It was thrilling to be out at 7:30 am on a brisk Cape Cod morning with 2000 runners & walkers from all over the Upper Cape running to raise funds for our food pantry and to run with one another. It's magical and I never get tired of being with other runners.
The time clock was broken so the race organizer just announced times as they occurred ("45 minutes, 46 minutes, 47 minutes!" etc.). I was dressed quasi-appropriately but I do need to do some shopping and get better fall/winter running clothes. The weather fully cooperated - 45 degrees & overcast - perfect for running.
I'm not an experienced runner of races. I've run about 8 races so far, and in every one of them, I seem to get side-tracked and allow myself to abandon my race plan. When I train in my neighborhood, I'm either alone or with my running partner. We're disciplined & all business. But when I race, something crazy happens to me. I start out with a plan to run a tempo pace during the first mile, utilize Galloway's run/walk system to PREVENT fatigue, and then crank up to race speed in the last 1/2 mile. But I ALWAYS manage to check out the other runners near me, pick out a runner who is a) older than me; and b) slower than me. I then decide to compete with this runner, sometimes pacing myself with him/her, or sometimes sprinting past while telling myself "If I can't beat YOU, I'm going to hang up my running shoes!". This of course does me absolutely no good. I begin to run THEIR race instead of mine.
It happened again in this race. I was running along, pacing myself, running 6 min/walking 60 seconds, for the 1st mile when at mile 2 I ran up to a woman runner in my AG who was clearly running slowly. She was dressed for a summer day at the beach - shorts and a flower print top. I thought - hmmm....I bet I could beat her..... Although she was ahead of me, I had started at the back of the pack and she was running rather slowly so I had caught up to her. Lovely person - we traded chit-chats about our work (come to find out we do the same thing in different universities - small world), and basically paced each other during the entire mile 2. She told me she has just started running in April 09 (I've been running since January 09), and although she's walked this turkey day run/walk many times, she decided to run the entire 5k this time - no walking at all.
Long story short....she beat my time. Why? Because I abandoned my run/walk strategy that I've trained on and ran HER race. Needless to say by mile 2.75 I had to walk for about 2 minutes, she continued to run, sprinted at the finish and came in ahead of me.
However, I did unofficially PR this race. I heard the race organizer call "41 minutes" and I had crossed the finish line at least a minute prior (maybe more?). So I figured I probably unofficially finished at about 40 min. giving me a 12:50 min/mile time - a personal best. I ran 14:30 min mile in my first race - the Fun Run with Bill & Frank 5K 2/22/09 . Maybe not a finish most people would be proud of, but I sure was.
So I've improved - shaved 1:40 minutes off my time, something I never dreamed I could do. My daughter-in-law, the marathoner, says I haven't plateaued yet. That's music to my ears. My goal for the next race I run - to run my own race. I'll put my ear buds in and let my music shuffle on my iPod Nano pace me. I'm going to try to break 39 minutes.
It was a great start to Thanksgiving Day. Hope it was a good one for all.
