This morning was the day of reckoning -- Race Day. For the last several months, my brother and I have trained for this 8k run-- our goal was to run at an average of 6:45 minutes per mile, or a total of just a smidge under 34 minutes. It was the first race I've run in quite some time, and certainly the one I've trained hardest for. As a result, I'm in significantly better shape than was I was six months ago, that's for sure!
We didn't meet our goal, finishing at just a bit over 35 minutes, 17 seconds over our per mile pace goal.
The last few weeks have been a bit tough for training, work has been a bit frantic, and because I overtrained on hills, I needed to ease up more than I would've liked. Still, we hit the first mile at 6:40 on the nose, which should have been an auspicious start, but in hindsight wasn't because it turns out we went out a bit too fast (I should probably say "I", since I'm pretty sure my bro could've put the hammer down). At mile 4, I bonked pretty good (bonked is a technical term, I assure you) and just hung on for the last mile.
The race, and more importantly training for the race, was a good lesson for me. First, it reminded me again of the importance of goals, and how if I really have goals, then my behavior changes to try and meet them. A lot of times, I think I've set goals for myself, but because I don't DO anything about them, I now have to put them into the "wishing and hoping" category. Second, in a lot of ways, the goal is less about an end point than a journey. In the last several months, I've spent hours with my brother on runs, talking about everything and nothing. I've spent more hours still solitary, listening to my heart, my breath, my footsteps and thinking about running, about not running, about work, about family, about life. I've run in the rain and snow and sun, in New York, Las Vegas, Seattle, San Jose, Los Angeles, Portland. Some of my best blog entries, and certainly some of my best thinking sprang directly from that unplugged/unstructured time. Finally, not achieving a goal is a remarkable goad for next time. I know now I have to train more aggressively in the 175 heartrate zone and get more efficient there, and to keep my adrenaline in check that first mile.
There *are* other races. There *are* second and third acts. There *is* a set of 6:45 minute miles in my future. I just have to reach out and take them.