The Second Race
I ran my second 10k race two weeks ago. This time it was to benefit the Lance Armstrong Cancer Foundation. From start to finish the race (and I) sucked. And although the overall experience really wasn't much fun, I still feel the need to document it here.
First of all, that morning was cold. And windy. Like -8C (around 15F) Cold.
Plus we got to the race area 30 mins early, which meant 30 minutes of standing around in the -8C degree cold winds! I tried to do some light jogging around the area to keep warm but as soon as I would stop, I felt instantly cold again.
When it was finally time for the race to begin, I made the rookie mistake of going too fast too soon. Basically that meant my time for the first 5K was great :) BUT that also meant I had nothing left in the tank for the second 5K :(
WORSE 5K RUN OF MY LIFE!! In the end the good time I made in the first 5k was not enough to make up for my terrible time in the second 5k and I ended up with an overall 10k time of 1 minute SLOWER than my first 10k race last fall. 1 minute may not seem like a big deal, but my Goal was to run this race 4 minutes faster than my last race. Which meant I was 5 minutes slower than my goal time for this race.
I do think I learned something from this race. Like STOP RACING.
...or that I need to be more conscience of pacing myself, and maybe a February race won't be as good as an April or October race. And really, I don't think I ever want to stop racing, in fact I'm looking at races in March and April already!
Before the race, I was definitely a lot happier than After the race.
First of all, that morning was cold. And windy. Like -8C (around 15F) Cold.
Plus we got to the race area 30 mins early, which meant 30 minutes of standing around in the -8C degree cold winds! I tried to do some light jogging around the area to keep warm but as soon as I would stop, I felt instantly cold again.
When it was finally time for the race to begin, I made the rookie mistake of going too fast too soon. Basically that meant my time for the first 5K was great :) BUT that also meant I had nothing left in the tank for the second 5K :(
WORSE 5K RUN OF MY LIFE!! In the end the good time I made in the first 5k was not enough to make up for my terrible time in the second 5k and I ended up with an overall 10k time of 1 minute SLOWER than my first 10k race last fall. 1 minute may not seem like a big deal, but my Goal was to run this race 4 minutes faster than my last race. Which meant I was 5 minutes slower than my goal time for this race.
I do think I learned something from this race. Like STOP RACING.
...or that I need to be more conscience of pacing myself, and maybe a February race won't be as good as an April or October race. And really, I don't think I ever want to stop racing, in fact I'm looking at races in March and April already!
Before the race, I was definitely a lot happier than After the race.