River Bank Run 10K
Alright, fine, I get the excessive marketing now. I drive downtown every day for work, but I hardly recognized streets and buildings yesterday. The 5K was wrapping up by the time we got there and the 10K was starting to line up a few blocks away. Road racing looks good on ya, Grand Rapids.
It was cloudy and winter-like cold with a temp in the high 40’s (yes, in May). For racing though, it was perfection. I ran a cautious, strong, comfortable and happy race. Around mile 3, one of my former college swimming teammates spotted me and ran beside me for a while. He pushed me a little at first, but I ended up pushing him and eventually losing him two miles later.
The last mile wrapped around my office building and through a stretch of downtown I’ve run a hundred times. I got excited and turned up the heat a little too soon, but stuck with it as much as I could. Never has a little sense of nausea felt so good.
My 10K race was 15K short of my original goal; switching events was a rough game-time choice I made at the plea of my body. For a while there I forgot that part of being a good runner is being a grateful, humble runner. When you think of the unlimited factors that can keep us from crossing the finish line; every training run, opportunity to start a race and ability to finish one seems ultimately sweeter.
I tried to embrace that gratefulness by leaving my GPS watch at home. I didn’t want to stress, I just wanted to feel my running mojo again—which I did by finishing with about a 45 second PR. Yahoo! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a hot date with my foam roller and a large glass of wine. The end of a long training season deserves celebration.
It was cloudy and winter-like cold with a temp in the high 40’s (yes, in May). For racing though, it was perfection. I ran a cautious, strong, comfortable and happy race. Around mile 3, one of my former college swimming teammates spotted me and ran beside me for a while. He pushed me a little at first, but I ended up pushing him and eventually losing him two miles later.
The last mile wrapped around my office building and through a stretch of downtown I’ve run a hundred times. I got excited and turned up the heat a little too soon, but stuck with it as much as I could. Never has a little sense of nausea felt so good.
My 10K race was 15K short of my original goal; switching events was a rough game-time choice I made at the plea of my body. For a while there I forgot that part of being a good runner is being a grateful, humble runner. When you think of the unlimited factors that can keep us from crossing the finish line; every training run, opportunity to start a race and ability to finish one seems ultimately sweeter.
I tried to embrace that gratefulness by leaving my GPS watch at home. I didn’t want to stress, I just wanted to feel my running mojo again—which I did by finishing with about a 45 second PR. Yahoo! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a hot date with my foam roller and a large glass of wine. The end of a long training season deserves celebration.