Just Do It. Nike’s campaign was my motto for the Saturday morning. After much deliberation I finally realized there was no reason for me to sleep in and skip Run to the Dump.
Last year when I participated I was completing my 5 5Ks of 2011. I had been running regularly and in fairly good shape. I started the race strong and after a 1 mile getting lost detour I seriously struggled with the last few miles.
As I mentioned in my last post I was not very active in July. I knew the race would be slow for me, but I did want to remind my body what it is capable of.
My strategy for the race was to listen to my ipod and run one song and walk the next. I had no aspirations of completing the race in a specific amount of time, nor did I have goals for s certain average pace. All I wanted was to try.
I lined up towards the back of the pack and stayed steady the whole race. After the first mile I passed one woman. For the next three another woman and I played leap frog. I would pass her, she would pass me, I would pass her and so it continued for the first half of the race.
The second half of the race I had yet another woman in front of me who would constantly turn around, see me and then pick up her pace. I was irritated that she was using my pace as her motivation. But I didn’t want to stray from my strategy to prove I could catch up and pass her.
Eventually her walking and my walking song aligned and we were next to each other. I struck up a conversation and learned that she is training in preparation for basic training next June. I felt guilty for my previous irritation.
This was her first race and her training had only brought her up to 3 miles, and we were on mile 5 of a 6.5 mile course! I did share that there are a lot of training plans online as well as my preferred run a song walk a song strategy.
In the end I passed her and am happy to say I finished the race strong without straying from my strategy. Next year I will be participating with hopefully more challenging goals in place. But until then, it’s nice to know I’ve still got it!
Just Do It!
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