Today was overcast and very cool outside. Normally, on a day like today, I’d think twice about going outside to exercise. The weather would make me hesitate. It looked overcast, like it would rain at any time, and I didn’t want to leave the warm coziness of our house for the cold outdoors. But I’m training, so I didn’t think twice. Of course I went out, especially since I wasn’t sure I’d be able to train tomorrow. When the cold greeted me outside, I just thought ahead to the day of the race, and thought what better shape I’d be in if I trained each available moment. And that made it easier.

I also used the walk/run method that my brother-in-law Mark told me about. By alternating walking and running, it cuts down on fatigue. I walked/ran at a 1:1 ratio, first running for a minute, then walking for a mintue, and so on. It was a really comfortable pace for me, and I felt like I could have gone on quite a bit longer like that. But for today I only had 20 minutes.

When I finished my walk/run, I was no longer cold but sweating. I felt invigorated and as if somwhow I had conquered the weather. Most of all I felt healthier and felt like I had increased my stamina. It feels good to work toward a goal.

I ran in a 5K today, one week since the last one I had run in. At the beginning of today’s 5K, I knew my mind was not in the right place, but I could not get myself out of that place. Last week I was able to run the entire race without stopping, and had my best time ever. My thinking for today’s race was that I wanted to top last week’s time. While that is a fine goal to have, I have found that it is the wrong kind of thinking for me. If I go out with something to prove, I’m assured not to have my best run. A better goal for me to focus on is just to do my best and feel happy about my run. Instead of focusing inward, I began concentrating on passing other people.  I wanted to get as far ahead as I could. It was a good way to tire myself out. Instead of finding my own pace, I started rushing. There were hills on the course, and my shins began to really hurt.

I had to stop a few times to take short walking breaks. I was disappointed that I had to stop but I just could not keep going. I had been frustrated that the path was a little bit narrow and that all the runners were on top of one another well into the first mile. I felt like I could have found a better pace if we were all more spread out. This might have contributed to my trying to pass people and find an open spot. I was surprised at myself though, trying to pass and get ahead of people. I guess it was a little glimpse of competitiveness within me. Instead of enjoying the beautiful surroundings of trees whose leaves were beginning to turn beautiful fall colors, I was trying to get ahead.

Around mile 2 I finally started thinking less about the others around me and more about finding my pace. I knew that if I wanted to continue running, and not have to walk the rest of the way, I’d have to stop worrying about the people around me and just concentrate on finding my pace. I was relieved that at least my earlier zealousness had finally calmed down and I could find my own rhythm, and settle into my own pace. Once I found my own pace, I was just fine. I came in a minute later than last week, but with the hilly course – a more difficult course than last week, and the fact that I was not able to focus well, I think it was still a pretty good time.

A comfortable pace. That is what I thought about on Saturday when I went for my run. Lately I’ve been able to find and settle into a comfortable pace. And I found that once I was in that pace, that I didn’t need to stop and walk after a mile, that I could just keep going.

Sunday was the day of the race. When I’m in a race, I have noticed that it helps me if I can focus inward rather than outward. If I focus outward, and look at the path ahead and the people ahead of me, I feel like I have such a long way to go, and it makes me tired. Instead, I focus inward. On Sunday, as I started running, I appreciated the beautiful sunlight and the cloudless day. I listened to some friendly conversation of people around me. And then I retreated inward to my thoughts.

I thought of how I had made sure to wake up early and eat something, in this case a piece of fresh focaccia bread from the farmer’s market the day before. I also made sure I was hydrated. I thought about the energy and strength that the carbs had given me, and how I felt great and not tired, not out of breath. I ran along happily thinking about how strong and filled with energy my body was.

I reached the 1st mile point and didn’t feel that I needed to stop. And so I kept on running. I started to feel a bit tired and then reminded myself that the second mile is always the hardest. I remembered how I had broken down the run in my mind into three manageable pieces. And I kept running. I didn’t want to stop. I felt comforted that even though I wasn’t familiar with the course, I could keep track of my progress using my watch. I was like the pilot flying by gages.

I reached the second mile point and didn’t stop. I hadn’t stopped so far, so why not keep going. Finally I heard someone say that there was just a half mile to go. And I knew that I wasn’t going to stop with such a short distance left. I heard a few parents around me telling their kids that came with them on the race that we were almost there, just a little bit more and we would finish. Hearing those words helped me to keep going as well – it felt like we were all in this together, even though I didn’t know anyone around me. We were all in it together, and all looking forward to getting to the finish line.

I heard the glorious sound of a plane taking off near by. The screaming engines sounded like a bear or tiger growling, marking its territory and showing its power with the sound of its growl. It made me feel like I was part of something bigger than just me. I felt comforted and enveloped by the majesty of the powerful jet taking off.

The finish line was in sight, and pretty soon I had crossed it. I had run the entire race without stopping. It was the first time ever that I had done this. It was my best race ever.  Correction – my best race so far.   : )

Today was race day. It was fun to see the progress I have made from the beginning of the summer, when I did my first 5K, to now. One really big stepping stone for me came in the last few weeks when I realized I was able to run a whole mile at a time and that I only need to take walking breaks in between the miles. And it’s so ironic that that discovery came out of being frustrated that I had a bad running day where I couldn’t even make 3 miles. It helped me greatly today during the race. I ran each mile and only walked in between miles for a few minutes to catch my breath. Amazingly it seems easier just to run the entire mile without stopping.

Today in the race, the first mile went by really quickly!  I couldn’t believe I had come up to the first mile marker when I did. This, even with the race beginning with running up a steep hill.

I remember after the race began, everything seemed quiet around me except for the sound of lots of feet in unison hitting the pavement. It was a great sound, and a great feeling to be part of it.

Running regularly and having a strategy of one warm up mile, one mile, and one home-stretch mile, really help break up the run for me into manageable pieces. I’m looking forward to the day when I can run the entire 5K from start to finish without walking at all.