I hopped into a 10K, knowing it would be a rough go after 10 months of no races, 4 months off of running, around 10 lbs of weight gained then lost, and 2 months with my right ankle suspended in a boot. I was just really excited to actually be able to race again.
The 5K that I had planned for 5/17 was cancelled due to flood waters. I knew I had to find another race because I wanted to test my fitness to see where I was at. I've been doing a lot of miles and I am very strong (at non race speeds) but before I race and train for specific endurance, I needed a baseline to improve upon.
The race started like all races do, people going out way too fast. I was relaxed and just like coach says, start slow finish fast. My splits assuming mile markers were right:
5:52, a little too slow, way within myself
5:36, this was more like it, dropped some guys
5:25, wow I have a lot of energy, like I could do the whole race this fast. Too bad I was all by myself in no-mans-land at this point.
5:32, pretty decent, plenty left, in the wind by myself.
6:18, came by a turn all by myself, no course marshal...I ran too far in the wrong direction before realizing....I may be an idiot but the course marshal should have caught me before the bike cops did. At this point I am ticked...ticked that I signed up for a race for the competition but there was none (at my pace)...I'm always ahead of the fun runners but way behind the local elites. Every. freakin. (local) race. It gets old.
6:50 for the last 1.2 I picked it up at the end but I didn't feel that dead. More sad that I couldn't run faster, that I've lost so much fitness, but happy that I could even run at all. More indifferent than anything.
Pros: 1. I felt strong throughout....I'm sure I could run a decent half right now. 2. My achilles heald up well to my flats. Of course I had heel lifts in my flats. 3. It was fun to get out there and enjoy a race again. 4. I'm so very thankful I can actually run races! 5. I will no doubt get faster.
Cons: 1. I ran slower than I did 2 years ago at this race when I was only doing 40 miles a week. Seriously. Of course I was dead by mile 2 in that event and I really dug deep. Today's race was within myself which brings me to the next point. 2. the mind is a muscle that must be exercised in race situations....I was not super tough today. 3. It's frustrating to see how far I need to go to get where I want to be.
Results
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