I have a rival. Does this mean I have a -rive-d? I didn’t know I had a Rival until the I ran a recent 5k in which I made pleasant chit chat with anyone who would make eye-contact with me. There is a YOUNG woman, about my age who had introduced herself to me at a 5k earlier in the year. She actually was the one who encouraged me to sign up for my first 10k.
I had been making my attempts at “tempo runs” so I expected to do well on this flat course on a cool morning. And I did! I set a PR which to others may have been slow but to me, it was a very, very fast, almost supersonic 25:52. I won’t mention that my son who finished in 17:20 was digging into a bagel while I was in mile 2.
I joined the local run group because I thought it would give me discounts on races. It doesn’t. But membership was cheap and joining something in real life not the internet has been on my to-do list for a decade or so. Apparently there is a 40-49 women’s age group award that is highly sought after. The recognition also includes what I am told is a handsome plaque with the engraved race times for the year of the feat.
I am still of the mindset where I am just so pleased that I can finish a race that I can’t quite conceive of being in competition. God willing, that handsome plaque will be hanging on my wall next year!
Today was warmer than it has been and sunny, I took advantage of this by taking a slower paced but longer distance run.
My goal was to run for about an hour and this worked out to exactly 6 miles. The funny thing is, I really start to feel good after mile 4. I am not sure if this is my body going into protective mode, thinking I am dying and sending me off towards the bright light with an extra surge of serotonin, but I feel good. I always think I am an idiot for trying to run in the first mile, I hate everyone in the second mile and by the third I start to feel ok. Maybe that’s why I don’t love 5ks, I spend the majority of the time angry! I need to work on this.
