I recently ran in a 5k race in Greenville, South Carolina,
and I noticed something out of the ordinary out there. They had no water stations along the route
and those who participated did not have water readily available at the finish
line. We had to walk a little bit to the refreshment tables to get our water. This got me thinking about how I never needed
water while running with my Soldiers, but when in a race, I almost always seek
out the water stations.
One of my more
memorable moments in the military are the formation runs. For those who don’t know, a formation run is
when a unit runs together, usually in a rectangular shape with three to four
people in the front and everyone falling in behind them. A unit formation run can be as small as a
squad run with only four to twelve people, all behind one person and as big as
division with hundreds of rectangles comprising thousands of people if the
commander wishes. But usually, a
formation run will range from a platoon (about 30 people) to a battalion (between
300 to 800 people). Each rectangle gets
a cadence caller, a singer if you will, who is charge of keeping everyone in
step so no one trips over another person’s feet. I could go on about some of the songs used
for cadences, but that can be for another day.
These formation runs
are intentionally slow, too, at least by military standards. Most people like to keep them at basically a
ten minute per mile pace, though I have run in some that went at a nine minute
per mile pace, and then there were the rare seven minute a mile pace runs. These formation runs can usually go for at
least 45 minutes, though I remember a brigade run taking over an hour to do.
There’s no water along
the route for a formation run, either.
Instead, you’re expected to be already fully hydrated, drink some water
before the run, and have water readily available once you’re dismissed from the
formation run. I always kept a container
of water in my car on days like those.
Because the pace was so slow compared to how fast we were supposed to
run as individuals, you can say I was accustomed to not having water during a
run. Even with the Army Physical Fitness
Test (APFT), while we ran as fast as we could for two miles, there was no water
on the course; only after you were done.
Now, when I participate in a 5k race, I’m not
running at six miles per hour (the ten minute a mile pace), so I’m going to
need some sort of liquid out along the course.
And while I could go without water the entire race, I know there is
always someone out there who is participating in the race for the first time,
underprepared for the race, or have the weather (heat, humidity, glaring
sunlight) severely affect them. This
past weekend in Greenville, I was actually thirsty along the course while
running the Zoom Through the Zoo 5k. I
did drink plenty of water the night before and I had several cups up to two
hours prior to the race, but for some reason, I still craved liquid refreshment
while running. Before I hit some
discouraging hills about two miles in, I was working an eight-minute mile pace,
which is a little faster than I have been doing, so on the positive side, I’m slowly
getting back to my old self. Then I
started to run out of steam, figuratively, because I needed to cool off with some
water, yet none was nearby. If I was
feeling this way, how did the people I passed at the beginning of the race
feel? And I wasn’t the only one seeking
out water after the race, either; another runner asked me where I got my water
bottle from when I walked back to the finish line. This particular race was the first time I’ve
ever run a 5k race and there were no water stations set up on the course.
This is one of those
perplexing mysteries to me. Why do I not
need water while in formation, but if I’m running more than two miles in a
race, I crave it? Maybe it’s all the
cadence calling and responses of a formation run. Maybe it’s the slower
pace. But whatever the case, I need to
keep an eye on it.
