Repeat Races

Up until August every race I ran was just one as covid prevented many races from happening last year.  The first race to repeat was the Murph Mile in Cape May.  Last year I took first in my age group running a 9:19.5.  Oh, did I forget to mention I was the only one in my age group?  While it was a bit disappointing to not have any competition, I did meet my goal of running a mile in under 10 minutes.  This year the race returned and I was excited to see how much I have improved over the year.  My youngest challenged me to run an 8 minute mile and I did interval training a couple of times.  I had recently hit a new mile PR while training for the tri with a mile time of 8:46 so it wasn’t an unrealistic goal.  Race day arrived and I changed things up a bit and actually did some warm up drills and a short warm up run.  As it is in August in South Jersey it was humid but there was a breeze.  The race started and I took off trying to tell myself to not go out too fast.  I made it just over half way before I had to walk to get my breathing under control.  I checked my Garmin and realized my 8 minute goal was still possible if I could push myself.  I started running again until my breathing became out of control.  Just as I started walking again I saw the finish line, I pushed onward and started running again.  I pushed towards the finish line with all that I had.  In the end my official time was 8:32. I was shy of reaching my challenge goal but I was elated that I took 47.5 seconds off my previous race time, I was almost a whole minute faster!  Bonus, I once again took first in my age group and this time there were actually other runners in my age group!  

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Another repeat race, or set of races was in October, the Crest Best Run Fest.  Last year I ran the 5K and 10 miler so I signed up for the same again this year.  Last year’s goal for the 5K was to run it in under 30 minutes and for the 10 miler, just to complete the distance preferably without walking.  The 5K is at night, last year the weather felt more like August than October and it was hot and humid.  The race started and I went out way too fast, my first mile was an 8:52.  I kept drinking water due to the heat and as I reached mile 3, I felt sick.  I was on track to hit my goal but I could not keep the contents of my stomach there any longer and wound up getting sick on the side of the road.  I pulled myself together and finished the race with an official time of 30:36.4 once again just shy of my race goal.  The next day was the 10 miler and I was nervous about the distance, it was the second long race I had ever done.  I started out much better with my pacing and was able to maintain a consistent speed.  It was a challenging run for me but I was able to complete the race without walking and accomplish my goal.  It was also a great learning experience for me about things I needed to modify for future long runs.  I found my hydration pack, which was a hiking hydration pack irritated my neck and shoulders leaving rub burns.  My shorts were also not built for long runs and would need to be replaced with something more comfortable.  This year I have not been training as I should and the race date quickly showed up with me wondering if I could even run 10 miles.  My longest run since April was 8 miles I ran in May.  Within the past year I finally ran a sub 30, 5K so that could not be this year’s goal.  Sub 28 is next on my list but with my lack of training I pushed that out of my mind.  The way I was feeling, my goal would be just to run without walking for both races.  This year the humidity was high again but the breeze was stronger.  I went out much better this year and kept a more consistent pace.  I met my goal and did not walk coming in with a 29:22 putting me 5th out of 9 in my age group.

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The next morning the 10 miler loomed, my goal continued to be just to finish without walking.  The first 6 miles I kept myself going by reminding myself that I recently walked parts of the Beach to Brewery 10K and I needed to make up for that.  Seeing my running friends along the route helped to keep me going as we cheered each other on.  As I headed towards mile 6, the previous year the course took us half way up the Wildwood Crest bridge, surprise, no bridge.  I experienced a bit of mixed emotions as I did not want to run up the bridge but the downhill return would have been helpful.  As I hit my 6 mile goal, I started bargaining with myself, four more miles is just a mile and a 5K.  As I finished mile 8 I told myself 2 miles is just a training run and I could do it.  Finally, in the last mile I mentally picked my spot where I would sprint to the finish.  Before I reached that spot a group of running friends were along the route cheering for those still running, I needed to make a good showing for my friends and their cheers gave me the essential boost for me to start my sprint to the end.  I reached my goal of 10 miles without walking and the bonus for this race, I completed it faster than the previous year and placed 4th in my age group.

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Seeing my progress through repeat races gives me confidence that I can always improve and not just with my running.  If I want to see improvement I need to do the work and this race was a perfect reminder of why.  What areas of your life do you have ways of seeing improvement in the activities that you do? I would love to hear about your progress and growth in the comments!