On Friday, I did my first 5K in ages. Honestly, the last time I really ran one like a race was in 2005-- senior year of high school cross country (X-C). All throughout college I didn't run much and progressively got more out of shape, so any 5K was walked or completely half-assed. The race was part of the Crystal City Friday 5K series in which they host 5Ks every Friday at 6:30pm for the month of April. Don't even get me started on how the race packet was just a bib-- um, hello, where's my free t-shirt? I went with friends who live in VA, but it seemed to be quite the family friendly affair (lots of strollers, and well, a random 8-year-old who I was trying to keep up with for 3.1 miles). Anyway, my Garmin race time said 3.22 (probably due to all that weaving around people) at 24:55 (which is 7:44min/mile).
The race felt really good. There's something to be said about feeling like you're in the shape you need to be to run 3.1 miles and feel like you could have done more at the end-- even when you're moving along at race pace. It also helps feel awesome when the weather cooperates perfectly-- high 50s/low 60s with a slight breeze. Friday also solidified in my mind that I'm definitely a distance runner. I have never been any good at sprinting and the whole race I was kind of wishing I was doing a 10 mile run at a slower pace instead of a 5K at a 7:44min/mile pace.
It's been a really long time since I last thought about high school cross country. I really became a runner by accident. I switched high schools for junior year and, unfortunately for me, the new school had much better sports teams. So, I went from being "good" at lacrosse to being one of the last people cut from the varsity team and basically because I was too slow. Awesome. So, of course the logical response from this was for me to be super pouty, vow never to play lacrosse again because I didn't want to play JV, and then join the cross country team (they take everyone!). Cross country is kind of a weird sport. It's definitely a team effort, but it's individual too. Your team could lose, but you could have a PR at a race. The way it works is the first 6 people on your team (or 5, can't remember) have their scores "count" toward the end total. Everyone else just runs, but their score doesn't actually matter :/ So, I had this weird situation in which I got good enough to be around runner 7 or 8, so I still had to run hard enough knowing my time might count (basically in case someone got injured). After weeks and weeks (well really two full fall seasons) of running the 5K race I came to two conclusions:
1. I wasn't pushing myself hard enough. I had this mental block that I always didn't push to the max because I was worried I wouldn't have enough energy in the tank to finish the race. Only at the end of my last season was I able to break through this blockade. I had one race that was extremely flat, and I knew it was my best shot at a great PR. I told myself to run it as fast as I could, much faster than I would normally run and keep on going until it ended. Unlike whatever fear I had, I didn't roll over and die-- I finished out of breath and was fine about 5 minutes after finishing. So, my all time best X-C PR was 21:55, when most races I ran in the 23minute range. That is a huge difference and just goes to show how far the human body can be pushed with mental tricks.
2. Consistency wins the race. So, I wasn't great at X-C and there were tons of people on the team who were better than me, but I had one shinning achievement. In the two years that I participated on the team over the course of about 20 different 5K races, I was the only person on the entire team to complete every single race. Every single one. Our best runners would get injured here and there, some people would have a bad day and have to stop mid-race, and others had various commitments get in the way. Well, I showed up every single time and raced every single time. I think my first year starting times were probably around 25 or 26 minutes and then I finally shaved off all those minutes to my PR in one of my last races. This is probably my greatest personal example of constant dedication leading to improvement.
So long story short, not sure I'll be doing another 5K race anytime soon, but it definitely felt like a blast from the past. It's a great distance to gauge progress and improvement of speed.
The race felt really good. There's something to be said about feeling like you're in the shape you need to be to run 3.1 miles and feel like you could have done more at the end-- even when you're moving along at race pace. It also helps feel awesome when the weather cooperates perfectly-- high 50s/low 60s with a slight breeze. Friday also solidified in my mind that I'm definitely a distance runner. I have never been any good at sprinting and the whole race I was kind of wishing I was doing a 10 mile run at a slower pace instead of a 5K at a 7:44min/mile pace.
It's been a really long time since I last thought about high school cross country. I really became a runner by accident. I switched high schools for junior year and, unfortunately for me, the new school had much better sports teams. So, I went from being "good" at lacrosse to being one of the last people cut from the varsity team and basically because I was too slow. Awesome. So, of course the logical response from this was for me to be super pouty, vow never to play lacrosse again because I didn't want to play JV, and then join the cross country team (they take everyone!). Cross country is kind of a weird sport. It's definitely a team effort, but it's individual too. Your team could lose, but you could have a PR at a race. The way it works is the first 6 people on your team (or 5, can't remember) have their scores "count" toward the end total. Everyone else just runs, but their score doesn't actually matter :/ So, I had this weird situation in which I got good enough to be around runner 7 or 8, so I still had to run hard enough knowing my time might count (basically in case someone got injured). After weeks and weeks (well really two full fall seasons) of running the 5K race I came to two conclusions:
1. I wasn't pushing myself hard enough. I had this mental block that I always didn't push to the max because I was worried I wouldn't have enough energy in the tank to finish the race. Only at the end of my last season was I able to break through this blockade. I had one race that was extremely flat, and I knew it was my best shot at a great PR. I told myself to run it as fast as I could, much faster than I would normally run and keep on going until it ended. Unlike whatever fear I had, I didn't roll over and die-- I finished out of breath and was fine about 5 minutes after finishing. So, my all time best X-C PR was 21:55, when most races I ran in the 23minute range. That is a huge difference and just goes to show how far the human body can be pushed with mental tricks.
2. Consistency wins the race. So, I wasn't great at X-C and there were tons of people on the team who were better than me, but I had one shinning achievement. In the two years that I participated on the team over the course of about 20 different 5K races, I was the only person on the entire team to complete every single race. Every single one. Our best runners would get injured here and there, some people would have a bad day and have to stop mid-race, and others had various commitments get in the way. Well, I showed up every single time and raced every single time. I think my first year starting times were probably around 25 or 26 minutes and then I finally shaved off all those minutes to my PR in one of my last races. This is probably my greatest personal example of constant dedication leading to improvement.
So long story short, not sure I'll be doing another 5K race anytime soon, but it definitely felt like a blast from the past. It's a great distance to gauge progress and improvement of speed.
Nice 5K time!! Keeping up with a random 8 year old. Hahaha. That's too funny. I think you did ah-mazing!!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait for Sat to do my 5K. Im hoping for 35 or under, but prior I've been around 38 mins. We go for packet pick-up Friday. I better get a t-shirt!!!! Lol. Too bad you didn't.
After doing Sat's 6 miles, I think I might like the longer distances better too. I like being able to pace myself and relax. Woe! Never thought I would say relax and run in the same sentence.