Hit the Road

On Sunday, January 28, I ran the Robbie Burns 8k Road Race. As a long distance runner (and I'm sure many of you can relate to this), when I run shorter races, such as a 5k or 10k road race, I often get, "oh, that must be so easy for you" or "you probably don't even break a sweat". WRONG! These shorter distance races are really hard for me. The fact of the matter is, there is no easy distance. Every distance comes with its own challenges. With that being said, running a hard-effort road 8k was difficult and I knew that it would be. It requires the runner to pretty much run at close to their maximum speed for what seems like a REALLY, REALLY long time.

I have become very comfortable with racing over the years. With the exception of 100 mile races and the 'Happy Trails' races that Heather and I direct, I very rarely lose sleep over an upcoming event. However, I was worried about this one way more than I was letting on. The problem was, I have been slacking in regards to my speed work and I knew that I was really going to suffer. Of course, the option to just take it easy was there and, in fact, probably would have been the wise option seeing as it was only 6 days from my first real "goal race" of the year. A big part of me wanted to see what I could do. This would be my last race before turning 40 and I wanted to test my fitness.

About a month ago, I set my "A Goal" for this race at 32:00. In the weeks leading up to the race I thought that 34:00 was more realistic, and that was only if the conditions were good. I didn't change my goal though because, like I tell my students at school, it's good to fail. I encourage them to fail at things on a regular basis and make lots of mistakes along the way. This way you know that your goals are good ones and it feels even better when you finally achieve them. The point is, I knew that I was going to fail at hitting my mark, and I did fail... but not by much.

This was my first time running the Robbie Burns race. It was a well organized event and attracted a surprisingly large group for a January race and the calibre of the front runners was really impressive. The conditions were amazing as well. The roads were clear, it was sunny outside, and the temperature was above zero. A perfect day for racing. My race plan was to try to hang with a friend of mine for the first half of the race. The pace was a bit rich for my blood but I figured it was sustainable for at least 4km (about 3:50-3:55/km). I held on for a little over 5k and then my pace started to slow. I was definitely working hard but I didn't feel like I was over doing it. Before I knew it, I was in the final 500m and although I may have picked up the pace a little, I really didn't have a push in me and as I turned the last corner I saw that the clock was just hitting 32:00 minutes (I forgot to start my watch until 1.2km into the race so I didn't know what my time was). My chip time was 32:07- I didn't quite hit my goal but I did much better than I expected.

I really enjoyed the race. Although I love running long-distance events, there is certainly something to be said about waking up, driving to the race, running the race, and returning home, all within 3 hours. The majority of my key workouts lately have been long and slow trail runs and, because of this, I've become more proficient at running long and slow but considerably less so at running short and fast. I find it fun and very beneficial to run these races and I plan on doing a bunch of short road races this year.

Next weekend I will be in Huntsville, Texas for the Rocky Raccoon 100 miler. Running sub 20 hours would be amazing but at this point in my training, I'd be really pleased with sub 24. Honestly, as long as I finish the race, I'll be happy. My plan is to keep it really simple- I'm going to carry a handheld bottle and eat what they serve at the aid stations. It's going to be a pretty hectic weekend with very little time to relax and enjoy the warmer weather. I'm heading down with a great group of friends and I can't think of a better way to celebrate my birthday.

Check out my Get Out There Magazine race report below.