How NOT to Run a 5k
I ran the most bizarre 5k this weekend. It was my first of the year and I had run it last year and was familiar with the course. I have not been doing any speed training so my expectations for time were fairly low. We arrived plenty early, got my race bib and even had time for a short warm up jog as I had planned. I wandered to the starting line with everyone else, chatted with some fellow friend runners, and made my way to the front where I was in good position. That is when I looked down and realized I did NOT have my silly timing chip on my shoe!!!
Pure panic set in as the race was about to start. I sprinted to Silas, yelled for the car keys and raced up the street to the car to check my race packet for my chip. It wasn't there!! I ran back to the registration tables and they pointed down the road to where I was supposed to have picked it up when I signed in (I know this is TOTALLY my fault). I yelled at the older gentleman at the table which number I needed and of course it was at another table. He found my chip but we had to go to another table to get a zip tie for it to go on my shoe. Of course the race started while I was in the middle of all of this hoopla, and my time was ticking away. I got the silly thing attached to my shoe, started my watch and took off after everyone else. It took me almost 2 miles to weave around the slower runners and get to where I needed to be. I was beating myself up mentally the whole time for being so stupid, but figured I would run as hard as I could and at least finish strong.
I pushed hard that final quarter mile and finished right at the same time as my 5k PR from last year. My garmin had my time as over a minute faster for a minute PR, but of course that was unofficial as they were going by the race clock. UGGGHHH!! The crazy thing is that I ended up winning 1st place in my age group anyway! Go figure. I was disappointed though because I finished 6th overall female and I was aiming to finish top 5 (and definitely would have had I started on time!) Lesson learned....get your timing chip silly head!! 
At first I really was being hard on myself for making such a silly mistake, but then I realized several things I could take away from this situation. 1) I am not perfect and everyone makes a mistake at some point, 2) I persevered and started the race, even though I knew I was behind and would not be able to run the race I wanted to run, 3) Running is fun and it doesn't have to be about winning every time or setting a PR (even though my competitive nature struggles with this!!) and finally 4) I can be proud of myself and my accomplishment even if it wasn't the result I had hoped for.
My boys cheered their little hearts out for mama and all the other runners and had such a good time at the race. They are always so excited when I get a trophy or medal:) I guess I will go ahead and register for the next 5k in our running series so I can redeem myself in a few weeks!! Oh yeah, I went back and found the man I had yelled at in my panic to get my timing chip and apologized to him for being a bit frantic. I thanked him for his help and he just smiled and said it was ok. Racing sure can make you crazy sometimes.
posted by Lauren at
1:53 PM
2 Comments:
And you still got a big trophy!! Nice job on the 1 minut PR- even if it was unofficial. Just think what you'll be able to do next time. What races do you have coming up?
Arrgh! Isn't that one of our racing nightmares...at the start with no chip?!?! Glad you were able to "salvage" the race and still win your AG! Way to overcome adversity!
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