I woke up a bit late only to then burn my breakfast and spill milk down the front of me. No need to cry over spilt milk but I was off -- my morning was way off. Everything seemed off today and it continued way beyond my burnt breakfast -- a protein-packed pancake I must admit I've mastered the timing for cooking it like it's an art. Nothing seemed to be going right. I thought it was just my nerves getting to me but even that bothered me. I've done several half marathons, I've stepped into the ring for goodness sake half naked and in another country with the whole crowd cheering for my opponent. A 10km run was nothing in comparison but today it seemed to be an issue.
I had forgotten to wash my training clothes from Thursday's run but I insisted on wearing them. No worries, I thought, I'd be traveling to the race location on scooter and then would simply leave right after. No one would notice I smelt like dried up sweat... wrong. WOW President called me, telling me he'd be driving us to the race, great. So I sat in a pimped-out BMW with nasty smelling clothes on -- went there and back AND went to a restaurant after with him in these same smelly clothes. Classy, real classy Amy.
"Oh wait, I forgot my earphones" I blurted out. Just add that to my list of things off today.
Arriving at the fight location, my tummy groaned. I managed to find my Flipside Fitness running partner at the start of the race and she reassured me that my upset tummy must have just been nerves. "Remember the last time my tummy groaned" I told her and she laughed because the last time I had this groaning I ended up publicly pooping in someone's yard, yes it's true. I pooped and didn't scoop, bad Amy. Anyways, considering how my day had started and continued on such an off note, I totally anticipated the worst so when the race started, I looked back at Snickers and gave my biggest "oh my gosh" look.
"My GPS on MapMyRun isn't working" I told WOW. Yup, another one to my list.
I was using my cellphone for both music and for my pacing but upon trying to start it at the starting line, the GPS wouldn't work. Fiddled around with it for a bit and got it going finally but only after I had already started the race.
Originally WOW President had noted that he'd run beside me to be my pace maker but I had already left him at the start while I waited for my GPS to kick in. Ended up catching up with him and the rest of the WOW family but because they wanted to all stick together, I thought it best I part with them. I was in this race to beat no one but the goal I had set out for myself -- 49 minutes.
I do my best thinking when I'm out running. I just let my mind totally wonder and sometimes I think of the most random of things. Running in a race however that's flooded with hundreds of runners, my mind tends to get curious about the other runners -- how much did they train for this race, do they have a personal goal and how many other women are running this. All my wondering thoughts of the other runners completely got redirected when the first place runner in my race passed me on the other side of the road. I was coming up to the 4km point and he was already on his 8km and blazing it. I always love yelling at the first couple of runners and any first place women I see. They're just so inspiring and I start to wonder what they must be thinking, what they must be telling themselves to continue on at such an impressive pace. When I caught sight of Black Skinny flying past me on the other side, I yelled out at him and he laughed. I did the same too when I saw my Flipside friend and WOW President. At the start of the race, they had us go through this tunnel and many of the runners in front of me screamed out, forcing their voices to echo. I thought it'd be funny to yell out my friend's name and add "I love you!" at the end, just in case she too was in the tunnel, but no sooner had I did that but the five guys running close to me also yelled out similar messages. I take it they were yelling their wive or girlfriend's name, not sure, but it made for a great giggle.
I'm a firm believer that you have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable if you want to succeed with your training and get results so I brought this idea to the race with me. I knew I'd be uncomfortable the whole race and I was, but I also thought this day would have gone a lot smoother. One of my last things that were off today that I unexpantently added to my already growing list of things that were off was hitting a random kid in the head with a banana. Yup, I hit a kid working the banana stand for the race. I totally didn't mean to and was so embarrassed about it too because I pinged him square in the forehead. I just didn't want to finish the banana they had given me so I whipped it to the side of the road.
One minute and eleven seconds....
1 minute & 11 seconds...
1.11... and everything would have been different for me.
This was the biggest thing today that was off -- my race time was off. I had missed my target race completion time by one minute and eleven seconds. Sure, I beat the entire WOW family and even my friend but I wasn't running against them. Black Skinny beat me though and he killed my goal time. He clocked in at 4 minutes and 44 seconds. Even with a broken nose he beat my time -- I thought it'd make him less aero dynamic (cheesy joke, I know).
Later, after I was coaching at Hulk's, WOW President came in for training. We talked about my time and he said "better luck next time". Better luck next time, I hate that. When is this time going to be this next time everyone talks about and don't even get me started on luck. I don't believe in luck. I believe in determination, preparation and self-motivation. I had the determination and I have the self motivation, but I only had about 2 weeks of preparation for this race -- I can do better.
If I don't take this China fight in November, then November 16th will be my "next time".
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