2nd Place Is The First Happy Loser (10k Recap!)

This weekend, I decided to to race a 10k. This was for a couple reasons:

1) There was a Schwaggle for running both the 10k and 5k of the Wrigley River Run 10k/5k in Long Beach.  I like Long Beach and I like cheap stuff so...

2) My 10k PR  (44:45) was one I thought I could most likely break since it was set when I wasn't very well trained. Rational or not, my running confidence has taken a beating lately so I figured this was a good way to build confidence and avoid having a giant running shoe bonfire.

Saturday morning, I woke up at 5:30 AM feeling surprisingly non-ticked off at being up that early. I was ridiculously nervous like usual and dressed in all of the running clothes I associate with good races. Superstition... can't hurt, right ?

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I drove up to Long Beach, parked and walked over.  We were right in the middle of some busy streets with neighborhoods right next door so I'm pretty sure the people living there enjoyed the crowds waking them up at 7AM. 

At the start line, I scoped out the girls, and it didn't look like any were wearing racers.  Not that this is a 100% indicator, but I've found this to be the best indicator of spotting super elite talented people.   I'd say I'm ashamed of scoping out women at the start but I am not! 

We lined up and we were off!  For the first half mile I kept looking at my Garmin and seeing paces like 6:18 so I forced myself to slow down to the mid to upper 6's.  Preventing my sprinting at the start of races is the whole reason I own a Garmin.  

At mile 1 (6:40) there was a water stop and the volunteers weren't really ready for the crowds so I took like four cups from the table.  Then I frantically apologized to the volunteers who were understandably looking at me like a crazy person!  

That was also right around the time that the guys around me starting pointing out the woman about 10 meters ahead of me and saying "That's the first woman.  Go get her.".   I'm not one to say no to something like that and I felt pretty good so I passed her.  

I've never been in the lead of a race  (even a small one like this), and it was instantly a terrifying experience.  At that point you're just being chased down, right?   But a small voice in my head said "KEEP THIS UP AND YOU MIGHT WIN THE 1st PLACE $100 SHOE GIFT CERTIFICATE!!!". 

Mile 2 and 3 clicked off in 6:45 and 6:47.  A couple people said things to me like "First woman!  The second woman is close!".  Yikes.  

By mile 4, I was starting to get tired.  Some dude started running next to me and he sounded like he was near death.  He was making so much noise I could have sworn he was Chewbacca in another life.  

I kept looking at my Garmin and telling myself to keep the pace below 7.   But this was getting harder and harder to do.  Some other mantras I told myself through the race were "Of course you're hurting, dumbass!  You're running a race.  Embrace your discomfort!".  And more embarrassingly "Pretend you're a Game Of Thrones character!".  

Yes...I even race like a nerd.

At mile 5 (34:10ish split), I heard some heavy but distinctly woman-ly sounding heavy breathing behind me.  I was getting passed.  As she passed me, I said something like "Go get it, but I'm going to try to hang with you.".  

Hang with her I did not.  But still, as she ran further and further ahead of me, I tried to catch her for the rest of the race.  I have no doubt she pushed me to run harder than I would have otherwise. 

"Just one 800 left.  Pretend you're running an 800.  You do damn 800s in your sleep" 

So I ran in, and to my surprise, the clock read in the low 42s.  

42:22.  6:49 pace.  2nd woman overall.  (Which of course means...no free shoes.)

Who cares though, I was so happy.  I get that I'm not breaking any records, but according to the running calculators, this is the best race I've ever run.  I'm thankful to still be improving.  

I went to go find the first place woman and she was pretty cool.  I told her she'd won a gift certificate and she seemed pretty pumped about that.

A really cool thing about the race, is that there's a 5k right after the 10k and you can sign up for both for almost the same price!  So I lined back up for the 5k and took it as a cooldown.  It was pretty cool to be more relaxed, for once.  Turns out...#1 in the 10k went out and ran a 21 flat 5k right afterwards.  But who's stalking her?  Certainly not me.

You know what the best part of the race was?  

They are not playing around when it comes to the after race food spread!  Wrigley had countless oranges and watermelons (Monica you must do this next year) and delicious pizza.  Call me old fashioned, but this kicks the butt of the random nutritional stuff they serve at most races.  The greasy pizza and juicy watermelon was a dream come true!  

On a lark, I went to a couple of the guys in charge of the race and asked them if there was a prize for 2nd place.  They said something along the lines that I got a high five.  We all laughed and I appreciated them putting me a little in my place. Somehow that was the cherry on top of this awesome, old-school, and well-run race.  

So thank you, Wrigley:  You gave me a PR, renewed confidence, and a crapload of watermelon.  And really, that's all a girl like me needs. 

If you dream it, you can do it in your dreams

A couple things first:  Check out Hanna's blog!
She interviewed me the other day which is...ridiculously good for my ego.  The last time I was interviewed, I was stuck in an elevator at a school dance.
So thanks, Hanna!

Also, I have a running blog roll on the right of my blog.  Through different iterations of the blog, various blogs I love have fallen on and off of the list.  This is for no reason other than laziness and I certainly don't mean to exclude.  So if you want to be there and you have a running blog and we get along and stuff, email me. 

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In high school, I raced the 3200m in the District championship.  I didn't remotely belong in that race and I felt very intimidated prior to the meet.  The caliber of runners in this meet were far better than me and I was seeded somewhere in the middle of the slow heat. 

My coach took me and my teammate aside the day before and told us to go out in 6:15 to 6:20 pace.

I thought he was crazy.  My PR at the time was a 12:58 and knocking 20-30 seconds off a 2 miler is not easy stuff.

But the next day, I took his advice, and clicked off each 200 meter lap on pace. 
I ran a 12:39 and my teammate ran somewhere around a 12:25 and even though I didn't score any points in the meet, I felt like I'd we'd both won the damn Olympics. 

It was cool to run such a great race and I know I wouldn't have been so aggressive in my pacing if it weren't for the advice of my coach.  His words gave me the confidence to run faster.


So how much of a part does confidence play in running performance?

Most of the time I think "dream big" type confidence building mantras are dumb.  Detrimental even.  I believe in being pragmatic and keeping expectations in check.

I mean...it's just the people who made it against all odds who say these things, right? 

Right????

But it's hard to say.  I have no doubt that Olympic and professional caliber athletes have to have a huge amount of confidence and belief in themselves.  (I mean come on...Ryan Hall thinks he is being coached by God.)  Don't even get me started on Steve Prefontaine!   Kara Goucher has spoken about how a lack of confidence has sabotaged many of her races.  

I wouldn't consider myself to be a particularly confident person.   Just ask a slew of annoyed ex-boyfriends of mine who got tired of providing validation.

I've tried to build my confidence in and outside of running.

I've done race visualization.  I've visualized myself running crazy PRs. I started too fast in races chasing crazy PRs and seldom seen it materialize how I wanted it to. I mean, I will try just about anything that someone says worked for them. 

Having big goals can often mean big disappointment.

But, I have no doubt that people often run to the ability they think they have.  I'm convinced this is why runners (myself included) run almost exactly the same time over and over again even if their fitness is at different levels. 

What works for me is putting in the confidence building workouts before racing- it's hard for me to dream big until I feel physically ready.  I have no doubt that my couch in high school told us to go out fast because he saw us running workouts and knew we had PRs in us, not the other way around.

Speaking of goals, I'm running a 10k this weekend.  I've felt pretty good in the past couple weeks, but I don't want to get my hopes up too high. 

Here's the snapshot of McMillan prediction based on a 5 miler I ran back in November. 

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If I even come close to that, I'll be a happy girl.   Of course, I'm already dreaming of some crazy PR but I've gotta accept it's unlikely.  Plus I don't even think this 10k is USATF certified, so I might end up running closer to a 5 miler anyways!

Has confidence played a role in your race performances?   If people dream it can they do it, or is that unrealistic?