It's been a long time since I've run a race. The ol' blog says March 2, 2014. It's been 489 days since I last raced. There might be a support group for that. It's been even longer since I raced a 5k, but I remembered it well.
At the Loveland Liberty 5k on this 4th of July, I let old habits guide me. I woke up ready to go with some nerves in my stomach. I arrived early and warmed up, sprinkled in a few of my favorite warm-up plyometrics, drank a little water, and headed to the start line.
My goal was to break 20 minutes. I've done a little training over the last six weeks, some hills, some weight lifting, some tempo runs and this felt like an attainable goal.
As I stood at the starting line, I had jitters and doubts. The doubts were seriously out-muscling the jitters. In honor of the 4th of July, the pre-start activities included The Star Spangled Banner. My doubts disappeared. It didn't matter if I ran fast. I got to run. There were a lot of things that mattered more than my time.
Boom went the cannon. A whole lot of runners exploded into their trot. I'd forgotten how slow casual races start. My pace wasn't going to be that fast, but it needed to be faster than that. At the first turn, I ran wide and started picking people off. I stayed wide for a quarter mile or so until I settled in behind a group of high school girls. They were wearing cleats and sounded like tap dancers. I sped up to get past them, but the alpha girl made her move at the same time. Tap, tap, tap, we raced on through the mile. I made another move and put a little distance between us, but the tapping wouldn't go away.
My ambition soon outstripped my training and the tapping grew louder. A small pack, now with only one tap dancer overtook me. I tried to stay in contact, but mile 2 proved to be a long one. I was pleased to remember that races take place all over, not just up front. I think I relearn this lesson every time. I surged a bit and caught a fading teen boy. I tried to encourage him to close the gap on the group that just passed him and come along with me, but my words seemed to have the opposite effect and he blew up and disappeared. I had only slightly better luck.
Nearing the final 800 meters, I looked up to see the green shorts and the flailing limbs of the tap dancer. I told myself to make a move. I knew I could overtake her. My body responded with a resounding two step surge and I made no progress.
800 meters turned into 200 meters and finally my mind convinced my body to surge. I closed the gap on the tap dancer, but was quickly running out of room. Tap dancer won the female division in 20:01. I crossed close behind in 20:03.
I was 17th overall, 3rd in my age division and have ample room for improvement. My oldest niece PRed and has closed the gap between us to under 8 minutes.
I have a goal that involves edging her out in 5k races all through high school. There are some naysayers out there, but all the best goals attract the naysayers, right?
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