Or, a lesson in how to overdo it.
Who knows where thoughts come from? They just appear.
Sometime on Saturday, I decided that I was going to run to the race on Sunday. I could have ridden my bike or taken the metro, although that would have been cutting it close since the race started at 8 and the metro didn’t open until 7:30. I thought back to the GCF Half Marathon last November and thought, What the heck? Why not?
The few problems with this idea – this race being a time trial to judge my current fitness during this marathon cycle and that weekend’s schedule being a cutback week in terms of my overall training schedule, to name a few – didn’t seem to deter me. I rationalize them out of existence, telling myself that with my left shin bothering me I probably wasn’t going to get a PR or have a good time trial so why not get some more miles on my feet since I missed a few runs last week.
Plus, how bad ass is it to run 5.5 miles to a race, race it and then run back!
I woke up Sunday morning, got dressed and ready for the race, ate a banana, drank a glass of water, and headed out the door with a bagel in hand to munch on as I ran. As I ran through the quiet Arlington streets I wondered how many people noticed me running by with a bagel in one hand and a race bid pinned to the front of my shirt and wondered what I was up to.
I made it to West Potomac Park, about 5.5 miles from the house, in exactly 1 hour. Not overly speedy but definitely a good warm up. As I ran I questioned whether I was going the right thing? Whether I should even shoot for a PR (faster than 8:19 pace)? Maybe I should just enjoy the crisp fall weather and be happy with that? If I didn’t get a PR, would that mean a sub-4 marathon was out of reach? I hate that I have been so full of doubt this past week but Sunday, before the race, was not the moment I would shake that monkey off my back.
Eventually, we lined up at the start line and before too long the race was underway. I decided to run what felt like a fast 10K pace and let the first mile decide my approach to the rest of the race. If my pace over the first mile was anywhere near 8:20, I’d shoot for a PR. If it wasn’t, then I would just find a relaxing but quick pace and put all thoughts of PR times out of my head.
As always, people were passing me constantly even and I am getting much better at letting that happen. I no longer feel the urge to try to keep up with the people shooting out of the gate, confident that I’ll see them again before too long. The first mile felt like it was taking forever but I eventually passed the first mile marker and hit the lap button on my watch.
I was pleasantly surprised to see 8:28. Well, that is sort of close to an 8:19 PR pace and even though 9 seconds seemed like a long time to make up over the remaining 5.2 miles, the pace gave me the confidence to try. Just a pick up the pace a little bit, I told myself.
Mile 2 ticked off in 8:18. Well, that is more like it. If I can just stay with this pace for the next 4 miles or so, I wouldn’t be far from my PR. I started to focus on just making it to the turn around and before I knew it I hit Mile 3 with an 8:11 mile. As it turned out, I made up those 9 seconds pretty easily.
I swung around the turn around and headed back “home.” That’s what I tell myself on out-and-back long runs after getting to the turn around spot – “Now, I just have to make it home. Just gotta get home. That’s it.”
It was also at this point in a race that I expect to stop seeing so many people passing me and to start picking off all those people who started off too fast and zoomed by me in the beginning of the race. However, this wasn’t happening. People were still zooming by me and I felt like I wasn’t gaining on anyone. In fact, it started to discourage me and I started questioning my decision to run to the race.
What was I thinking? I’m fading 3 miles in to a 10K! Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
Mile 4 was not an easy mile but I told myself to just relax in to the pace. If my pace dropped below 8:19, I told myself it was OK to let the PR go and not try to push myself to accomplish something that was out of reach. I ended up running an 8:18 that mile even though I felt like my pace had slowed significantly and that people were passing me with ease. I couldn’t quite give up on the PR so I pushed Mile 5, just to see what I could do at that point.
It turns out I could run an 8:08 mile for Mile 5. With 1.2 miles to go, I started to doing the math – if I stayed on this pace, if I didn’t let up for even a second, I just might be about to squeak in a PR but it would be close. I ran harder.
Before seeing the sign for Mile 6 – Where it is? Where is it? – I saw the finish line ahead of me. All I had to do was run to it. It seems to simple and easy. Mile 6. I hit the lap button on my watch but didn’t even look down. Just run to the finish. Keep pushing. Stay strong. Just run!
It turns out Mile 6 was my fastest mile at 8:06 and I covered the final .2 miles in 1:32 minutes for a 30 second PR at the 10K distance. My official time was 51 minutes 5 seconds. I couldn’t believe that after putting over 5 miles on my legs and claiming it was a warm up once again resulted in a strong PR. I felt great. Tired. Out of breath. But great.
I was the 188th woman to cross the finish line and 58th in my age group.
I grabbed an apple, a banana, a water and two cookies and sat down to stretch as I cheered on the rest of the people finishing the race. After scarfing all that down, I had to make a decision, am I really going to try to run home? My legs felt heavy but they didn’t hurt. I was definitely tired but I wasn’t exhausted. I decided to give it a try, sticking close to the metro line so that I could jump on if I needed to. I ended up running all the way home, (except for the last 3 blocks but only because Mike happened to drive by so he gave me a ride home).
I paid for it the next few days – the most sluggish, cement-legged run ever on Monday and more shin pain on Tuesday and today – but I still enjoyed it. Honestly, I can’t say I won’t do it again.
Pros:
- Convenient-ish location
- Great time of year to race in DC and pretty location along the river
- Good organization
- Cookies!
Cons:
- A bit crowded (not for most people, especially for a DC race but this is just a personal preference)
No comments:
Post a Comment