Pack Animals

Recently, I posted the first in a series about 'How to Race'. I told you about Ricky Bobby, Nascar, and how "goin' REEEL FAST!" isn't tantamount to 'racing', and that crossing the finish line first isn't the only way to win.

Today, we are going to discuss "the pack".

If you get NOTHING ELSE from this post, get this: please don't EVER define yourself as a 'back of the pack runner'.

In Nascar, you have a gigantic field, usually around 50 cars (depending on which Cup series and where you are in the season). After the gun goes off, the cars closest to pole position (aka "up in front") try to establish a large lead as quickly as possible. This is always incredible to watch because SO MUCH can go wrong: go too fast, you use too much gas and need a pit stop too soon and throw away your gains; drive too aggressively on soft tires and you'll need a pit stop for replacements, etc etc. Basically anything a driver does to stay ahead is going to bite him the butt later. SO MUCH DRAMA!!!! Fairly quickly, the 50-car field will break up into 3 easy-to-spot packs: the lead pack, the mid-pack, and the rear pack. After the first thirty minutes, the lead pack is firmly established; the name of the game from here on out is to not lose any more ground, be smart, don't kill your car, and outlast the dummies. Each driver knows which pack he is in as well as which position he is in. From there, the smart ones know which strategy to use and what their strengths are. No one on the course is ever powerless. In fact, "Leading from Behind" is a Nascar term: the lead of the middle pack can change the way the lead pack behaves and thus shift the dynamics of a race at any point. It is totally possible (improbable, difficult, but it happens all the time) to come from the back of the rear pack to the back of the front pack and win big. Just by being smart. All of this, every single bit, is applicable to running.

Jeff Gordon, much as it pains me, is one of the most successful Nascar drivers alive today. Michael Andretti is arguably one of the best Formula 1 drivers who ever lived. What they know, and what most runners don't, is that the back of the pack is not the same thing as slow, slowpoke, loser, or last place. In fact, 'back of the pack' isn't a bad place to be at all...in car racing. As long as there is someone to pass, there is a chance to win. Road racing, running, is a bit different. From a financial perspective, the only pack that matters is the lead pack, and once you fall behind the pack it is very unlikely you will come back for a big win. When you are an elite runner, when you enter a race thinking you can win it, you are not in control of very much. You're responding to everyone around you, hoping you have more gas, better training, better luck that day than they will. Strategy and strength don't matter in the lead pack. After the gun goes off, everyone in front tries to establish a lead as quickly as possible: they want to be out in front and stay there so their pace is determined by the pace of everyone around them; they have to stay with the pack no matter what. A good runner can come from the back of the lead pack and still win. It is improbable, it is rare, but it happens. This is always incredible to watch because basically anything a runner does to stay with the lead pack much less get ahead is going to bite him the butt later. SO MUCH DRAMA!!!! Thank GOD I'm not elite. Thank GOD I can run my own race. Thank GOD I am able to show up to a race and run my own race, my own pace. I am coached, I am loved, and my coach would never tell me to run someone else's pace, to react to or follow the runners around me. I will run my own race. I will be in control. And because I didn't show up to win rent money or have to worry about losing my shoe contract, I can gamble a bit more. You see, I'm not part of the pack. I'm nowhere near that lead pack. Am I in the middle pack? I dunno. Am I in the rear pack? Who cares? This ain't Nascar. I'm a runner. It's my race, my position doesn't matter because no one out there matters but me. That said, if I pace well and play my cards right, I can start passing people as they hit the wall at Mile 21, improve my position a bit because it's fun and feels good. As long as there's someone to pass, there's a chance for me to 'win'. I know runners like to say, "back of the pack" to mean, "I'm slooooow" and that's cute, but it bothers me because people who say this aren't actually ok with it. They have some imposter syndrome going on because the fast kids have been assholes to them or made them feel like they don't belong. They don't like being 'slow' so they cover it up with 'cute'. It's difficult to convince me that you are having fun and feeling good, that you are loving the race experience, if you say things that sound like apologies for participating at all. So please don't do it. When someone asks you what kind of a runner you are, you say, "I am a motherf*cking bada**. In every pack, in every position." AND YOU ARE. You are coached. You are loved. You are WELCOME. xoxoxoxox Coach Fleming

Coach MK Fleming is the founder of Fitness Protection, LLC where she coaches all kinds of runners for $29 per month and gives marathon plans away for free. Click here to download her most popular training plan, Tenacious AF!