Chasing 7:45

One of my beats at the college paper was covering MSU field hockey. I remember writing a story about a prized freshman recruit out of San Diego. I figured that because most people with a brain wouldn't leave sunny San Diego for the midwest just to try out for a Big Ten field hockey team. Anyway, I noticed there was a very talented player who's managed to do nothing but ride the bench for almost the entire season. Once pregame warmups finished, she became a glorified cheerleader.

One game towards the end of the season, she finally played. And in her debut, she tallied a goal in the team's win. It may have even been the game-winner, but I don't remember. I asked the coach why she hadn't played until then, and she said she had 'commitments' that she had not taken care of until now. I learned that 'commitment' was running a mile in less than seven minutes. Apparently, you've got to do before you can play. Talk about earning your varsity letter.

At the time, I kind of scoffed at the notion of running a 7-minute mile. I figured I could run it since I was doing my share of hard running for the lacrosse team. I never really tried to match that pace but I always figured I was close.

Fast forward a couple years and now I run to stay healthy and fend off any risks of heart disease. I scored that Nike+ accessory for the nano a few weeks ago and have been using it to enhance my running experience. It might seem like a glorified talking pedometer at first, but little things like hearing Lance Armstrong and some Australian gal who I can't seem to remember right now telling me that I just achieved my personal best is pretty helpful in terms of motivation. And the words of encouragement help take away the deep burn that courses through my thighs after a strenuous workout. So deep.

Anyway, it's got a multitude of features. First of all, you can track all your workout data through Nike's website. There they keep tabs of things like pace, distance and calories burned. I'm also partaking in the Campus Challenge, where schools race against each other based on miles run by students, alumni and random people with strange allegiances to schools they didn't attend. Michigan is first (surprise) with 75,363 miles. MSU is ranked 9th in the competition with almost 31,000 miles run. So far I've added 31.04 miles to the effort.

Another feature is the ability to set goals. You can set goals according to number of runs, pace, distance and calories burned. My first goal was to run the mile in less than 8-minutes five times within a month. Ultimately, I aim to run a sub 7-minute mile and finally see if I could make the field hockey team. Admittedly, I set the bar low at first because I managed to break eight minutes pretty easily . Now I've upped the ante: run the mile in less than 7:45. So far I've failed to do that in four attempts. Even worse, I'm not even making eight minutes now. I don't know what's up but I don't think I'm going to be running a 7-minute mile anytime soon. Not unless I can start my life over again in Africa and grow up running across the desert.

5/11 UPDATE: I post this and then run a mile in 7:32. Go figure...