*Photo sourced from Coach Bennett’s YouTube Channel
By: Hayim Mizrachi, CCIM – President | Principal | Broker
This is the seventh post [a bonus] in a series about how running correlates to life and success.
When I picked up running again in my 40’s I discovered Coach Chris Bennett on the Nike Run Club App. That’s Coach Bennett in the picture above.
The NRC app has a feature called Guided Runs. These are runs where a coach speaks to you throughout the run. There are a variety of runs on the NRC app like First Run, Next Run, Third Run, First Speed Run, First Long Run, Next Long Run, Just Another Run, Lunch Run, Running For More: Success, Running for More: Connection… you get the idea. The Guided Run feature has been a major factor in my continuing to run, and learning a lot about how to run.
Coach Bennett is the force and the voice behind most of the guided runs. The guy is just brilliant. He has these sayings like, “If you can’t do the run you want to do, do the run you can do.” “Sometimes crossing the starting line is harder than crossing the finish line.” “This is about running. This is also not about running.”
Perhaps his most famous saying is…
“Every run has a purpose.”
Watch one.
The first 5K I ever ran was sometime in 2009. It was at Town Square. A Turkey Trot to the best of my memory. I started running because of Dean Wilmore. Dean is a runner. Dean and I worked together at Prudential | IPG and would go for runs around the office in the late afternoons. “An office that runs together, stays together” He once said.
“Scuff!” That was another thing Dean said that I remember so vividly. What he meant was he wanted to hear the sound that was created when the balls of my feet would make contact with the pavement. He wanted me to actually scuff because it would condition me to be a mid-foot striker so the impact went up to the calf vs. the knee if I were a heel striker. “The calf can absorb much more impact than the knees.” We ran in the afternoons for several weeks before the Turkey Trot 5K.
I remember the starting line that morning. So many people. Excitement. Nerves. Dean was 2 people in front of me when they shot the fake gun signaling the runners to start. Dude took off. But not easy like when we ran around the office. More like Usain Bolt! It occurs to me now how much Dean was suffering my learning curve during all those afternoon runs. But that morning my head said ‘run with Dean’. So I ran just like Dean. I was gassed and cramped before the first mile. Still, I finished the run. I have no idea what my time or average pace were. This run wasn’t about that. The purpose of this run was to watch and learn the lesson, that like so many other things in life, running has technique. If I practiced I could learn to run fast and not cramp or gas. Just like Dean had learned.
Do one.
May 3, 2014 was the Susan G. Komen 5K. This was a run through the streets of downtown Las Vegas. Several MDL folks were there to run for Carol and Sue. Both breast cancer survivors. It was emotional. Carol is always the shoulder to cry on. Always the crutch that holds the rest of us up. Our purpose was to run for Carol and Sue and all the other survivors there that morning. Looking back at my stats I ran the Susan G. Komen 5K at 9:32 average pace. That’s not bad! In fact, it was my best ever average pace recorded for a 5K to date. I would go on to do more runs that year. But this run showed me that I could do it. I could run fast and easy and not gas out or get cramps.
Teach one.
The last run recorded in my app from 2014 was September 20th, also a 5K. Looking at the map on the NRC app I can see it was a run through Red Rock Country Club. I remember running it with Nathalie. Good thing she has pictures from this run in her phone. It was a gorgeous day. We all started the run together as you would expect. We ran up and down, through the hills of the golf course. This was Nathalie’s first 5K. She was gassed and cramped just like I was at the Turkey Trot. I ran along side her. We walked when we needed to walk. We picked up the pace when she felt like she could pick up the pace. The app says my average pace was a whopping 12:18! Guess what? Running a fast pace wasn’t the purpose. The purpose of this run was not to crush the time or win a medal. The purpose of this run was to run with Nathalie, at whatever time, or whatever pace. We finished the run. Together.
Every run has a purpose. We’re talking about running. We’re also not talking about running!
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