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Down and dirty, been running for about two years and started racing about a year ago. Blah, Blah, Blah, I was big dude, lost a lot of weight, I'm sure everyone's sick of my story, so to get to the point, my last 10K, I missed breaking an hour by 12 seconds.<br><br>
Breaking that hour has been one of those mental barriers I've been pushing to get through. Interestingly enough though is how the entire race unfolded was way more satisfying than breaking an hour. My last half at Long Beach, ended in injury and has been my worst race to date, so that was looming on the mind.<br><br>
So anyway, I get up way too damn early, stumble around my house in a fog of half-sleep and manage to make my way to the race. So I register, wander around and just kind of kill time, did I mention it was cold?? Well, not ice storm, rest of the country cold but cold by California boy standards.<br><br>
So I find Mr amd Mrs Ileneforward at the starting line, with the Mrs. Forward dressed as an elf, we chat and get lined up and finally we're off!!!<br><br>
Well a minute and some odd seconds later, we cross the starting line. Immediately I think to myself, that sucked, now I've got to make up a minute. Not a good way to start. The race starts along a damn bike bath, same problem as Long Beach, I can't get around anyone. I spent a ton of energy in Long Beach trying to weave around people, run up on the side and squeeze into holes where I could (at let me tell you, for a big guy, I can squeeze into some tiny holes, people seem to naturally move aside <img alt="biggrin.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/biggrin.gif">). So this time, I just settled into the pack and moved behind people who were pushing through the crowd, I let them do my leg work. As we move along, the bike trail dips down under an overpass and when you come back, the 5K and 10K split into two different directions (let me point out both races started at the same time). Anyway, no one seemed to have a clue the split was coming and we all ran into each other trying to cross each other's pass, a clusterfuck to say the least.<br><br>
The trail waned on and it was small rolling hills, wich I'm not used to at all and the upslopes just killed me. I was struggling, big time by mile two, the harder I pushed, the slower I seemed to go. I couldn't get comfortable, everything was off and I was gasping for air. Mentally, I was a wreck, I was disappointed by the lost minute at the start and pissed I was stuck behind the pack for so long. By the time I could see the mile three marker, I was ready to quit, I was over the the 30 minute mark and I just couldn't get it going. I started thinking that for whatever reason, I can't seem to bring my A-game to the race, it seems like all my good times are in training, maybe my watch is broke?? Ugh.<br><br>
And then a funny thing happened, I decided just to screw, stop thinking about it and just run. Everything clicked, I found my form and my stride, I got my breathing under control and fell into a smooth pace. It was so weird, I was actually having fun, the horror, to have fun at a race and then I thought, I'm the fat-ass recreational jogger that's ruining racing for all the purists, oh well. The rest of the race went great, no major drama, no injuries and I'm hardly even sore, go figure.<br><br>
To bring it full circle, I was more satisfied with running negative splits those last three miles of the race. I've been working hard to try and even out my pace in my training runs and although I have a long way to go, I saw some some great improvement today in that area. I also learned I need more hill training.<br><br>
Mile 1, 10.42<br>
Mile 2, 9.41<br>
Mile 3, 10.05<br>
Mile 4, 8.52<br>
Mile 5, 8.46<br>
Mile 6, 8.49<br><br>
Offical clock time 59.10 and it was just awesome to actually see the clock under an hour as I crossed the finish line!<br><br>
All in all, I know I can do better and I'm looking forward to the next one!!
Breaking that hour has been one of those mental barriers I've been pushing to get through. Interestingly enough though is how the entire race unfolded was way more satisfying than breaking an hour. My last half at Long Beach, ended in injury and has been my worst race to date, so that was looming on the mind.<br><br>
So anyway, I get up way too damn early, stumble around my house in a fog of half-sleep and manage to make my way to the race. So I register, wander around and just kind of kill time, did I mention it was cold?? Well, not ice storm, rest of the country cold but cold by California boy standards.<br><br>
So I find Mr amd Mrs Ileneforward at the starting line, with the Mrs. Forward dressed as an elf, we chat and get lined up and finally we're off!!!<br><br>
Well a minute and some odd seconds later, we cross the starting line. Immediately I think to myself, that sucked, now I've got to make up a minute. Not a good way to start. The race starts along a damn bike bath, same problem as Long Beach, I can't get around anyone. I spent a ton of energy in Long Beach trying to weave around people, run up on the side and squeeze into holes where I could (at let me tell you, for a big guy, I can squeeze into some tiny holes, people seem to naturally move aside <img alt="biggrin.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/biggrin.gif">). So this time, I just settled into the pack and moved behind people who were pushing through the crowd, I let them do my leg work. As we move along, the bike trail dips down under an overpass and when you come back, the 5K and 10K split into two different directions (let me point out both races started at the same time). Anyway, no one seemed to have a clue the split was coming and we all ran into each other trying to cross each other's pass, a clusterfuck to say the least.<br><br>
The trail waned on and it was small rolling hills, wich I'm not used to at all and the upslopes just killed me. I was struggling, big time by mile two, the harder I pushed, the slower I seemed to go. I couldn't get comfortable, everything was off and I was gasping for air. Mentally, I was a wreck, I was disappointed by the lost minute at the start and pissed I was stuck behind the pack for so long. By the time I could see the mile three marker, I was ready to quit, I was over the the 30 minute mark and I just couldn't get it going. I started thinking that for whatever reason, I can't seem to bring my A-game to the race, it seems like all my good times are in training, maybe my watch is broke?? Ugh.<br><br>
And then a funny thing happened, I decided just to screw, stop thinking about it and just run. Everything clicked, I found my form and my stride, I got my breathing under control and fell into a smooth pace. It was so weird, I was actually having fun, the horror, to have fun at a race and then I thought, I'm the fat-ass recreational jogger that's ruining racing for all the purists, oh well. The rest of the race went great, no major drama, no injuries and I'm hardly even sore, go figure.<br><br>
To bring it full circle, I was more satisfied with running negative splits those last three miles of the race. I've been working hard to try and even out my pace in my training runs and although I have a long way to go, I saw some some great improvement today in that area. I also learned I need more hill training.<br><br>
Mile 1, 10.42<br>
Mile 2, 9.41<br>
Mile 3, 10.05<br>
Mile 4, 8.52<br>
Mile 5, 8.46<br>
Mile 6, 8.49<br><br>
Offical clock time 59.10 and it was just awesome to actually see the clock under an hour as I crossed the finish line!<br><br>
All in all, I know I can do better and I'm looking forward to the next one!!
