During the 2nd mile, I went through the whole, "this is NOT fun, why am I doing this, why do I think this is a fun thing to do on a Sat. morning" thing in my head. The way I look at it, is this.... I have some races that I do not have these sentiments, but if I do not go through this scenario at some point, it most likely means I'm NOT "all out racing". If I haven't had these thought go through my mind, I feel I've most likely "left something on the course", I didn't give it 110%. Today, it was definitely an all out HARD effort.
So at the end of the morning, I finished with 3.11 on my Garmin and a time of 23:02. You may recall, my last 5k was on Nov. 19th. I ran a PR of 22:59. I have to say, I'm happy with the time on Sat. Yes, I once again missed a PR by a few seconds, but if I look at "MY" big picture this is what I see. Some may see these as excuses. I don't see it that way. I've mentioned several times that I'm a realist. So if I'm being "real" these are details that matter. They are not excuses. To me, it's real data and explanation.
*depending on the day, I've gained 3-4 lbs. Yes, I did it AGAIN! Crap! that makes me REALLY angry, but it is what it is. Luckily, I did read one article or in a running book (I can't remember) that it's not realistic to stay at "race weight" all year. I'm happy to be racing again. It helps with my motivation for portion control.
*I ran 21 miles last Sat. - not in the 5k plan (note the heading of this blog about the addiction)
*a little breezy
Later in the day, I emailed Robbie to ask her about online results. We left soon after the race, so Robbie let me know that I won my age group, and that they had me at 22:37. Ha ha! yeah, I wish, and I think that is totally doable later this season, but I knew that wasn't even close. I looked at the online results and Chad had his watch on the race too. He had mentally noted the 1st male, 1st female and my time, and the online results for all were around 25 seconds faster than actual finishing times. So I emailed the event timing company late on Sat. evening. I started with,
So, I'm sure you've already heard, but I and several others had race results that were too fast. I explained my time of 23:02 and they had me at 22:37. I told him I was not complaining, but I wanted them to know for future reference. The event timing company quickly responded with this shocking note.
"Our starters passed the wrong start time, so we have adjusted the time to the official watch. No one brought this up till now, so we didn't notice it. Your time is corrected on the web now."
Now they have me at 23:01, yes, I will take that 1 second, but 25 seconds....come on people! REALLY?
(I did stop my Garmin past the finish line - hence the 1 second difference)
I had thought I would just be reinforcing what MANY others had already told them post race. I understand many runners are NOT "racing". I also understand many are too new to running to realize they indeed did not run that fast, but come on. Out of 329 runners in the 5k, am I really the only one
This morning I went out for a post race run. I started out thinking I will run around 8-12 miles. During the run I decided to run 17, I kept debating this in my head. "Your supposed to be 5k training, yeah but it's such a beautiful day for a long run, and you do have either a half or full marathon (still deciding) coming up in March, a long run would be good for that. But you are supposed to be focused on the 5k. I may be racing another 5k next Sat. or Sun. Focus, focus, focus on the 5k goal. The weather is so nice....... In the end, I talked myself into giving the attention to the 5k, and ended the recovery run at 8 miles.
Yay me, for sticking with the plan.
It's hard, this battle between distance and 5ks.
This is what I'm dealing with people.....it's rough to be me sometimes.......
