Mrs. FA and I ran the New York Road Runners' Holiday 4 Miler this morning. We reigstered for this race shortly after the CCM. Over time, I grew tired with the idea of it, grew tired of running, wary of the cold, and anxious to get it behind me and take a break. At registration in October, my goal was 37 minutes. Standing in the starting pen at 7:50a today, with temps in the high teens, I was certain of 41, 42 minutes or more. At the end of the race, my watch said 38.15. I tried to memorize my splits along the way. I can't get the time to add up, but I know the last mile was my best, under 9 minutes.
I totally exceeded my expectations. The crowd (more than 7,000 runners!), the weather (cold, crisp, and clear) and the course were invigorating. I'll run again on Monday, and am looking for another event.
Peace, fellas.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Run 59 - Holiday 4 Miler
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4 comments:
Love the sub-9 mile! congratulations.
That's the beauty o running races. Pushing yourself invigorates your running. Also, running with 7,000 other crazies on a cold morning is very reaffirming! Nice job.
It was good to talk today. Thanks for calling.
Yes! Love it!
Back in my previous running life, some of my best performances came when I had low expectations usually due to a cold. Without the high expectations, you tend to lose the nervous energy/adrenline rush at the beginning of a race. Adrenaline is good for the end of a race, not the beginning (unless you're a sprinter). I relearned this point in my October race. Kudos for not bailing out. That would have been the easy thing to do considering the temp, time of day, and mood.
Nice comment BR! Totally agree, controlling the adrenaline rush at the start is a tricky thing to master.
I also agree on the expectations observation. Sometimes you have to approach an event, any event without any preconceived notions. This happens sometimes when you take the approach of what's going to happen is going to happen. You can turn in a nice performance.
One thing that's hard is when you come in flat though -- no notion whatsoever of anything, no adrenaline, no energy and even something of a negative energy. (see my performance at this years Falmouth RR). It's a balancing act, and it's nice to see FA had enough of an edge to come in and still perform well. I think it's a function of approaching any event as it is, being open to the possibility of an experience. (now if I could just get off my rump and be open to the possibility of a run, ugh! :-/)
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