Race Day Struggle

Hello Friends!

Well I am officially back to blog world after a long absence with work, friends, family, exercise, all getting priority over the blog....apologies for that.

Today I'm going to tell you all about my race. Yesterday afternoon I made the trek into the city with my "Pink Patrol" team to run in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5K in Central Park.

In short, it was over before it started.

Now I have actually run a couple 5K's in Central Park before and I don't know what it was about the day but I was nervous and just kind of in a funk all morning. It was really odd because it was an absolutely gorgeous day, I had eaten breakfast before the race, it was the perfect temperature and I don't know what happened but the first mile felt like it took forever. I got to the first mile and my body just had one of those moments like "yeah, not today friend" and I was having trouble getting that out of my head and the second my head said, "hey yeah maybe I can't do this" it was over.

I was also feeling a little stressed because I was running with my dad, which shouldn't be stressful, but I wanted to make him proud and see that I was leading a healthier fitter lifestyle and I just felt like I had a lot of pressure on me to do well and it just brought me down instead.  My goal had been to run the whole thing and I didn't even come close. I'm not sure if it was the hills, my attitude, if I was intimidated by the other runners, or what, but it just didn't happen. It wasn't my A game and I ended really disappointed with myself.

In the end I ran the first mile, walked the second, and did a walk/jog mix for the next .5 miles or so and then ran the last half mile to 3.1. And wait for it.....I did this in exactly 44 minutes. A big loud triumphant sigh of total failure.

Now don't get me wrong I'm not being too hard on myself about this because I run a hill route during the week that is 2.2 miles in 27 minutes....so not sure why 3.1 miles took me almost double the time.

Anyway, I felt pretty awful the rest of the afternoon but managed to lift my spirit after I shook it off and decided I just needed more practice and a new goal. The new goal is to run the Rutgers Big Chill in December and hopefully get under 40 minutes. I managed though to get home have some lunch and enjoy time with my family while they were here. We watched a movie and even enjoyed some pizza for dinner. I limited myself to two slices of mushroom and onion...and perhaps there was some sausage on there too. :0)

Anyway, I have learned a couple good lessons for the next time I tackle a 5K and will continue to work on my running until I reach one of my lifetime goals of being in "5K" shape. If I can maintain being able to run 5K's I will be very proud of myself.

Anyway hope everyone has a great Monday and if anyone has any running tips let me know! I can use all the help I can get!

I will post pictures from the race when I get them developed!