What’s next?
As a freshman entering Carnegie Mellon, I was required to read The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch.
There’s one scene from Randy’s life that really stuck with me. He’s scoring the first assignment for his famous class, Building Virtual Worlds, and is overwhelmed by the results. He calls his advisor and asks:
“Andy, I just gave my students a two-week assignment and they came back and did stuff that, had I given them an entire semester to complete it, I would have given them all A’s. What do I do?”
His advisor tells him to say: “Guys, that was pretty good, but I know you can do better.”
What do you do when you accomplish your lifetime goal? You set a harder one.
I finished CIM with a time of 2:36:33, averaging 5 minutes and 58 seconds per mile. For the past four years, I’ve dreamt of seeing 5:XX on my watch at the end of a marathon. Well it happened, and it’s surreal. As my legs recover and I gain back the weight I lost before the race, I keep wondering: “how the hell did I do that?”.
My present-day self responds with “well, you ran a lot, and your workouts were all well under 5:58 pace.” That asshole even adds in a whisper: “you probably could have run faster…”
But past Avesh would be flabbergasted. 7 years ago, he debuted in the marathon with a time of 4:03:44 (9:10 min/mi). He hadn’t run a single mile at a sub-6 minute pace. A marathon was inconceivable.
Things changed after I joined the Google running team and started to introduce speed work into my running. After a 5:58 pace half marathon in 2016, I started to think about running twice as long at the same pace. Some time after that, I started this blog.
And now I’ve finished it. I’m done — time to stop running, stop writing, and finally pursue my true calling, sumo wrestling.
Just kidding…
So what’s next?
If I’m being honest with myself, there’s one scary-hard goal that’s been on my mind for the past six months. It’s so ridiculous that it’s embarrassing to think about, let alone write publicly about. I was going to keep it to myself until I got close, as I did for the sub-6 goal. That way I can save face if I fall far short of achieving it.
But you know what, screw it. I’m going to talk about my goal publicly. If I achieve it, it will be neat to look back on this post and reflect on how far I’ve come. And if I don’t... well, who cares?
The US holds an Olympic Trials marathon every four years to determine who will make the Olympic team. To compete in that race, men must break 2:19 in the marathon or 1:04 in the half. For the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, 283 American men have achieved this qualifying time.
My goal is to run a 2:19 marathon (5:18 pace) by the end of 2027. With luck, this will qualify me for the 2028 Olympic Trials.
Ok, my runner friends are probably laughing right now. Meanwhile, my non-runner friends are wondering if I’ll make the Olympic team. So let me elaborate…
To my non-runner friends: My goal is to make the trials, not the games. Making the trials is just barely within the realm of possibility for an amateur athlete. Competing in the games is, to be frank, not.
And to my runner friends: Look, I know this is stupidly ambitious. Making the trials is the lifetime goal of a former D1 athlete, not of a casual non-collegiate athlete. I don’t know where this goal lies on the spectrum of ambitious to delusional, but let’s find out.
As with the 6-minute goal, I’d like to “conquer” the 5:18 pace. This means running a mile, 5k, 10k, half, and of course a full marathon at 5:18 min/mi. A few months ago, I ran a 5k at a 5:10 pace. So what’s left is the 10k, the half, and of course the full marathon.
My goal is to run a 5:18 pace 10k this year (32:56).
And by the end of 2023, I’d like to run a half marathon at the same pace (1:09:26). This will leave me with 4 years to double the distance while maintaining pace.
As I explained in my first post on The Six Minute Project, I think of these not as goals, but as milestones. I’m going to continue running a lot and pushing myself, and if I’m on track then I’ll hit these milestones.
Speaking of The Six Minute Project, I suppose the name is out of date now. But The Five Minute Nineteen Second Project just doesn’t have the same ring to it, so I’m sticking with the original name.
Wish me luck.
