Tuesday, May 26, 2026 – Trying new things – by Pearce Fallis

Hi Everyone!

Huge congrats to Fahd who ran a very hilly 18K leg of the Cabot trail relay on the weekend! Also Erin ran another 5K and finished first in her age group again. And Jason ran the Sulpher Springs 50K! I love the breadth and diversity of races and events we cover in this crew. Which leads well into our guest essay by Pearce Fallis.

Trying New Things

The old saying goes, “Variety is the spice of life that gives it all its flavour”. The runners version should be “Variety is the spice of life that leads to sustained motivation and better times across other distances”. Or so I am hoping that is what it means.

While I have still not jumped on the marathon train (mine is going in the other direction actually), I did decide to try my hand at a new race distance and did my first ever 1500m track race last week. It was a lot of fun, I ran slower than I wanted, but it’s given me motivation this spring in training and put a little more pep in my running step. And it’s kind of nice not having a PB time to obsess over, just enjoy the experience. And as I mentioned above, I not so secretly think it will help with my 5km times, which is my longer term (true) goal for the year. While most of the LES crew fall in the marathon camp, I feel I have heard more people dabbling in other distances (5km, ultra trail races, track(!) or others), and I strongly encourage it. It’s very easy to stick to the same routine and get in a rut and lose interest or motivation. Doing something different is good for the mind and body. And as our wise coach Seanna is always so good at pointing out, state of mind and body is far more important than ticking boxes and tracking km.

Not all outcomes are perfect. Before my race I ran into an old acquaintance of mine. We chatted and said she was there to watch her son (I think grade 8), when I said I was in the same race, she said “oh, good for you”. All that was missing was the nice pat on head for encouragement. When I lined up at the start line, other than me and one other 46 year old on the outside lane, you would have thought you were at a grade 9 track meet (I checked after, and the average age outside us two was 14. For the record, I was not at a grade 9 track meet, it was an Athletics Ontario meet and for some reason the 1500m drew no serious adult runners). Not sure running against kids is the motivation I was looking for to absolutely crush the race. I ran by myself the entire race as I didn’t have a good crew to chase down. But I had fun, and I definitely want to do another with some of my peers this time and even try an 800 m just to see what it’s all about.

I really enjoy running, I really enjoy racing. I tried cross country and had a blast in a team race, I love a good 5km, don’t like a 10km, track is also fun so far, and I keep hearing about this marathon distance that is kind of interesting. I am sure I will get there some day, when I need that variety.

On to tomorrow’s workout – we’re back to hills! Pottery Rd at around 6:20 onwards for those in the Riverdale side of things, and Queen and Glen Manor at 6 for those in the Beach.

2 x full hill – 5 min tempo

1 full, 2 half – 5 min tempo

3 x half – 5 min tempo

That is all – see you in the am!

Seanna