Take It Easy

Take it easy. I told myself I’d take it easy when I decided to run a 5K race a couple of weekends ago. I haven’t participated in a road race for almost exactly a year. My running coach for the half marathon gave me a pre-clinic prep schedule, which included the 3.1 mile race. So, I stuck to the schedule.

Regardless of my self-talk, I awoke Saturday morning without feeling calm. So much for the “take it easy” business. I felt all the same old pre-race jitters and nerves. We arrived at the race to see many familiar faces. Most of them have been running the Grand Prix Series for at least the 10 years I’ve been around. I feel confident many have been at it a lot longer than that.

Stretching, sprinting, warm up jogs--people engaged in their customary preparatory acts. I like to look around for a while and then have a slow warm up run. I prefer to finish running with just a couple of minutes before the start of the race. I did just that.

Ready. Set. Go. I intentionally joined the back of the group to run slower. My thoughts moved faster than my feet. I looked at my watch. I took in the landscape. I prayed. I glanced at my watch. I thought about the course. I checked my watch. Bunched up in the pack I kept telling myself to take it easy. I pushed the hills and thought I’d have lots of gas for the finish.

Finally, I could take no more and sped around the others. It was too late. I finished in twenty-three minutes and change, a personal record for my slowest 5K. Prior to the race I planned for a nice and easy twenty-five minutes, yet mentally I struggled with the finish time. The good news is I finished the race with no injuries. I felt good and truthfully it was a nice return to racing. In the end, the “take it easy” method worked.

I’ll test the engines again in September with a five mile race as the circuit begins.

Tom