Sunday, January 24, 2010

Personal Bests


Ran a 10K race today. Half way there I wondered if I really wanted to run the race. I'm not much for being competitive even with myself. I think I just like to run distances at my own leisure. If it weren't for me discovering at the last minute that Misty was also due to be there I think I might have blown it off for a solo run. No turning back. I pushed myself to think about what it was that I wanted to accomplish. The best I could come up with was not running through the gate at the end of the 5K. Trust me I had to fight my inner quitter to keep to the left.

I've also realized something. When I'm not running a race to be social (with girlfriends) then I don't want to talk to anyone a long the way. Unfortunately, due to my reserved first half pace I got stuck with a Chatty Cathy. Oddly, she didn't look like she was up for any kind of conversation and as I kept my steady pace I kept expecting her to fall back. She never did. Thankfully, she was only in for the 5K.

I rallied and stayed to the left to complete another loop. Telling myself it was just a training run. "Its just a training run...LSD. Keep a steady pace, don't surge" "Keep something in the tank for the last 1K". Strategy worked. I sprinted in on the last 500m trimming 10 minutes off my last 10K time. Phew! Thank God that was over. Oddly, the little shot of Scotch right after was actually nice.

I was even happier when I got home to find my troops all happy and excited to see my medal. It was just a participation medal but they didn't care. As far as they were concerned their mommy had won the race. When I look at them I know I got the gold.

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