It was a beautiful morning in Charlotte; almost spring like. The temps where in the high 50's and I was ready to run my first race of the season. The Corporate Cup 5k; March 7th 2009.
I had had a long training week; lots of swimming, biking and running; so I was not going into the race completely rested. Per my coach's instructions I was to work on the mental aspects of my running; find some hurdle I wanted to conquer and go at it with all my might. For me that day it was finding the hurt while going fast and toughing it out until the end. I had secretly hoped for a PR as well; but since I was going on no rest I could not be certain I'd get it. The event was sponsored by my company so I had to run with the corporate T-shirt on top of the Shirt that Races; but that didn't deter me from wearing it!
I got to the race site; did my warm up, posed for the company picture and much sooner than expected the gun went off. I seeded myself close to the start line; since I knew I wanted to race the 5k; not just run it.
The first mile was slightly uphill and it got me breathing hard right away; I was putting an effort, but nothing I could not handle for 3 miles. I focused on my leg turnover and keeping certain people within sight and making sure they were not getting away. I saw the first mile marker and when I glanced at my watch I could not believe my split. It was the fastest mile I had ever ran!!
The second mile was better, my lungs were used to the effort, my legs were responding nicely and the course turned slightly downhill... Always a plus, right?? I was now gaining ground on the people I had kept in sight during the first mile and I eventually passed them. Mile marker 2 came along and I realized I had beaten my own fastest mile from before; and that if I could keep the pace up I could PR.
Mile 3 was the hardest one; since the course starts climbing for a good .5 mile. My lungs were burning, my stomach was churning and my brain was trying to convince me that I should slow down. I kept repeating to myself: You can do this, you can do this; only a couple more minutes, you can run for a couple more minutes. And it worked! Once I was up that last hill and with only .2 to go, I was able to pick it up even more and get myself to the finish line on a high note.
I even managed to PR by 20 seconds! What is best of all is that I felt great, not just because I had gotten a PR; but because I wanted to overcome the nagging voices in my head that want me to slow down when it starts hurting; and I did that too.
It is nice to know that with hard work and determination; you truly can achieve what you set your mind to. It makes you want more, don't you agree?
Mile three was the most fun. In the finish line picture below you'll see a little kid sitting on the curb. He ran the race. Maybe 10 years old. He cruises past me, looks up, smiles and says hi. I catch up to him, thinking that he's running a 1 mile fun run and it happens to be on the same course. So, I ask. Nope, he's running the whole 5k and it doesn't look like it's fazing him one bit.
