Happy belated 4th of July! This year I ran my first independence day race ever since I decided to stay in town for the weekend and Nicole was already signed up. (I have a hard time sitting on the sidelines while others are playing.) I went into the race with a “just have fun” and “get a good workout in” mentality, but even with those goals, it ended up being a struggle because I felt so out of shape! I literally woke up on race morning thinking I should have signed up for the 5k. I’m going to get crushed today.
Coronado 15k (July 2013)
01:23:21
8:57 min/mile
20/74 AG
VERSUS Hot Chocolate 15k (March 2013)
1:12:15
7:45 min/mile
13/557 AG
Not my day. Nothing went right. Luckily it was just for fun, right?! 😉
Borrowed GU from Nicole & taped it on my water bottle. #quickfix
The race itself was OK, but I don’t think I’ll be doing it again. I liked how small and friendly it was, but the course was a bit boring and it lacked crowd support. Plus, it started 18 minutes late when I was in a port-a-potty! Oops. Nicole & I spent the first mile weaving and bobbing through all the slower runners on a narrow bike path, and I thought I was going to take someone out. Then, I felt like I was in the pain cave starting at mile 3, so I let Nicole run ahead at mile 5 when I was tired of my half-ass attempts to keep up with her. (She had a much better day!) At least Nicole and I looked awesome in our American flag pants!
America!!
My takeaways are as follows. Every race can’t be perfect, and my “fun run” 15k was the epitome of that. At the end someone told me “you can’t be in peak shape all the time” and I’m taking that comment to heart. It’s OK that I am enjoying rest days/weeks/months and not training my face off for an Ironman or a Boston Qualifying time. It’s OK that I’m trying new things like sleeping in, lazy coffee Sundays with Jeremy, easy 4 mile runs, barre classes, and surfing. (Yes, surfing!) As long as I can remind my brain of that, I will be OK until I start training for the next big thing.
At least I got a medal!
My next race is America’s Finest City half marathon on August 18, and I want to PR for that one, so excuse me while I go get my act together. 🙂
Do you ever race “just for fun”?
Yes I race for fun, often. It’s always good to have goals for a race but you shouldnt beat yourself up if you dont get close to your pb. Be realistic and look at what sort of shape you were in and how much training you’d done etc. If you take everything into account you probably did pretty well.
You also stuck at it and finished a race when you weren’t at your best.
It was a good solid work out which will help in your build up for the half marathon in 6 weeks time. You should know now what you need to work on for the next 4-5 weeks. So be positive and train smart for your next race. Good luck.
ps the Stars and stripes tights are freakin awesome!
Thank you!! Wise words. 🙂
P.S. The pants weren’t runner friendly, but I made out OK! Totally worth it.
Love the patriotic outfits!
You completely need some downtime and can’t be in prime shape for every race. You’ll have a lot of training ahead of you, so just enjoy the relaxation and easy workouts now!
Thank you! Yes. Must. Relax.