Bennu and I ran together yesterday in a race along Boston's waterfront. I did the 10K and it was pretty fun. The course was flat and moderately fast though speed is a relative term right now for me. I'm not feeling too fast these days and between snow, ice and illness it's not that surprising. I'm trying to take a Zen approach and just run. Time, speed, fitness levels etc., will all come with repetition.
That said, I did look up the results for yesterday's run and here they are:
Overall: 172/723 Div: 46/125
Age: M30-39
Split: 25:05 Split Pace: 8:05
Finish: 00:48:48 Finish Split 7:52
That's pretty good for this time of year and given that I was sick for the better part of last week. I negative split the second half by a bunch and that's cool. I kicked nicely for the final .2 K and as I was approaching the finish line I heard a dude pounding the pavement behind me. Never wanting to be passed in the last mile, never mind in the final few steps I picked up my tempo and beat him by a step or so. I turned and looked at him and he was mad that I'd picked it up so much. I smiled and kept going. I know, not very Zen, but I haven't totally killed my competitive streak.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Super Bowl Sunday 10K Race
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4 comments:
Don't kill that competitive spirit. That guy was a putz. He was trying to pass you and threw attitude because you sped up? Lame. Nice job burying him...unless of course the "dude" was 12 years old or something. You didn't leave that minor detail out, did you?
He was twelve years old and had one leg . . . I showed him . . . punk.
No, he was about my age or so, and pounding the pavement -- that's how I knew someone was catching up to me and that I needed to pick it up a bit more. It was kind of cool actually because I thought that I was already going pretty good and I found this extra gear. Not that I'm like NFL receiver fast or anything (I ain't) but pushed it a bit more and held him at bay!
Sounds like fun, and you ran fast. Nice.
Fast is very relative, to be honest.
My time would have put me in the top three of women 50-59 . . . so while I think a 7:52/pace is pretty decent (not as fast as my CCM Relay pace on a tougher course) putting it into larger context keeps one humble. There are lots of burners out there, and who knows what their situation is. They could be former college runners, hardcore marathoners who train 80 miles/wk have a coach etc.
This is where my competitive spirit is tempered. You can't compare yourself to others, truly. You've just got to go out and run your race and do it because you like it. Sub-8s for a 10k is a nice accomplishment for me and I'm faster than I was in HS -- i've got more discipline, and tenacity and that's a result of age and maturity and no longer being a football player. It's all part of the continuum.
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