So the boy and I had been kicking around the idea of pacing a friend of ours in a local 5k so she could see just how fun they really are. Greek Fest seemed like an opportune chance since it is supposed to be flat and lots of fast people are out there posting some great times. Sounded inspirational to me… unfortunately the timing didn’t work out but we had already signed ourselves up. This meant I had the option of actually racing the race, doing a tempo, or hanging out just running to run (nearly impossible to do in a race but hey, it was worth a thought). The boy picked a goal of breaking 20 and kept making fun of me all morning for imagining that I could hear the gun go off and just hang out for a while on the roads…
We did a pretty killer hill workout on Thursday and before my legs got sore from that, I asked the boy for a circuit type workout to do at work that ended up really busting up my hamstrings… glutes… legs in general…
Friday was interesting as I hobbled around the office with my super sore legs. I thought to myself, I certainly can’t RACE with legs like this?! And then when we did our warmup on Saturday I said (out loud) to the boy “This is clearly not a race day for me.”
I ended up surprising myself because something must have gotten into my legs and I ran my fastest 5k ever. Pretty cool considering that I would have quite literally sold my soul to run the same time in high school or college. I texted my old teammate and said – what do you think, are we aging like fine wine? She agreed. I kept wondering if there had been a mistake but I ran with the roughly same pack of people the whole time and I saw all the clocks so… it must have been real!
I had so much fun seeing everyone out there and catching all the energy and the high and euphoria of racing a good race. The boy broke 20 with ten seconds to spare so he was definitely pleased… it ended up being a great morning for us both and success is always best when shared. We’ve been training so much more together as we gear up for New York and it was kind of cool seeing our hard work start paying off. I still find it hard to believe that I can run better now when I just love and enjoy running than when I was doing hard workouts twice a week on a sweaty golf course under the stress and torment of trying SO HARD all the time. It took me stepping back, taking off my watch, and just letting it roll. Just letting my feet pound the pavement. Just breathing through the first mile. Just talking myself through the tricky second mile when my legs start to question my sanity. Just convincing myself that 1 mile is not that far and then 1200 meters is really not that far and that half a mile is surely less than 4 minutes and that if I can see the finish than I am almost done and that if I can actually hear the beeps of the finish mats… I am home. I am safe. I am DONE. It is all in my mind and it always has been. I have been out of my mind with all the planning and details involved with our wedding in two weeks… that I think a real, concrete, focused, in-this-moment experience was exactly what the doctor ordered.
And then a big breakfast. And a long run with a chocolate milk recovery the next day… a good weekend in the books.
