Sorry if this post came out a little earlier than anticipated. I didn’t pay attention when scheduling, and it was an extremely rough version.
As runners, I think most can relate to doing something dumb when it comes to training. Something that is considered risky and something you knew was a bad idea. Yet for an unknown reason, we still do it. It could be a run or even a race.
Well, here I am a week later with a race recap of a race I ran the weekend before last. No one knew I was running because I didn’t even know until 6:30 am that day. As runners, I think we second guess during rest, and I did that. Despite not running that week, I felt fine. I didn’t feel out of the ordinary, and my foot didn’t ache. The x-ray the Tuesday before confirmed it wasn’t bone related. My foot didn’t hurt when I lived my life, but I hadn’t run either.
I woke up around six last Saturday, ate and poked around the computer. At 6:30 am, I saw the race started at eight right near work. It would give me plenty of time to get ready after the race and not be late. I told myself: “the best case scenario would be finishing healthy” and the worst case scenario was “not finishing healthy” but if anything felt off, I would stop running. I can’t explain it, but my gut told me it would be ok.
So with that I arrived at the race at 7, warmed up briefly and felt okay. My foot wasn’t achy, so I went to the start. I don’t have a smart reason of why I was even there. I wanted to test my foot, and this was probably the worst idea to do it.
With that, I started the race. The first mile was filled with young kids who took it out too quickly, and they all faded around .25. I found myself as first woman overall. I was carefully monitoring my foot, and I crossed the first mile in 5:51. I knew my fitness hadn’t gone anywhere from resting for a week, but I was more worried about my foot.
I ran the second mile alone. There was a lone male in front of me, but I ran the remainder of my race alone and in silence. It gave me ample time to focus on my own race. My foot wasn’t bothering me, and I hit the second mile in 6:05. There was nothing eventful about it.
By the third mile, my foot still wasn’t hurting or sore. My legs had no energy, but I was taking the race for what I wanted: “a healthy finish”. To my surprise, I ran the third mile in 5:50 as my fastest.
I crossed the finish in 18:33 and 1st woman overall. I was surprised because my legs felt lethargic from not running. I didn’t care because my foot didn’t hurt and my pain disappeared as fast as it came on last week.
Thoughts:
It was probably close to my dumbest idea ever, but I’m lucky I guess. I’m happy I finished healthy.
Have you ever worked out when you probably shouldn’t have?