The 2012 edition of the Bazan Bay 5k was this past Sunday and I’d say that the event was a success – both for myself and for all of my family that ran. For me, it was a success from a time perspective, but also, it was a mental success. I definitely feel like I made some gains mentally on this outing, and these gains might even feel better than my shiny new 5k PB.
Was it a perfect race? Heck no. Did I feel pretty damn good at the end? You bet.
But, let’s start from the beginning…
I was nervous going into this race. Like almost stupidly nervous all things considered (I mean really, who was I racing but myself and the clock?). I would say my nerves started on Thursday night, and hit even harder by Friday night as I lay in bed trying to get to sleep. I got a slight reprieve on Saturday during training, but the fact that I was “racing” the next day was never far from my mind. Looking back on this now, it’s actually a bit shocking to me how nervous I was – not to mention, totally, completely, ridiculously silly.
Anyway, I couldn’t decide how I wanted to race, but I knew I wanted to try and be under 23:00 (my previous best over the 5k distance was 23:27) and that I didn’t want to feel like I “could have pushed harder” when all was said and done (this is something that happens in a lot of my races – especially the shorter distances).
Sunday morning when I woke up, my nerves had finally settled and I was feeling good. I knew I could and would push to the best of my abilities and I knew I was capable of beating my previous best (I just didn't know by how much).
On the drive down, I made the snap decision to try and stick with Kirsten. I figured I’d run her pace as long as I could and if I blew up, so be it. I’ve done this before, and it has never turned out good, but something was different today. Maybe I believed I’d actually be able to stick with her? Maybe I had more confidence in my own abilities to just push? I dunno, whatever it was, I was okay with this [really not smart] race place.
So, once we were parked, Kirsten and I separated from out parental units and headed out for a little warm up. We got some strides in, and well, I broke a huge sweat. During one of the strides, I may have let my confidence get rattled a little when I looked over at Kirsten and asked “You’re not planning to run the whole race this fast are you?” to which she replied “I’m going to try to.” I should have known right then and there that I probably wouldn’t be running with her for long, but I decided to just play dumb with myself and continue to think maybe we’d cross the finish line together.
With the warm up complete, we chatted and waited for the race to begin. When the “gun” finally went off, Kirsten shot ahead and I was right on her shoulder – for all of about 800m, haha. My first km clocked in at a nice 4:07 pace. I wanted so very badly to stick with her, but it just wasn’t happening. Surprisingly, I didn’t really care and actually didn’t get mad at myself for my stupid race plan. I just tried to keep her in my sights and I continued to push as hard as my body was willing to go.
5km sure does go by quick. The headwind felt a bit strong in places on the way out and I thought the turnaround was going to be a little closer than it was, but I felt good. Don’t get me wrong, I was working, but my mind felt good (and the little bits of tailwind on the way back were pretty dang nice too). I had a moment or two where I wanted to back off a bit, but reminded myself I would be disappointed if I did and so, I just kept telling myself “push, push, push.”
About the 4km mark I got a nice reminder from Kelly about my form and that helped spark a few key reminders and distractions in my head and before I knew it, I was crossing the finish line. About 30 seconds slower than Kirsten, but a full 1:26 faster than my previous best! My watch said 22:00 flat, but the chip time said 22:01, so I suppose I have to go with what the chip said (although "22 minutes even" sure does sound better, haha).
So yeah, on that day, I really truly do believe I gave it everything I had and just feel like mentally, this was a real turning point. Of course, I still think I can go faster, but now I just have to prove that to myself.
Once complete, Kirsten and I did a bit of a cool down jog and got to see our Dad coming into the finish for a new PB with his goal for the day met (sub 30’) and then found our Mom who was still on the course, on route to smashing her goal as well (sub 40’ with no walk breaks). We ran about the last 1km with Mom and cheered as she sprinted the final 100m into the finish line.
It was a really gorgeous day weather wise. The post-race food was pretty superb and everyone in our little clan met the goals they had set for themselves.
In short, I’d say it was a pretty good day at the races.
No comments:
Post a Comment