I come to you today with a case of regretrospect...in retrospect, I regret my performance/attitude at the Irene Liquifruit Half Marathon this weekend.
As promised, I headed up to Gauteng Province to participate in the Agricultural Research Council's Liquifruit Half Marathon on Saturday. My dear friend (the one who is working out like a beast) joined me in the associated 10km run...or rather should I say that I joined him. Let me explain...
Both my friend and I were up bright and early, after a ridiculously long drive to Midrand the night before, for a 6 am start time. The race venue was pretty packed, but we successfully made our way through the registration and took our place behind the starting line. Yes, we were going to make a fool out of this race! After all, the course was extremely flat compared to the hills of Maseru town! On your mark! Get set! Go....and we were off!
I looked down at my beautiful little Garmin and noticed that I'd completed 5km in 27 minutes! Ok...cool...a boost of confidence...I'm surely going to PR (obtain a personal record for time/distance)! Right at the point in the course where the 10km and half races split, there is usually a sign pointing people in the right direction. This race, however, had NOTHING. So I looked around and saw some of the half runners going my way...ok, cool! I've got this...now hunker down Dani and let's get this in!
Running, running, running...and then I notice a course monitor guiding runners around a curve. He says, "Hey, you're the first lady to come in for the half." Wait...what? I know I have dreams of being the female Haile Gerbersalasie and all, but I'm not that good. Damn...I took the wrong route...and was about to finish the 10km! When I realized that my PR dreams were crushed, I accepted defeat and quit (and this is where the regretrospect comes in)...taking my time walking to the finish line, and enjoying the plethora of farm animals within the Agricultural Research Council's compound.
Race officials at the finish line asked me what happened...I told them my sad story. They said, well you finished the 10km, so collect your medal. The guy in front of me, having overheard my lame tale of defeat, said, "I think you came in ahead of me", and had me walk in front of him. I collect my inglorious medal and made my way over to my friend. He was super jazzed about coming in a few seconds under his training time. I was bummed about my mishap. Later on in the day, as my friend and I were chomping on Haagen-Dazs ice cream, I reflected on my choice to emotionally quit the race once I found out I was on the 10km route rather than putting my all into finishing like the champion I know I can be (and am at times). I'm certainly not a "shoulda, coulda, woulda" type of girls. If I make a mistake, I try my best to atone, and move on. No point in dwelling on the past (good or bad things). The future is for building on lessons learned. Here are my lessons learned:
- Never quit
- Pay closer attention to details
- Finish what you started!
To make up for this race, I'm considering the Ficksburg Cherry 23 km (my first race ever...which was the death of me...read here and here to jog your memory a little) which will take place next Saturday. The other option is running the Erfenismyl Half Marathon on November 26th. If I want to do a penance (no, I'm not Catholic) for this weekend's run...or is it really a death wish...I'll run the Ficksburg Cherry. Since I love life...I'll have to chew on this decision over the course of this week.
Wish me luck.
Until next time...put one foot in front of the other...and keep it movin'!!!!!
Yours in (fake it til you make it) training,
Dani
0 comments:
Post a Comment