It’s never fun to write a race recap when you log a personal worst (in the last few years). It’s hard not to compare yourself to previous times but coming back from injury you can’t compare…you shouldn’t compare period. I won’t lie and say I’m happy with this time because I’m not. My goal was to break 20 minutes and I didn’t do that. You can’t meet your goals for every race though. I didn’t even take any photos during the race (I am not coordinated to take race selfies and to my knowledge there were no race photos taken).
On to the actual race…This race started less than a half mile from my house. I’ve never run to a race before but T and I decided to/from and get a nice warmup in. The moment I stepped outside, I knew my legs were tired and sore. We warmed up but I knew the race was going to hurt.
A summery of the race:
We lined up together at the starting line and all of a sudden…we were off. I started as second place woman and I stayed there. The first place woman is a great personal friend of mine and I couldn’t be happier for her solid win!
The first mile I hit at 6:27. It was right on exact pace to break 20. Except I know exactly how I run 5ks and I knew I would absolutely not be able to hold that pace. Plus the first mile was downhill (a hill that we would be coming back up).
The second mile was mentally rough. There were a lot of small turns and I knew I wasn’t even half way to go. A young child kept cutting me off, weaving in and out. All I could think was “gee he is going to be fun to race in college…”. We began a series of small hills and my legs were already tired. I honestly wanted to just stop and sit there. My legs were sore, I was miserable but I somehow propelled through the second mile. I was getting slower and slower and mentally the race was getting harder and harder.
By the third mile, the field was spread out. I had run by myself almost the entire race (I could see Tim way ahead though). One man passed me during the third mile and I’m surprised more people didn’t. I hit the third mile in 6:55.
Finally the last home stretch was just running up a hill to the finish. I don’t have much else other than it was painful and unenjoyable. Some races are like that.
Takeaways:
I had a hard training week and it was apparent my body was tired. I have no regrets and I’m happy with my training week but logging any PW stinks. I am not upset, giving up running or hanging in the towel because the race hurt. I wasn’t expected a PR but I was expecting to be a bit quicker. Nothing you can do but move forward.
Questions for you:
When was your last PW?
Do you say something in races when people cut you off multiple times?
My last PW was a half marathon in Sept. Not a great feeling going into a marathon but it was super hot that day which is just not my thing. Your PW would be my PR though 🙂
5k PW on Sunday. No big deal.
Take it easy on yourself. You are running a lot of miles and ramping back up after an injury.
I’m sorry the race was a suckfest. That said, you definitely PR’d in emoji artwork for the race report.
Sucky races are the worst, and coming back from an injury is hard and not always fun – both things I know too well! Your artwork is the best, though.
Coming back from injury is hard, but remember what you could do one (or two) months ago. You are learning and building and it’ll show!
love the pics!! a PW of 20 is what a lot of people would dream of! Just think how you’ll be when you’re back to fitness!
defintely have to start somewhere after the injury. good for you for getting out there and setting a baseline. i am so slow now that i am terrified to ‘race’ and see just how slow i am. so good for you for laying it out there and not being afraid. says a lot about your positive attitude! one i could learn from:)
Well, let’s see…every half marathon I ran in the back half of this year was a PW. Also, I managed PWs in the 5 and 10K by some considerable margin. Go home running in 2014, you’re drunk.
I wouldn’t let this discourage you – you’re still on the way back from consecutive injuries (having two so close together will lengthen your recovery time, particularly when it comes to getting your super-speed back) and this is just a stepping stone in the process. You’ll have better races to come, I’m sure of it!
Oh, and I would have been severely tempted to trip that kid and then run over the top of him 😛
xxx
I loled at the “Go Home” comment. You are right…I’m not devastated…it’s just upsetting.
It’s always hard because younger kids don’t know the “proper” race etiquette and I seriously almost tripped over him hahah.
5Ks are the worst races for this reason. You race them hard (no easing in to your race pace) so if you get a disappointing time it hurts. But it’s not a goal race. You didn’t train specifically for it. And you’re just easing back into things after an injury. A podcast I listen to has a whole list of PRs, including post-injury PRs, post-baby PRs………whatever. If this is your first 5K after being out with your injury maybe you can reclassify it?
Ah I remember my first trail race back after not running much all winter (let alone on trails). It was so brutal I cried most of the way through it and left promptly at the end so no one could see me. I learn a lot though, like not to go out too fast, to hike/run the hills and keep the “trail race” perspective…it’s about having fun and drinking beer after the race!
Coming back from an injury this is really great!
Just had a 45 min PW two months ago at the Empire State Marathon. Considering I was coming off a rugby injury (bruised three ribs), and managed only one 6 mile run for preparation, I was pretty happy just to finish.
Nice to do a sort of “reset” for this upcoming year with races/training though. Already feeling a few months ahead of where I was last year, so 2015 should be a good one!
Gotta give yourself grace on that first 5K post-injury. My last “personal worst” was my first 5K back too. It’s a big brave step to get back out there and acknowledge that you will not hit the kind of time you are used to, but race anyway. As hard as it was, I didn’t have any expectations right after my injury and that made it a little easier, if you can let go of the expectations. It was about a minute slower than my usual 5K times. For me, it seemed like my endurance wasn’t so bad (probably due to cross training) but it did take a while for my speed to come back. Sometimes personal worsts happen, but they make the personal bests all that much better.
It’s neat that you could run to the race (I’ve never been able to do that) and that Tim ran with you.
I have barely raced so most PWs are also PRs….lol. I have definitely had some training runs though that end up 2+ minutes slower than my easy pace – and feel like I am racing. Way to stay positive!
No worries! I’m glad you are back racing!
All aboard the pain train. Womp, womp.
There is a New Energy kid who does that at every race. I finally told him during the Santa Shuffle I was going to run him over and, more importantly, he was not running the tangents and wasting energy. Fortunately he faded after the first mile so he became somebody else’s problem.