This past weekend I traveled down to Stanford University to
open up my outdoor track season with a 5k. Going into the race I didn’t know
what to really expect. I spent the month of March cross training and though I
knew I had lost some fitness I still entertained lofty ideas of me running a
PR. But realistically my goal was to run 16:40. This time is not my PR but it
was a start.
Last
year I ran 16:39 at the same meet. I made some very critical mistakes last
year, which resulted in me running a time slower than my workouts predicted. So
after a month of “rest” (as I like to view it,) I felt it was a reasonable goal
to run 16:40.
The
day of the race I felt pretty good. It was a beautiful day and Levi and I went
to a local park for him to do his “shake out.” Levi’s shake out day is much
different than mine. As a distance runner I typically run some easy miles then
do 4x200m strides at race pace. Levi’s shake out involves going to a local
park, doing a very short jog, then playing on the playground equipment where he
does flips and other crazy acrobatic tricks.
I
love being able to travel to meets with him. He keeps me relaxed and having
fun. When I am off on my own I can sometimes over think things and make the
race out to be a bigger deal than it is. Over the years I have learned to relax
more and enjoy the moment and gift it is for me to be able to participate in my
sport.
Watching
Levi on his shakeout was pretty entertaining. When he got to the playground
immediately a little girl came up to him and started chatting with him. She was
from a different country so neither of us had any idea what she was saying but
she started throwing a ball to him and it was clear she wanted to play. After
this Levi started to monkey around on the swings. The moment he got on a swing
two young boys came racing over to him and fought each other to get the swing
next to him. This of course turned into everyone jumping out of the swings and
watching Levi do tricks. Levi had two more die hard followers and wherever he
went on the playground they were right there watching. Eventually their mother
said it was time to go and I watched them start to leave. It looked like they
were trying to convince their mom they should stay and sure enough after getting
about 50 meters away they came sprinting back. Looks like the mom thought Levi
wasn’t too bad of an influence.
Eventually
the time came for me to head to the track. I got there early enough to watch
the steeple races. Watching everyone perform so well made me eager to race the
event. I wanted to jump in and
just do it! But I have to fight such impulses because my coach and I have a
plan. I am going to give my leg a little more time to get stronger and race the
steeple at Mt. SAC on April 19th.
As I started my warm up my body
didn’t feel great. I felt a bit sluggish but as I continued on my body started
to wake up a bit. My legs actually felt pretty good but my breathing was a
little rough due to a cold.
At 7:20p.m. I was toeing the line
along with 29 other women for the start. I didn’t feel nervous. My goal was to
be relaxed so I didn’t get sucked into too fast a pace from the gun. When the
gun went off all the women dashed frantically for position. I hung back on the
rail but one runner in particular kept trying to push her way in. I kept a
stiff arm and she kept ramming into it trying to push her way in. Eventually
she shoved her way right in front of me and I was tripped up a bit and ended up
falling into her back. I thought,
“Screw this!” and stayed back to save energy and let her continue to race
poorly. On a side note I ended up beating this runner. After the race she was
very distraught with her coach as to how she could have raced so poorly. My
coach wanted to tell her coach that he needed to teach his athletes how to
actually race and stop messing other people up but from what I have heard this
coach is notorious for giving his athletes advice to “race dirty.”
I came through the mile in 5:15 and
was almost last. The race was very different than last year where I ended up
taking the lead due to a very slow pace at the start. This year the girls were
going for it. Though I was a bit fast through the mile I managed to settle in.
The race never got less congested for me so I did my best to save energy in the
pack. Towards the end I was feeling pretty strong, just not snappy. I couldn’t
turn my legs over faster but they were not loading up. My breathing was rough
as my cold made it harder to breath but I managed to finish strong the last 800
meters.
I crossed the line in 16:36 and
reached my goal. Though I am not satisfied with that time I am satisfied that I
am able to run and race pain free and that the fitness I may have lost is not
that much and will come back soon.
I was set to fly out the next day
and was bummed I would have to leave before watching Levi vault. We had planned
our trips at different times and originally he was not going to compete at
Stanford. I was praying that somehow I would be able to stay but the night
before my flight had accepted the fact that I would just have to hear how he
performed via text updates.
My brother John drove me to the
airport and when I got to my gate I was informed the flight was overbooked.
After some convincing I managed to convince the Alaska Air attendant to let me
fly out Sunday. I was ecstatic! I quickly began trying to figure out the bus
schedule or any inexpensive means to get back to the track. John ended up
volunteering to come back and get me as there were a lot of men in the pole
vault and it would be awhile before Levi came in.
We made it back to the track with
plenty of time to spare and were able to watch Levi get a new PR in the pole
vault and win the meet! I was so thankful to have been able to watch him and am
looking forward to traveling down to Mt. SAC to watch him go even higher. After
Levi’s competition John and I headed out for a long run around the campus. It
was a beautiful run and I was very thankful to be able to spend one more day
enjoying the sun.
Watch more videos on Flotrack
And for fun here is the video of Levi's winning vault:
