The Returning Runner

Act 13 – Real men don’t do Pilates…

It was scorching hot - over 100. We had loafed in a small patch of shade in between the 1500 meters and the 800. At the gun Jacob Nur took off like shot, rapidly opening a large lead as he had in the 1500. I hadn’t run an 800 meter race in 45 years. This felt a bit faster than the 1500 so should be somewhat close. But, when I had ran the 880 in high school, lacking any speed I had simply gone out all out. This wasn’t all out. I should press. Hmmm…at 200m I had stopped the expansion of Jacob’s gap. At 300 meters, I was closing. Distinctly closer now. I could catch him! I could win! I could not…At the bell, Jacob hit the gas pedal and I gained no further ground on the last lap.

Jacob Nur had completed an impressive day of racing at the 2024 USATF Master Pacific Region Championships – winning the 5,000m, 1500m, and 800m handily. Lacking my shyness at exploring another runner’s training secretes, my wife had boldly inquired. It was pretty basic really, run 70 miles per week and do Pilates 2-3 days a week. Well, there you have it. That’s the ticket – honey, all I have to do is run another 25-30 minutes per day. No problem…right…My wife had other ideas. We should start going to Pilates together. Oh, come on, doing Pilates probably hadn’t hurt Jacob Nur but clearly it was the extra 25 miles per week running that was getting him to the finish line first. Pilates…that was for yoga gurus who had decided that they actually needed to do more than just stretching in order to have the strength to pick their cat up occasionally. And, geez, wasn’t that only for girls?? Real men (at least those with a racing bent) did long distance runs, speed work on the track, and crunches and weight training – definitely not something as demure as Pilates.

Well, I have joined my wife at Pilates for the past few weeks and I was quite wrong! My experience:

·       Rapid improvement to my strained hamstring

·       Improved posture

·       Much better flexibility

·       Improved stride length and lift

·       A feeling of improved lung capacity (not measured but sure seems that way)

·       Oh – and get this, my core is more sore after an hour of beginners Pilates than after doing 1,000 crunches

I have been the only guy in the classes, but, maybe I’ll be able to join Jacob at the finish line one  of these days ;O)…

Photo: Elite Masters Athlete Jacob Nur