You may recall from my last post that I didn't do nearly as much mental preparation (read: worrying and obsessing) for this race as I did for my last one, because what could I really do in two weeks?
My training did suffer in between these two races - I actually only ran 3 times in the past two weeks (one of which was a 10 mile long run, to my credit!). I was disappointed in myself for slacking off, but I wasn't really worried about my performance. I knew that in the week leading up to this latest race, it wasn't really going to make that much of a difference that I hadn't added one more 4-5 mile run. In fact, I figured it might actually help because I would be more well-rested. The only run I did that week was 5 miles on Wednesday, and it was terrible - apparently I was still recovering from my 10 miler 3 days ago.
We had beautiful race weather on Sunday - sunny and cold but not freezing. The course was mostly clear except for one particularly brutal patch that was hard packed snow and was AWFUL to run on. The course was a double-loop of a 5K, so we had to run over this section not once but twice. And of course, the second time it came up was in the last .5 miles of the course! Arg!
I managed to finish the course in 54:00. This is 52 seconds slower than my previous time. I'm not at all dissatisfied with this time, but I was a wee bit confused because I really felt like I was running faster during this race than the last. For the first three miles, my times at the mile markers looked better than they had two weeks ago, so I thought I was on track to beat my time. I guess I must have slowed down at some point during the 2nd half, or that snow got to me more than I thought it did. The competition also seemed a little tougher at this race. I definitely saw more runners ahead of me at the turn-arounds, and more runners were able to gain on me and pass me throughout the race.
Oh well, it was still good enough for 9th place - and another medal! Whoo hoo!
If you'll recall, my take-away from my last 10K was "trust in your training". So what did I take away from this 10K? Well, for starters - you should still trust in your training. But the word that comes to mind when I recall this race is: fight.
Racing 6.2 miles is hard. It really is. And if you want to do well, or even finish at all, you have to fight your way through it. Because it's not easy. It's exhausting and challenging. You have to fight through every mile to get to the finish. You have to keep those feet moving even when your body gets worn out, and you have to tell yourself to keep going, you can do it, you'll get there.
You only get one shot to go out there and do a good job. It's not like training, where you can just do better the next day, or do it over if you don't like your result. This is it. You have to put everything you have out on that course and fight. Even if you don't care about your time or your placement, and you're just running for fun, you still only get one shot at making it a fun race and having a good time out there. Whether you didn't train as much as you'd like, or you just flat out didn't train enough, you have to go out there and give it your all. If for no other reason than you paid for it. Might as well go out and get your money's worth.
So far in my 2014 races I have learned that it's important to trust in your training, no matter how slowly it feels like it's going. And now I've learned that, although a race is fun, it's also a battle. You have to fight your way through. If you do your best and still don't place well, it could be a number of things: your competition was tough, the course was weird, etc. But you still get to walk away knowing you did your best and had a great race.
Now, looking forward: my next race, on March 22nd, is a 15K. This is also my last race before my half marathon. Honestly, I'm kinda freaked out! Running a 10K is really tough - how am I ever going to do well in a 9.3 mile race, let alone finish it?! More than once I've toyed with the idea of switching to the 10K. I won't, though. I know that racing 9.3 miles will be good preparation for racing the half marathon distance, plus, I don't want to back down from a good challenge! But, I am nervous. I will definitely have to amp up my training when I get back from El Salvador!
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