May 9, 2010

So NOT Into This



My church has a "sister church" in Montgomery that was holding a 5K race yesterday. Alecia, one of my best buds and my church's pastor's wife, wanted me to attend. I asked Michelle to do it, and it would be a girl thing. Let me just say that I'm not really big on 5Ks. I just can't seem to run fast anymore. Not sure what the problem is, likely all the marathon training mileage, and a humongous mental barrier that prevents my body from pushing itself to that college-days point of no return.

Anyway, Michelle was on the fence all week, causing me to be on the fence. She was in, then out, blah, blah, blah. To make a long story short, I wasn't too happy to be going Saturday morning (ALONE), especially since Alecia had made it some romantic weekend w/ her hubby (yeah, that's my pastor, so blech on any thoughts regarding that) and would be meeting me there.

I woke up pretty much feeling like throwing up, likely due to my non-dinner of rice cakes, a smoothie from Panera, and a veggie burger. Random, I know, but that is what happens when you eat meals alone on the fly. On to the race. The weather was out of control humid, as it was about to rain. Plus, the temps were in the mid 70s. This isn't totally bad for racing in summer in AL, but mostly just that humidity.

We started on Cobblestone. Ooooh, how I hate that stuff. I met this man beforehand that was planning to run just under 19. I decided to try to follow him, as the field was sort of small. The course was very much rolling, but it was mostly shaded. Also, it went through a nice part of Montgomery, so there were lots of neat homes to admire. Mile 1 was way too fast, and at one point I saw sub 6 on the garmin. Mile 2 was mostly uphill and Sub 19 guy left me to run alone. There were 2 men in front of me, and the overall male had taken off.

I started to pick it up during mile 3, but not really enough to salvage my time. Mile 2 was actually my slowest by 9 seconds. Wowzers. It's a huge mental thing to me, mostly. Here are some thoughts in my head during the race.

1. I hate running fast.
2. My stomach feels like puking.
3. No one is even relatively close to me, in front or behind.
4. Do I *really* care about this race?
5. My butt is likely hanging out of my shorts right now. Why does Brooks think 2.5 inches is enough inseam fabric for a 5'8" female?
6. Wow, it is really about to storm.
7. Maybe I can get a pedicure after this.
8. Geez, I'm thirsty.
9. Did I bring home the kids' spelling tests to grade?
10. I need to get Britney a card.

See what I mean? Total lack of focus! I'm just out there racing in No Man's Land, not really giving a flip.

The final loop was really torture. Just when you want to give it your final kick it was 0.4 of cobblestone. The guy that is over all the Montgomery races was screaming my name telling me to kick it and I'm just jogging it in, protecting my precious ankle from twisting, lalala.

Final time 19:47 Good for 1st female and 4th overall.

They had a big pancake breakfast, which I would usually be totally into. I still didn't feel well, though, so I just ate a small bit. Alecia and Ed introduced me to like 100 people and we stayed for the awards.

I've been getting in decent mileage lately, mid 70s. It's nothing through the roof, but it's working for me. I just haven't been into training like I've been in the past. I think coaching track took away a lot of my focus for my own running, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I think I needed a season or so to relax a little bit and not be such a hard-core drone with my running. I am still about 4 pounds from goal weight, so that is a focus for my next few weeks.

Just a short rant. I've talked a little bit about self-esteem/image issues in the past and now I've been on this new kick of paranoia. It seems as if I choose these random parts of my body to completely hate for a short period of time, then I move onto something else. It's a horrible habit that I'm working on, but right now it's about the cheeks. Here's my problem- I think I have good teeth. I mean, they are straight and fairly white, whatever. My dentist agrees, but the cheeks just RUIN it! Proof is in THESE pictures.

8 comments:

  1. Anonymous5/09/2010

    5ks definitely require a different mental toughness than marathons. i've only run one 5k before but it was a totally different beast than what i've been used to!

    and cobblestone? youve got to be kidding me! i'm so paranoid doing easy runs over the stuff.

    still great job in the race. i am in awe that you had a lack of focus, no competition and yet were able to run sub-20. you got some talent girl :)

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  2. Congrats on the win! Yech on the cobblestone. As for the cheek disdain, you're turning into a paranoid High School student, stop it!! Or else, speed it up and hate all your parts so you can get it out of your system quicker. :-)

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  3. The people in your area need to take a class on how to design a race course. You always end up with the worst stuff! Congrats on the win even though it wasn't what you wanted it to be.

    PS- I'm not sure what you're talking about with your cheeks in either picture. I think you look totally normal.

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  4. Anonymous5/09/2010

    Congrats on the win! I swear, you pick up more hardware than anyone I know. Maybe I need to move to Alabama. But STOP hating on yourself right this minute! I used to be sooo negative in that respect, but more often than not I look back on pictures and am like, "look at how gorgeous I was!" So you might as well enjoy your pretty, non-puffy-cheeked self now.

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  5. Wow, you're so fast! Good job! And 4th person overall? Even better.
    Sometimes I hate parts of me as well. You just have to keep reminding yourself it's who you are and to be happy with it! :)

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  6. Great job on winning the 5K!

    AND: Stop putting yourself down!! Life is tough enough without you being hard on yourself!

    Have you ever heard of "Operation Beautiful" (http://operationbeautiful.com/)?? You might want to check the site out...

    HAVE A GREAT DAY!!!

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  7. Get over your cheeks, LAR -- you're tres cute! ;)

    Great race! I don't know how you manage to run that fast in the heat and humidity down south.

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  8. Okay, I was LOL about "Is my butt hanging out? How about a pedicure?" That cobblestone sounds...unpleasant. I would not want to run on that either!

    WTG on the win, and I agree-you're cute. Nothing on you is ruining anything else about you.

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