Monday, May 5, 2014

Okay, so: okay

My results for the Verdugo Mountains 10k, which I ran this morning with my fleet friend CCK. Just before you start thinking silly thoughts, the first 3.25 or so miles of this race is a pretty gnarly uphill, ~500 ft/mile. So the 8:20/M you're seeing is a blending of a 10+/M on the way up and about a 5:40/M on the (shorter) way down.


If you want to verify them, I assume because you are insane, a link that's active as of this posting is here.

Here is a complete history of my relationship to this race and this result.

Up to t - 2 weeks: "hey whatever, it'll be a fun trail run, a 10k is nothing anyway"
t - 2 weeks to t - 2 days: "okay, I should train some, I wanna do good, it's a race," make a plan, don't really follow it, etc.
t - 2 days: "margh. I semi-followed my plan, and I am sick [true; not excuse], and I am banged up from Muay Thai [true], blech blech blech"
ALSO all this time, up to t - 1 hour: "man, I'm fit as hell. I'm going to toast this race. I may even win my age group and nab that pair of sneakers!"
t - 1 hour to t, upon arriving at race registration and seeing all the very buff and/or gazelle-runner people ready to run it, and also upon hearing from my friend CCK that the female record for this race was 48 minutes: "aw heck. i'll do my best. i'll finish the thing."
t to t + 50 minutes: rising sense of possibility as I pull near the front of the pack, realizing that htere are a small number of people ahead of me, no women ahead of me, etc. "go go go go go"
t + 51m40s: "okay, good job." eat delicious pumpkin pancakes and veggie sausages served for runners
t + 70m, when they posted the results: "darn"

I think the main lesson is that you're always a little closer than you think you are, and persistent effort is generally rewarded. I'm pleased to have been in the top 25 and a little disappointed not to be higher in my age group. I think the persistent effort of generally running and trail running was rewarded, and the fact that I've been focusing more on Muay Thai than running for the last couple months (and frequently banged up from sparring) hurt me a little. Lastly, I feel like I'm getting stronger, and could do this race more quickly next year. So we'll see. If I do, I'll let you know.





No comments: