Mile For Memoriez
As some or most of you may know, a few years ago my dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. His journey with it has been nothing short of inspiring thus far and he’s been a great role model in taking the spotlight off of himself and doing something for others. Although Kona keeps getting pushed back, his goal at Ironman World Championships is to dedicate each mile (all 140.6 of them) to someone impacted by the disease. At this point I think enough people have shared their stories that some of the miles have to be doubled up.
While he crusades against this Goliath, it’s got me thinking about ways I can help. Again, it’s not just about him or our family, it’s about helping as many people as we can, even if it’s something small.
So while he does 140.6 miles next October, I decided to do just 1 single mile. The Mile for Memoriez, where I run a 1 mile time trial and donate my time in $ (each minute = $100, each second = $1):
This past week the high school team I coach had their final HARD effort in preparation for the state meet. It was a 1 mile time trial, which to most runners brings up a dreadful anticipation of lactic acid and burning lungs. It’s probably one of the hardest workouts we do, even though it’s one of the shortest.
My coaching philosophy (at least while I’m relatively young and healthy) is that I won’t ask anyone to do something I wouldn’t at least attempt to do. Of course paces and efforts here are relative as I coach some people who are stronger than me in swim/bike/run disciplines, but you get the gist. So, to make this hard workout a little more “fun” after they get some rest they get to form an 8x200m relay and race ME as I run a whole mile.
Last year they demolished me even though I was in pretty good shape (I ran 4:27) and this year with a new baby and less frequent workouts I decided to take a different approach. I told them I was going to donate my time in $dollars (each minute = $100, each second = $1) to Alzheimer’s and I had them pace me instead. They still got a little competitive with it as each one enjoyed out kicking me to hand the baton to their teammate, but that kept it fun for all of us.
In the end, they paced me to a 4:36 mile with perfectly even splits of 1:09 every lap! (34s in a 200 after a mile TT is actually really good, I hope they finish that fast at State!). So, I donated said $436 and it got matched and surpassed even in donations on my Coach_Grifjaws instagram page.
It was a fun event, I’m already looking forward to next years version and I hope that more people join me! Maybe we’ll be able to make it a full-scale race with timers and everything! Who knows!
Until next time,
Coach Griffin