in races than during training. I certainly did. During the first half of the race, which featured multiple hills, I ran a 7:56 per minute pace, well ahead of my intended goal of 8:30 for the distance. It was fast, but I felt good.
Until a few strides past the 5-mile marker.
“It’s a challenging race,” said Patrice Matamoros, race director for P3R, which organizes the Pittsburgh Marathon, Liberty Mile and EQT Pittsburgh 10-miler. “A lot of people like it better (than the Pittsburgh Half-Marathon) because it’s basically the half backward, and the hardest parts get done quicker. Mostly, we get good responses on the course, and what we’ve been able to do with the event in a short period of time shows it’s made a difference for a lot of people.”
Those hills caught up with me, and getting to the 6-mile marker felt like walking three miles uphill. The second half of the run was a struggle. My pace fell to 8:32, but I kept running. Another struggle came as people passed me during the ninth mile, but, despite tired legs, I knew I was crossing that finish line.
And I did in 1:22:39, below my goal of 1:25:00 and good enough for 653rd place – 58th in my age group (40-44). One of many individual feel-good stories on a day when a runner, Michael Kovacic, 32, of Cranberry Township, collapsed shortly after completing the race and died.
“Our medical team did an amazing job, and they were there helping every single second. It was the last thing anybody wanted, and it’s been very, very difficult for everyone involved,” Matamoros said. “Our hearts and support go out to the family and those affected.