Monday, March 5, 2012

Crystal Coast 5K Recap - February 25th

On Friday, February 24th, I headed to Atlantic Beach to meet up with some friends from across the state for the  Crystal Coast 5K and Half-Marathon.   It was long drive down with rain along the way.  I was excited to meet up with my friends after dinner -- there were 5 of us total.  We signed up to do the 5K -- all of us at varying stages of fitness.  Saturday would be my first run since the 2.5 week "prescribed" break from running.

Saturday morning, we were all up bright and early.  We looked like bumblebees -- the race shirts were golden yellow & we all had on black running pants!   (I'll try to post a picture at some point).    My game plan was to run the first mile and then do intervals (3 run/1 walk) for the remainder.  They started the race 5 minutes earlier than posted, so we nearly missed the horn!

I started off at a slow comfortable pace.  It seemed like the mile was inching along.  I was beginning to wonder if they had the miles marked.   I didn't realize it at the time, but I stopped about 100 yards shy of the 1 mile mark.  I was frustrated with myself and then negativity began to creep in.  I ended up walking the next half mile and then started intervals.  I realized shortly after I started the intervals something didn't seem right with the timing.  Sure enough - I looked down and my intervals were not set correctly.  GRR! and more negative thoughts.  I tried to keep an eye on my watch and do intervals the best I could and then gave it all I had for the end of the race.

My goal was to finish under 40 minutes.  I finished at 41:36.  More frustration and disappointment went through my mind.   This was a hard race for me mentally - I expected to do better because the course is relatively flat compared to what I am accustomed to running at home.  It wasn't until the last half mile or so that I decided to get rid of the negative thoughts and OWN the race.

In hindsight, I will celebrate --

  • finishing strong after 2.5 weeks of not running & a time very close to my personal best
  • enjoying the company of friends and be encouraged by them regardless of where each of us finished
  • a time faster than last year's race -- nearly 8 minutes faster I think
How do you kick your "stinkin' thinkin'" to the curb during a race?