Rich on Running: Markers on courses can motivate runners

If you’ve signed up for a race and you’re wondering if you’ll even finish, it might help to break up the distance into smaller, more manageable segments on race day.In fact, quite a few races, both short and long, follow the practice of marking off the miles – or even quarter-miles.For instance, on Sunday morning I ran the Mass Ave. Mile, a road race from Porter Square to Harvard Square in Cambridge. (Porter Square, for the curious, is named after the porterhouse steak, which was reportedly invented there.) The race began not far from the Porter Square MBTA Red Line stop and ended by the Harvard Coop bookstore. Quarter-mile markers kept runners informed of their progress.It boosted my confidence to see that first quarter-mile sign on my right, knowing that the run was already 25 percent completed. And when I spotted the clock ticking away at the halfway point, it seemed like the finish line was just moments away.Having run this route before, I knew some “unofficial” markers, too. Yet this was not necessarily a plus. Runners had to go the length of the Cambridge Common park, where the revolutionaries mustered the night before the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775. While the common is anything but hilly (the whole course was flat), it felt like the race had suddenly doubled in length when I saw the park. The Coop couldn’t come into view fast enough!While the quarter-mile markers flew past rapidly on Sunday, there is a bit more distance between markers on a longer race in Lynn Woods. The day after Independence Day, I ran the 4.1-mile “Twin Towers” race in the Woods. Instead of markers on the right, we had white numbers on the ground for each mile.As anyone who has run Lynn Woods knows, the courses are anything but straight. Not only do they exemplify what the Beatles called “the long and winding road,” they also go up and down hills, including, on July 5, both Stone Tower and Steel Tower. There was even a “bushwhacking” component, as race director Bill Mullen mentioned.So, with all these challenges, looking for the mile markers initially felt like an afterthought for me. One thing I did keep an eye on very closely, though, was a different sort of marker: the white arrows on the ground indicating which turn to take. As I brushed tree branches away from my face on the bushwhacking part while going up an incline, I became a little more eager to see those mile markers. When the two-mile point appeared, I held up two fingers, perhaps to reassure myself that this race was halfway over.Just like in the Mass Ave. Mile, “unofficial” markers appeared along the way, and unlike the discouraging prospect of running the length of the Common on Sunday, it was very heartening to see Steel Tower and know that the race was almost done. It was even more encouraging to see the line of traffic cones by the finish line. Those cones, and the post-race refreshments beyond them, are so motivating to me that I actually invoked them near the finish on Sunday, telling myself to imagine that “it’s Lynn Woods, you see the cones, and there’s chocolate-chip cookies at the finish.”So, whether it’s a short or a long race, perhaps you, too, will find motivation in markers. There is just one more type of marker that might help: A sign for the refreshments afterward. I missed the bagels and salad after the Mass Ave Mile.Rich Tenorio can be reached at [email protected].