Next Generation of Charlotte Running

Time: 70:15
Distance: ~9.8 miles

W/u: 41:45 for ~5.5 miles
W/o: 3200m time trial with Alana
C/d: 17:30 for ~2.3 miles

Mark Hadley sent an email out a few weeks ago that mentioned Alana was running a 3200m time trial on the Saturday following the Thunder Road Marathon. I wanted to help out at the time, but didn't know what the body was going to feel like. A few days out I inquired if the effort was still taking place and, if so, where.

The stage was set for Saturday morning at the JCSU track. Caitlin, Meagan and I got in a little over 40 minutes on a cold and slightly breezy morning. We ran from Caitlin's house, over to the track and added on in the cemetery. The locked gates didn't detour the three of us or Alana, her father, brother or grandpa from scaling the fence. When you have a workout to do, especially a time trial, it's on!

I shed the outerwear and received the final instructions for the pace. We were looking for 79s which just a little faster than the pace I ran for the marathon. I could do this in my sleep right? Wrong.

My first lap was 82-83. I wasn't concerned, I just hoped Alana was able to latch on when I picked up the pace over the next 400 meters. I came through in 79 on the next lap, but didn't sense that the young phenom was right on my shoulder. I kept pressing and on the backstretch of the third lap I felt a gap developing. The pace slowed a touch through the mile that we hit around 5:22-5:25 (don't remember actual split).

Over the next 1600m I tried to get Alana to fully latch on and let me do the work but that attachment never developed. I would slow on the backstretch and she would catch up, but as soon as I thought she was on and I picked up the pace, I would glance over the shoulder and see a small gap form. The splits continued to slip, nothing awful, just not the 79s we were looking for. Meagan and Caitlin jogged around giving words of encouragement, brother Bryce filmed the run, Mark and grandpa cheered and yelled splits.

On the last lap Alana had a strong final 200m to cross the line in 11:00 flat. If I had known we were close to breaking 11 minutes, I would have tried to get things rolling earlier. Oh well. It was a good run regardless in unfavorable conditions.

I know Mark has received a bit of flak in the last few weeks on the LetsRun.com message boards, but what I saw today was in total support of his athlete and daughter. I would suspect that those critical of Mark's coaching of Alana would assume that he's your typical over zealous dad living vicariously through a young talent.

Not true.

I've witnessed that dad at soccer games when I was a kid and recently saw it during one of my younger siblings baseball games. The parent's unwarranted frustration when a child isn't playing/running up to par makes everyone around uncomfortable.

There was none of that today.

I was partly responsible for the pace starting slow, but ultimately Alana didn't have a fantastic day. She ran well, but didn't live up to her expectations. She knew that she wasn't running the pace that she and Mark thought her capable of running. While the splits being read went from 79 to 82 to 86 there was never a negative tone in Mark's voice.

That impressed me the most.

Mark saw his daughter starting to fade off the pace he knows she's capable of running, yet he didn't give any signs of disappointment or discouragement. When the splits started to slow all of his recommendations were kept upbeat and positive. It was great to see the coach/athlete and father/daughter relationship being built up through running. I think if those critical of Mark were to have witnessed the time trial today, they would have little to fault him on.