In this day of the country being split by politics and opposing views on ….basically everything, there are still some places where people all get together and, at least in my simple eyes, agree.   The leveler amongst us runners is the race – whatever distance.   In the end, the better runner will usually win.   If you have the ability, you train harder, you have age on your side and great weather, you will do better than others.   Most runners accept that fact and I for one use the better runners as inspirations to emulate their drive, if I can’t emulate their success.  As I have always said, it is you vs you in the end, so try to get your success within your own manageable goals.

It is all so relative.  Someone just told me yesterday, “you have always been an amazing runner’.  In her eyes, at her pace, relatively, perhaps I was or am.  I have the privilege to have been training this summer with (behind!) some amazing runners.  They are running 15:xx and 16:xx 5K’s and are a great group to watch and very inspiring to me.  I have only recently met many of them, but I would say that they are amazing runners.   They, in turn can look at the 5K pack in the 14:xx and call them amazing.   The 14:xx pack, which includes the women’s world record of 14:11 (Turinesh Dibaba), can look at the world class times in the 13:xx group and just say – “wow – unbelievable”…..

The world record in the 5000m is 12:37 by Kenenisa Bekele – that is just over a 4:00/mile pace.  That is truly amazing!!

We can meet up, run together or by ourselves, forget our problems….or talk about them.  In the background, there is the run, the race, the training…… Get your running friends to run with you, together an escape a bit from the reality around us.   Running is therapy to let our minds unwind and to relax and reset for the daily grind.

Enjoy the Fall – Trials of Miles

Coach Nick

Nickolas Joannidis
Nickolas Joannidis
I have been running for over 35 years, having done practically every possible racing event or distance from the 100 meters through the marathon. I competed in varsity high school cross country and track at Saddle Brook High School in the mid-1980's, varsity cross country and track at Division II Pace University and finished well over 200 road races since then, including 20 marathons with a lifetime best of 3:14:50. I was the president of the Hoffmann LaRoche corporate running team for 7 years, growing the team from 25 to over 90 during his tenure. I coached many of these runners to achieve their goals, whether they were beginners or advanced. In 2011 I was an assistant coach for the Fair Lawn Recreation track team, helping the 10 to 14 year old group. I am currently personally coaching dozens of runners, from beginner levels to advanced levels and getting them to be prepared to meet their goals.

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