My Next Race

I hope you all had a nice holiday weekend! We originally had Easter Monday off as well, but because of Hurricane Irma (the storm that keeps on giving), we lost that day off. But I was glad to have Good Friday off.

On Friday we went to see an old student of mine in a play (She Kills Monsters). It was hilarious and moving - I'm a nerd and totally choked up a little. We rarely get a chance to go out like that, so it was really fun to do something different.

Saturday we went to my aunt and uncle's for Passover. Our house is still a construction zone, so it was really nice of my aunt to offer to host. She is basically a bonafide chef/baker, so everything was sooo delicious. My sister was out of town, so as the only gluten-free person there, I got to take home the best leftovers.

Leftovers! Passover has the best food.

Matt and I spent Sunday lounging around. He did a timed paddle in his OC1 and I got a little run in. It started to rain about halfway through, but I didn't mind at all. My plan was to keep it short and see if I could avoid walk breaks. I've had a little cold for the last two or three weeks, but despite that I still held a sub-10 pace and didn't walk at all.

This brings me to this weekend's 5k. I am running the Fast & the Furriest 5k on Saturday. This was actually the first race I ever ran by myself back in 2012. When it changed venues, I stopped running it, but I've always liked this race and I'm excited for it.

I actually set some goals for this one. I am very in-tune with my body but my runs have been a bit all over the place, so I don't really know what I'll be capable of. That said, I think running a race with a few goals in mind will help move me into the next step of recovery.

A: Run a sub-30:00 5k. This is a goal that really brings me back to my early days of running...and after all, I am starting all over from scratch, so it's a good goal to have. I'm skeptical I can achieve this goal, but I'll be ecstatic if I do.
B: Don't walk. Even if I have to slow down to a more manageable pace and miss a sub-30 finish, if I can avoid walk-breaks for this 5k, I'll be happy.
C: Take managed walk breaks and finish at a run. If I end up feeling weak or strained, if I can keep my walk breaks to pre-planned, brief breaks and finish mile 3 at a strong, full run, I can live with that.

When I ran A1A, I felt really strong, and by the end I felt like the walk breaks weren't necessary but I stuck with them. I have come a long way since then, but I am still not consistent, so even with these goals my performance at this race is probably going to end up being a surprise to me.

At least two colleagues are running F&tF this weekend, too; I always like when I can look forward to seeing familiar faces at a race! (When I registered, I messaged all my running co-workers but I'm not sure if anyone else ended up signing up.) After I registered I saw that there would be finishers medals this year, so that's a nice bonus, too.

I am nervous about this 5k but in a good way; A1A was my first start/finish line post-surgery, but this will be the first race I actually...well...race.

ABK