This weekend has been an inspiring one for me... for every time we slam ourselves, there is someone else wishing that they could be us. I know you may think that is not true, but I bet you .... there is someone out there. You are already someone else's goal.
This weekend started with a great 5K run. I met a wonderful gal in the starting corral who noticed by Jeff Galloway Run/Walk Timer and mentioned "hey I do intervals too." We started talking and I asked her PR (38mins) and what she runs on the treadmill (5.0) well I do neither, so I immediately became disheartened. Like a tire with a flat ... the air of my confidence began to slip. I told her maybe if I just kept her in my sites I would know I was doing well.
The race started and I felt good... fell into my groove quickly and just ran my own race. I passed that girl ... and then she passed me... and then I passed her again. As I passed her the last time she commented "your gonna beat me you know" I just smiled and told her to keep up the good work. I finished that 5K (with the finish line cruely up a hill) at 42:35 which was a PR for me. I was psyched!
This morning was the Scheels 10K. It was just another training run for us, since it was a down week, but I thought my running partner should have the experience of doing a 10K race too before the big half marathon. The weather was abysmal. Now listen, I am NOT a wuss I run in cold, rain, snow, sleet etc but this was the WORST weather ever. Standing out at the start line its downpouring... and I look around. Wow, this is the fittest group of people I have ever seen... uh oh ... this might not be good!
The race starts ... and we are maintaining a decent pace (a funny aside - remember last week when my shoe was covered in blood - well my husband cleaned it with dishsoap. Well when the water hit it ... suds and soap poured out of my shoe for miles. It was hysterical) and we can see people in front of us. I focus on a girl in a tan jacket - with the goal to keep her in my sites. We reach the 1.5 mile marker and the 10K breaks away from the 5K (which started 10 minutes after the 10K and we were unceremoniously passed by all the fast 5Kers). We run down this road... and its just us... I can see NO people around us. The road is a loop, so we are on one side and the fast 10Kers are on the other side.
As we run down this road... at least 30 people or more over the course of the route cheer for us "great job girls" "keep up the good work" "you can do it" and I start to settle down and just smile. So what if the weather sucks... we are doing this. We come to the end of the long road and volunteer says ... "turn left and then take the second right and follow the cones." So we turn ... run ..... turn run .... uhhhh there are NO cones.
We turn right at the next block because I have some idea of where we are going kinda... and there are no cones. We run through a parking lot that is under more than 1 foot of water. I have no idea where we are ... there are no cones.... LOL this is a problem. We decide to keep running ... somewhat towards where we are going...
Suddenly a teeny red car pulls up and a guy says "oh no you guys are still out here." Uh ... yeah where did you think we went? He says he will help get us back on course... so he takes us about 4 blocks. He then turns his car around comes back and says "sorry girls, I took you in the wrong direction - here hop in and I will get you back to the course." I look at Katie and we both say "no thanks we will run."
Who the heck gets in a car in the middle of the race!! He finally gets us back on course... we get up the huge hill and there is a sweet man standing with 2 glasses of water that he got for us since they took the water station down. Onward we go... as we come into the last mile its starts downpouring sleeting -- I mean it was actually painful. Onward we go ... we finally get near the parking lot where the finish line is ... and we get stuck in the middle of the kids run... LOL nope not kidding! So I was passed by a 5 year old with alot more energy than I had at that point.
We finally finish! The guy at the finish line says "oh yeah sorry we took some of the course down" SERIOUSLY! This race had no time limit ... how poor. I have never been in such a poor run in all of the runs I have done. The kicker... I cant tell you if I got a PR or not. According to my Garmin we did ... when I went to check the official results... hmm they dont have one on either of us.
I guess sometimes its about more than PRs. Its about seeing what you are made of... seeing what you can handle. Giving up did cross my mind (heck crossing to the other side of the road where the 10K was running back crossed my mind) but in the end I would KNOW that I gave up. And I cant give up ....
So how do I apply this to life. Jeff Galloway once said "when you wake up the morning, never let weather be your excuse. How do you know that on the day of your big race the weather wont be the worst you have ever seen? So suck it up and get out there" and I live this quote to the fullest..... in all aspects of my life.
I do not give up! When times get tough ... I get tougher! I challenge you all to do the same, because I KNOW you can! We rock ... and are stronger than those weak people who never try. I may have finished in dead last today -- but I am tougher than those people who looked out the window and crawled back into bed!
This weekend started with a great 5K run. I met a wonderful gal in the starting corral who noticed by Jeff Galloway Run/Walk Timer and mentioned "hey I do intervals too." We started talking and I asked her PR (38mins) and what she runs on the treadmill (5.0) well I do neither, so I immediately became disheartened. Like a tire with a flat ... the air of my confidence began to slip. I told her maybe if I just kept her in my sites I would know I was doing well.
The race started and I felt good... fell into my groove quickly and just ran my own race. I passed that girl ... and then she passed me... and then I passed her again. As I passed her the last time she commented "your gonna beat me you know" I just smiled and told her to keep up the good work. I finished that 5K (with the finish line cruely up a hill) at 42:35 which was a PR for me. I was psyched!
This morning was the Scheels 10K. It was just another training run for us, since it was a down week, but I thought my running partner should have the experience of doing a 10K race too before the big half marathon. The weather was abysmal. Now listen, I am NOT a wuss I run in cold, rain, snow, sleet etc but this was the WORST weather ever. Standing out at the start line its downpouring... and I look around. Wow, this is the fittest group of people I have ever seen... uh oh ... this might not be good!
The race starts ... and we are maintaining a decent pace (a funny aside - remember last week when my shoe was covered in blood - well my husband cleaned it with dishsoap. Well when the water hit it ... suds and soap poured out of my shoe for miles. It was hysterical) and we can see people in front of us. I focus on a girl in a tan jacket - with the goal to keep her in my sites. We reach the 1.5 mile marker and the 10K breaks away from the 5K (which started 10 minutes after the 10K and we were unceremoniously passed by all the fast 5Kers). We run down this road... and its just us... I can see NO people around us. The road is a loop, so we are on one side and the fast 10Kers are on the other side.
As we run down this road... at least 30 people or more over the course of the route cheer for us "great job girls" "keep up the good work" "you can do it" and I start to settle down and just smile. So what if the weather sucks... we are doing this. We come to the end of the long road and volunteer says ... "turn left and then take the second right and follow the cones." So we turn ... run ..... turn run .... uhhhh there are NO cones.
We turn right at the next block because I have some idea of where we are going kinda... and there are no cones. We run through a parking lot that is under more than 1 foot of water. I have no idea where we are ... there are no cones.... LOL this is a problem. We decide to keep running ... somewhat towards where we are going...
Suddenly a teeny red car pulls up and a guy says "oh no you guys are still out here." Uh ... yeah where did you think we went? He says he will help get us back on course... so he takes us about 4 blocks. He then turns his car around comes back and says "sorry girls, I took you in the wrong direction - here hop in and I will get you back to the course." I look at Katie and we both say "no thanks we will run."
Who the heck gets in a car in the middle of the race!! He finally gets us back on course... we get up the huge hill and there is a sweet man standing with 2 glasses of water that he got for us since they took the water station down. Onward we go... as we come into the last mile its starts downpouring sleeting -- I mean it was actually painful. Onward we go ... we finally get near the parking lot where the finish line is ... and we get stuck in the middle of the kids run... LOL nope not kidding! So I was passed by a 5 year old with alot more energy than I had at that point.
We finally finish! The guy at the finish line says "oh yeah sorry we took some of the course down" SERIOUSLY! This race had no time limit ... how poor. I have never been in such a poor run in all of the runs I have done. The kicker... I cant tell you if I got a PR or not. According to my Garmin we did ... when I went to check the official results... hmm they dont have one on either of us.
I guess sometimes its about more than PRs. Its about seeing what you are made of... seeing what you can handle. Giving up did cross my mind (heck crossing to the other side of the road where the 10K was running back crossed my mind) but in the end I would KNOW that I gave up. And I cant give up ....
So how do I apply this to life. Jeff Galloway once said "when you wake up the morning, never let weather be your excuse. How do you know that on the day of your big race the weather wont be the worst you have ever seen? So suck it up and get out there" and I live this quote to the fullest..... in all aspects of my life.
I do not give up! When times get tough ... I get tougher! I challenge you all to do the same, because I KNOW you can! We rock ... and are stronger than those weak people who never try. I may have finished in dead last today -- but I am tougher than those people who looked out the window and crawled back into bed!
Oh my word!!! I can't believe they started taking the course down!! At least start at the BEGINNING where you KNOW there isn't anybody left!! Geeez louise!
ReplyDeleteAnnMarie-- I am so proud of you, lady!! :)
Love your last paragraph! Way to persevere! You are strong!
ReplyDelete