It is a Mental Thing!

Well, it has been awhile since I posted last and I have no excuse to give anyone. Guess I am just a little bit lazy with the posting. A lot has been going on though, so I will try and cram a lot of stuff into one post and get caught up with anything.

I know I said that I was over my poor running performance in my last race, and at the time I meant it, but it was still chewing at me. So I vowed to not let this happen again, heat or no heat. I was going to break through. I was going to focus on my running and get it back to where it should be, no matter how much it hurt. I knew my HIM plan was calling for a run focused week soon, and I welcomed that challenge! (Not so much now though, my legs are tired!) Anyways, with 4th of July weekend approaching, I knew the family was traveling to see in-laws and outlaws, but I was not going to let travel stop me from running. So I packed up all my running gear and was ready to work on my running.

The day before we left, my mother called and said, that her church was having a 5K the next morning called the Bottle Rocket 5K and I should run it since I was saying I planned on running anyways! Whooaaaaaa! Hold on a second now. I was not real sure I wanted competition after my speedy 11 minute mile pace. I was a little concerned about getting smoked again and having a second bad race. So my solution?? Make my son run with me. He is a pretty quick little fella, I could just run with him and the pressure would be off. (I can already see my wife rolling her eyes at this thought process) Anyways, I told mom to sign me and Jake up for the run.

It was a small group of about 45 people that ran the race. The group that put the race on started as a Bible Study group that would run afterwards, sort of an exercise for the body and the soul. Some of them are strong runners, some are Boston Qualifiers, some are recreational runners, some are run walkers and then there are those of us that heard about the race and joined in. So, I was not sure what to expect, especially since the morning before I did a 1.5 mile swim followed by a 3 mile run at medium pace (not another excuse, I really did that).

Here are some pictures from the race that my wife took of me and Jake.

I like this last picture, it shows Jake, me in the background and Jared (middle son) cheering on his brother!

So the race went really well. I did start off running with Jake, but about a ½ mile into it, he told me to go on, so I picked up the pace. I ran in 3rd place overall for a majority of the race before a guy passed me at the end. I finished up 4th overall and finished in 23:21 (7:31 pace). Jake came in and set a new PR for him at 28:47! This run ended up being very good for me because it gave me my confidence back. Confidence to know that I know I can keep a good pace on a run. I think I could have been faster if not for the hard workout the day before, but that doesn’t really matter.

It really helped me to know I can hold a decent pace, not the fastest pace, but a good strong pace. That race, combined with the run focused week I have had training, has really helped me get ready for my triathlon next weekend. I am looking forward to tackling the run portion again and seeing what I can do this time.