Wednesday, November 17, 2010

6x6 Runs Another Race


6x6 here, back for another guest-blog!

I ran another race this weekend – it was my third race since I started running last August. It was the Veteran’s Day 10k, and my second 10k as a member of the Capital Area Runners team, plus one of my favorite former coworkers, Meg.


Since I last blogged I have joined CAR and gone to workouts every Tuesday night. I know how to run a repeat, and what a tempo run is.


I went into the race with moderate expectations. I was recovering from muscular leg injury and had not been able to train as often as I would have liked in the last few weeks leading up to the race.


Like my favorite diplomat, in life and in running, I practice principles of smart power/smart running. (Mollie will give you 1,000,000 points if you can guess the diplomat so put your answer in the comments section and expect a follow-up 6x6 post later.)


So basically, if it hurts, I'm not going to run. Stupid I am not. Thus my goals, hopes, and dreams were not quite met. My official time was 52:07 which is a 57-second PR but not where I would like to be.


Why did this happen? Well one of the unfortunate reasons was because I threw up at mile five. Again. Clearly, this is a case of nerves and not what I ate beforehand. After the first time I ran a 10k and threw up at mile five, Mollie and I agonized over what the perfect won't-upset-my-stomach meal would be. We decided that peanut butter and toast would be the best solution (no pre-running apples for me anymore!), I am sure this works for others, just not for me.


When the race was over, I decided that I would never run another 10k again. It's simply not the distance for me. I will, however, be up for anything under 8k (at least until the Kiev Marathon in 2012). For other insecure runners out there, do not be swayed by marathon fever - the "you're only really a runner if you ran marathons disease." Distance is individual. Just run to be happy.


Now Glee is on and I'm signing off. (And I already signed up for a 5K this Saturday! Wish me luck and a lack of throwing up)