PR Races |

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 5.2m easy 9:21/pace

If you follow me on Instagram you already know the outcome of Sunday’s 1st attempt at a sub 20:00 5k!

There’s not a whole lot to say about the race (cause 5ks are a whirlwind) except it felt as good as a 5k can feel. It was hard, yet bearable. I held back the first mile, pushed through the 2nd and gave everything I had in the 3rd and still managed to kick the last 400m. I paced myself as best I could for the given day. We had a ton of that mean wind again (10mph, 28mph gusts), and the course was nothing but rolling hills except for the start & finish which was on a high school track.

That picture was of the last few hundred feet and me squinting to read the clock. I finished in 20:51, 3rd overall female and 1st in my age group.

A few things I did differently during the race than my previous 5ks: I warmed up for 20 minutes. I made sure I was pushing during the entire race. If I felt like I was taking a breather or my foot was on the ground too long, I just picked up the pace! Kept saying to myself, “Forward, move forward” or “pick up your feet, keep moving.” One thing that really got my motivation sparked was this saying I found on Instagram the night before:

I literally repeated “You can stop when your done” out loud and to myself when I felt like I wanted to quit. Which suprisingly didn’t come around often. These mantras & positive thinking tools were actually on my side this time, which makes me even more excited for running longer distances. Plus, I was on a mission. There wasn’t time to waste! Instead of going into this race expecting the worst, I wanted only positive thoughts and planned for the best outcome with the reality that the best outcome was going to hurt and be uncomfortable.

Now I know you might think, I’m usually upset with myself after a race I didn’t hit goal on. Usually you’d see the Mackayla Maroney meme of her not “impressed” face, but honestly, i knew going into this race i’d run between a 20:30-20:55. I’d never understood how elite runners and coaches can predict race times so closely but I totally get it now. And in another 4-8 weeks I’ll shoot for a sub 20 5k because i know how many more weeks it will take to drop time, based on the previous training log.

Based on all previous training logs a very awesome meal & adult drinks are part of the recovery. First this lady & her man met me at McCormick & Schmidt’s Grill.