Thursday, July 10, 2008

Some days the bear eats you

Tonight was my first race since... well, since March.

It was one of the weekly 2.6 mile races and I decided to give it a try. It wasn't a question of being physically ready - as I pretty much am sure I was. I wasn't mentally ready, and that makes a difference.

This isn't a "well, well, you tried..." sort of thing. This is a mile in I realized I just wasn't there. I ran about a mile and realized I was done. I walked the last 1.6 miles and threw in a bit of jogging here and there, but emotionally I was not in a good place. Perhaps I tried to push myself a bit too soon. Perhaps all those injury fears that I had finally dumped the day I set up a 1/2 training program and then promptly went down for the count were still a bit too close to the surface. Whatever it was, it wasn't a case of willing myself through.

It was a horrible run, no two ways around it. I will eventually figure out how to run that course with joy again, it just wasn't going to be tonight. In the meantime, my vertigo seems to have gone away and it's time for me to figure out a new course of action and give this a try again next Thursday night.

3 comments:

Nini said...

You got out there, and that is ultimately what counts.

Remember, you are coming back from a very serious injury... it's going to be a long process, you have to take it slow, and realize that when you have these setbacks it is because you are pushing your boundaries, and that's a good thing. The setback says "at least I'm trying and I'm pushing the boundaries."

Having said that, even though these are low key, let's run and have some fun type events, the mental part of racing does involve pushing it a little bit... maybe it's going to take another week or two before you are mentally ready for that challenge, but keep up with the non-racing miles, and you'll be back before you know it :)

Paula Villanova said...

Yeah, it's good you got out there. This may also have been what I call "one of those runs where my sneakers were full of cement...." I don't know why, but they just happen sometimes...I'll bet next week you're a whole new person. Keep it up.

JOJIT said...

"Bad run" happens. Great job on having the guts to go out there though. Keep it up