The Commish, Part Three.

It had turned out that my agency's newest Commissioner, who was going to captain our entry into this year's 3-mile Capital Challenge race, was faster than me so her speed work was turned over to the fastest guy on the team who ran with her at least once a week and practiced 3-mile runs in the 24 to 25 minute range.  She needed to be encouraged to maintain a fast but steady pace at the start because she had a naturally strong finish at the end of those runs, capable of reverse splits once she had warmed up and caught her second wind during the runs.

I still ran with her, doing a weekday long run of four to five miles with her while she ran once on the weekend on her own.  In the limited number of weeks we had before the race to practice with this busy commissioner, who traveled frequently and could only run at odd intervals during the day whenever her schedule allowed it like at 3 pm or sometimes in mid-morning, that was the plan.

It couldn't have been done without Greg, of course, the Federal Tread Company's fast runner who filled in at those oddball hours on short notice and ran fast with the commissioner, training her in fast pacing. I enjoyed my long runs with her where I could keep up with her, talk with her about running and racing techniques and, generally, be as fast or faster than her at the end of those runs because her base was less than mine.

Age and its concomitant wisdom will have its limited advantages over youth and energy.  In the meantime I assembled the rest of the team, four fast male runners and the required female runner (the commissioner), one of whom had to be an agency head (the commissioner).  (A team from the last decade.  Captain of that team, Commissioner Rousch, is # 840 and Greg, the speedster, is between him and me in the center.)