Saturday, March 17, 2012

NC 4 MIle Championships Recap

Goal #1:  22:40
Goal #2:  Top three
Goal #3:   Win Prize Money

Actual:
3 miles warmup
4 Mile Race in 23:28 (5:38, 5:40, 6:04, 6:02), Results here, 4th place
0 Goals achieved
3 miles cool down

Definitely nothing exciting to report here.  I didn't achieve any goals from my rust buster appearance in Durham for the Equinoxalizer 4 Miler / NC Championships.  In fact, I was embarrassed by my lackluster performance and upset that I wasn't able to compete with the two young girls who were in 2nd and 3rd place.  I usually pride myself for my competitive nature, but I wasn't even able to find that today.  Maybe it's because I know I have a race tomorrow where I could win more prize money?

I went through the first mile right with Laura and Kerri, but after that split, I was unable to keep any contact with them.  Soon, they disappeared into the rolling hills of Durham.  By mile 2, I could barely see Kerri, and resolved to keep pushing forward.  Well, a very steep hill right after 2 miles prevented me from making any ground on her.  With no one in front of me, and no one behind me, it was just me against myself, fighting my own physical and mental misery.  My legs didn't want to lift and gravity wanted to pull me backwards down the hill instead of up.  I struggled through the uphills, managed the down hills, and just ran on the flats.  By the third mile, I lost any resolve to go any faster and finished in a disappointing 23:28...almost 50 seconds off my goal time.

I had the opportunity to cool down with Esther Erb from Zap Fitness and she had a disappointing first performance since the Trials as well last weekend. It made me feel better to know that other people have also struggled coming back from the Trials in their first race back.  All I can do now is put it aside and focus on the Tobacco Road Half Marathon and then the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler.

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