Race Day

It is well into the evening of race day now and I am still riding on a high from early this morning. The household woke up early and was out the door quickly after everyone had a small something to eat. Once we got there the crowd was still fairly small and it was no problem getting in line to complete registration and receive my t-shirt for the event. Then there was a lot of standing around waiting for the race to begin. The longer we waited the more anxiety and nervousness showed itself. I caught myself saying, "If I complete it.." not "When I complete it..". But once the countdown to begin ended and I was out on the road I shook it off and kept focused on finishing the time just like I do on my normal runs around the neighbourhood. 

My husband suspected that with all the training that I have been doing I should be able to come in under a half hour. A few times during the run I started to concern myself with the time and started gearing up to push harder but I quickly turned my mind to the present and reminding myself that my goal was not a time goal it was to complete the run without walking. In fact, I didn't even wear my watch. I thought that if I wore it there was a possibility it would throw me off of my focus. I am glad that I didn't bring it. I will try to remember this for future races.

This particular race doesn't have chips that active at the start line and turn off at the finish line to provide you with an exact time of completion. My husband watched out for me and tried to time it as accurately as possible. I ended up coming in at 31 minutes. This calculates out to a 6 minute and 12 second pace. Not bad. Not under the 30 minutes though. 

Preparing for the run, I was most worried about the bridge that is around the 3.5K marker. I remember from last year it being the time when I walked the most and when my mental motivation broke down. I was fearful that this would happen again and thought about it every time I did the hill strides during training. So today when we came around a corner and I could see a sea of people running and walking up an inclined street leading up to the base of the bridge, I slightly panicked. All this time I thought it would be that I just had to push my body and mentally work through a steep hill up a bridge and instead it was at least half a kilometre of ascending road plus the bridge! It took some focus and motivation to just take one stride at a time but I made it through very well. 

The descent of the hill marks less than a kilometre to the finish line. It was not difficult to push through the portion of the race. I came in smiling. 

No knee issues. No stopping. No problem (?) - not so sure about that. But so very proud of myself for following through on this challenge and completing the full training schedule. It has been a life-changing experience in terms of learning my mental and physical abilities - they are as limited as I want them to be. I earned the success I had today. I am going to put it on my motivation shelf to draw on when I need it sometime, but for now, I am going to quickly move onto a new goal. Beginning to train for a 10K starts this week!

Race Ready

My 45 minute run could not have gone any better. Again I surprised myself. I really had to push on those last 10 minutes and there were a few minutes I thought a small pinch in my knee might cause me to stop. I pushed through and soon my knee felt normal again. At the time I thought that I might have to give it an ice after but forgot later in the day and it hasn't bothered me since.

I decided to run the 45 minutes in a new setting, hoping it would keep my attention away from the time and to ensure the whole length would be flat - no hills or surprises. I chose the seawall and it happened to be a sunny and warm fall afternoon. So the pathway was packed with other runners and people just having a nice walk. As some other runners went past me, my self-esteem was challenged a bit. I still felt like I had to be the slowest of the runners. I kept strong though and tried to keep my mind on achieving the full time. My thoughts bounced between overhearing people's conversations or watching the technique and stride of other runners. Over and over I told myself to just keep going. There was a bit of babble again but it was controlled and helped the time pass too.

Overall, the experience surprised me and I think it has changed how I see myself moving forward. I think that reaching the 45 minute mark without injury and exceeding 5K (I couldn't map out an exact distance but it was near 6.7 - 7K) completely changes my perspective on what I am capable of doing. I am not fast, I don't know if I have great technique or stride, but I am stronger than when I started.

I am going to take this 5K race and rock it.