I woke up early, EARLY this morning to the most perfect weather for my race-- cold, rainy, dark, cold, windy, cold.... did I say it was cold? Regardless of the incredibly crummy weather, I rolled out of bed, and got on the road, and I am so happy that I did! The race went surprisingly well and I discovered that there are some positives to running a race in the crummy weather....
1. Cold rainy gross weather is a most excellent motivator to finish the race as quickly as possible. Yes, hurry up and get done so you can get warm. And if you are a coffee junkie like me, just keep your mind on that delicious hot coffee drink that you are going to treat yourself to when the race is over.
2. Half the racers don't show up giving you a better chance to "win." So while I LOVE running and I've been doing it for quite a long time, I've never claimed to be a fast racer. So no, I did not win... but I had better odds today! And I'm proud at how far I have come-- everyday is a new chance to get a personal best. I was shooting to run the race in an hour given the conditions. I did terribly at training for it, so I honestly thought that unless some serious race day adrenaline kicked in, I was never going to be under an hour. BUT, I finished in 57:14 minutes, and placed SECOND in my division!! (71st place overall out of 144-- there were some FAST people out there!)
3. When your entire body is cold and numb, you don't feel the pain. Truth! My feet and toes were numb, so they weren't sore at all! Also when I got to the finish line to be greeted by my love, I began to talk and discovered that my chin and face were numb. The words coming out of my mouth were followed up with a string of drool as if I had some sort of dental work. Ha! Did I say that it was cold outside? Yea, it was cold.
So while the conditions were less than ideal, it was a really great first 10k! I'd definitely do it all over again. I see many more 10k's (and other races) in my future!
No comments:
Post a Comment