Norwood 5K brings out the best!

With every lesson I teach of Girls on the Run, the more I wonder what effect it would have had on my life had I been a GOTR girl in elementary school.  Most of the coaches and parents have that thought while their daughter goes through the program.  It is a life changing program and it's just the smallest thing - imagine thinking "I can do anything I want"  "I am enough"  "I am awesome" and "I CAN do it".  These simple statements make huge impacts on people and we hope that we impact the girls we coach so these concepts are ingrained in their brain so that no one can tear these girls down.  I do wonder how different my life, especially my athletic life, would have been if someone made me believe those things of myself at an early age.  At an age before Negative Nelly moved into my brain and refused to leave - she still resides in my brain but I do have the strength to kick her out for longer periods of time now that I'm an old bat.

Today was one of those days that I felt on top of the world - I felt I could do anything and most importantly I did NOT lessen my joyous accomplishment by comparing myself to anyone else.  This morning I ran the Norwood 5K as a Girls on the Run Sole Mate (full disclosure: I did not raise any money for this event, I was just given a free entry).  For the past 3 days I've been unmotivated to do much of anything so I wasn't excited to drive 30 minutes away to run a 5K by myself but I'll do just about anything for GOTR so I went.  I actually enjoy racing alone but I do like when someone is at the finish line but today was just me.  

First mile seemed ok I was moving along and then I got to the first mile marker and it was 9:50 (this is way fast for this girl!) and I felt good so I kept cooking along.  Second mile was 10:00 and time to set this race in motion.  Then something amazing happened: I was running next to this girl, never saw her before but we were running step for step for the entire last mile.  I knew the pace was way faster than my normal pace but I was determined to keep up with her.  Neither of us got ahead or behind one another, we never looked at one another we just kept in the same rhythm the entire last mile.  I was running so hard that I couldn't even look at my watch and the air was kind of cold so my eyes were tearing - I really, really wanted to stop.  Not just stop but collapse.  The finish line was around 2 corners so I had no idea how much further it was but just needed to keep up with my new run BFF and I did!  We finished together - she actually surged at the line so finished 1 second ahead of me - then she came over and hugged me!  It was like being in the Olympics (amuse me here since I'm never going to the Olympics!) it was the coolest thing ever.  I looked up her name but she's not on FB or any other social media so I can't reach out to thank her. 

This was playing in my mind while running the last mile...not too dramatic!

What I thought we looked like...

what we actually looked like!!!

 My last mile was 8:23...let me type that again 8:23 for mile 3.  I could have cried when I saw that - last week I was just about to throw in the towel and give up triathlon altogether bc it seems like I work so hard and never get any better.  Then today happened...I'm back on track, back to training, back to getting faster.  Now if I could stop eating so much shitty food then I'd really get fast!!!!

Goals. Goals. Goals.

Now that the triathlon season is officially over for the year, I've been struggling to find some goals to set for myself.  I'm "that" person, without a goal I will sit on my couch and not move.  Fear motivates me and I fear not being ready for a race.  SO, I find a race, register for it and that keeps me training.  It keeps me waking up early to get the workouts done at the crack of dawn over and over.

In years past, by this time I'd have an entire race schedule set up for the following year, google spreadsheet, color coded, costs, hotel, drive time, etc.  Every detail mapped out.  But money has gotten a little tighter which has changed what events I'm willing to pay for and how far I'm willing to travel.  Now I'm going over any race I've done in the past, how much did I enjoy the race?  Was it worth my money and time to get there?  Etc.  Etc.  Etc.  

RACE NAME

LOCATION

D COST

K COST

TOTAL ENTRY FEE

HOTEL COST/NIGHT

# OF NIGHTS

HOTEL NAME

TOTAL HOTEL COST

TOTAL HOTEL + RACE FEE

What was your favorite race: spring/OLY triathlon and runs (13.1 and under)?  Is there a race you loved so much and you continue to go back year after year?  And is there a race you've done that is worth using all of the season's allotted money to race?

I need some serious focus - I NEED goals ASAP!