Sunday, December 13, 2009

10K meters - what seemed like 10K people!

9:50am Saturday Morning December 12th 2009
Kent WA
Clear and 28 degrees
Kent Christmas Rush 10k

New lessons learned while running with a whole bunch of people I don't know

Lesson number 1

ARRIVE WITH TIME TO SPARE

I was at the race with 15 minutes until start time, unfortunately I was driving around in my truck looking for a parking spot. EVERYONE in Kent WA must have been at this race. So I did what many folks did - made a parking spot, in the grass in front of a boarded up business (woohoo thank you recession!) I ended up running a half mile to the race course not knowing if I needed to check in or what.. apparently not, as the clock struck fifty seconds to the start of the race as I arrived (whew!) OK.. I need to pin on the bib, get my sunglasses on and get my earbuds in, get the tunes cranked up, and get my gloves on. the jeopardy theme song would have been very apropos here.

Lesson Number 2

CHECK YOUR TUNES!

In preparation for the race I tested out many tunes to help with pace management, I wanted to maintain as close to the magic "180" pace and keep it there. I found the perfect tune called "Buzz" by Four 80 East. unfortunately in my haste earlier this week at work I mistakenly put "Sonhar" by Praful which is about a 5% increase in tempo. I kept up with it, but Buzz would have been much more natural.

Lesson Number 3

USE TRAIL ETIQUETTE

Pass on the left! otherwise keep to the right! this is the Fat Albert Thesis "Hey hey hey, get outa my way!"

Lesson Number 4

FAST RUNNERS INSPIRE AND ENCOURAGE

a 10k is 6.24 miles. At the 2.25 mile mark I saw the person in first place on his way back. Wow, he was MOVING! Many folks around me cheered and applauded while they were running - for the majority the race is not about being first, it's about being there!

Lesson Number 5

BYSTANDERS ARE AWESOME-SAUCE

Along the way, at the mile markers there were race workers calling out times, ut at about the 3 mile mark there was this lady clapping and smiling - Manheim Steamroller Christmas tunes blaring from speaker on her front porch. there was one group of race workers shortly afterwards that stood there and clapped and cheered and smiled. What a joy for those of us concentrating on breathing!

Lesson Number 6

YOU ARE YOUR ONLY COMPETITION

When the pack breaks up after the start you realize that you are not running this race to be faster than others, you are trying to be faster than yourself. Setting that pace for a 6mph average I cut 5 minutes off my best 10K time - 8.3% faster - that's awesome and I may have been way back in the pack, but I'm chalking this up as a huge WIN.

Lesson Number 7

REWARDS COME WITH HARD WORK

When I started getting physically active last June I had seen myself in a picture on my 25th wedding anniversary trip and hated what I saw. Further motivation came from an old friend that was always as skinny as a rail, but last I saw him shocked me with his rotundness - I saw myself and knew that if I allow myself to continue I am just waiting to die. I did not want to run, running is hard! I wanted to get in shape by hiking and walking. I bought my Garmin and started hiking a 2 mile trail, after a time this became easy, so I started doing the stairs multiple times. That became too easy as well, so I extended it the hike to 3.5 miles. After a couple of weeks of that I started running the first half mile of the hike. I started track running started to buy into my life changes and invested in myself - running shoes, running gear. The rain forced me off the dirt trail at Lake Fenwick and onto the asphalt of Interurban soon 5 miles became my daily run, then when I had some left on one of the runs I extended it to a 10K.

Lesson 8

WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOURSELF?

Where am I going with this? What is the goal? Looking back over the last 6 months my abilities have changed so much that I am scared to say whats next - after finishing a 10k the next step is a half marathon. A HALF FRIKKING MARATHON . This is so foreign to me, this is too new and in a way scary. I'm not sure it may stop here, I may continue to extend my horizons but the change is definately entrenched, I feel differently about myself and my body. Although my weight loss has stalled at 220, I'm thinking that as long as it doesn't go up during the holidays it's a win for me! Notbeing sure about the future, I guess I'll just keep blogging and we can find out together.

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