OK, so the good news is that I didn't totally give up.
The bad news is I did worse than last year, and not just by a little.
Here are my splits:
1 - 6:50
2 - 6:50
3 - 7:04
4 - 7:28
5 - 7:15
6 - 7:11
last little bit 54 sec.
So I felt good at the starting line. I was nervous, but able to relax with effort which is about usual for a race start. I guessed that I would be able to beat last year's time, but thought my place would be worse because of three ladies that didn't race last year were racing this year that I thought would beat me. The first mile is uphill and I hung with Hal and Gina. I was hoping for 6:45 splits but could tell by mile 2 that 6:50 would be about the best I could do. And by mile 3 and especially mile 4 I just wasn't strong enough to keep up pace. I tend to get weak mentally as well in the middle of races.
By the middle of mile 5 I knew I had just over 1.5 miles to go and started to pick it up (admittedly from my slow 7:30ish pace). I wasn't able to keep up a strong pace through that entire period however. With a mile left I found myself asking, "Why do I race for fun? Why is this my chosen hobby? I could be making beaded jewelry or canning fruit right now." By .5 miles to go I knew I needed to pick it up to at least finish strong, and I told myself out loud, "Come on! Come on!" Funny, that didn't help much.
I was trading places with another girl for the last two miles and was able to find it in me to pass her with .25 to go and was able to kick it in.
I was 43 seconds slower than last year, about 7 seconds a mile slower.
I am seeing the wisdom in focusing on endurance instead of speed since this seems to be my race weakness. I guess I should do my speed in the form of long tempo runs and only occasional long intervals on the road. And keep my miles above 60 throughout the summer.
The good thing is that races tell you where you are. By knowing where I am, even though it seems I am slower this year, I can run races smarter and refocus my training. | 