Pride Run 2013

Do you ever run a race and from the very first step, you know it's going to be a struggle? That was this race yesterday. I ran the Front Runners Pride Run, a 5 miler in Central Park yesterday. It's a favorite of mine but man, was it tough! To be fair, I really didn't set myself up for success. I waitressed until 10 the night before and then had to be back at work at 4pm the day of the race. Plus, it was hot and sticky out and I was majorly stressed. I had decided my dad would help pace me for this and thank God I had someone to drag me along or I wouldn't have been close to pace, probably would have walked even. My PR for a 5 miler was very soft- 46 minutes. Keep in mind that I've only started racing again for a few months. Ever since my knee accident 2 1/2 years ago, I've been treating races more as fun runs and trying to get through the miles pain free so most of my PRs are at least 2-3 years old. The way I've been running recently, I knew I could easily break that time because I run 1/2 marathons at 9 minute pace.

If you're going to run a Pride race, you better do it right, rainbow knee socks and Schwings included.

I decided to aim for 8:30s and my first mile was that. My second mile was seriously a train wreck, however. I felt dehydrated and my legs were complaining about the hours I was on my feet from waitressing the night before. That being said, my dad was there to push me through to mile 3. I got to the water station and stopped for 10 seconds to drink and that was it. Miles 3-4 were on pace. Mile 5 was a serious gut check. I was NOT feeling this. I remember feeling low and like I couldn't finish this. My dad saw me repeatedly checking my Garmin and told me to just turn it off because it was stressing me out. I also thought about how someday I want to run a marathon and that will be some tough stuff. 9 times out of 10, running is about toughing it out, seeing how far you can push yourself. You'll never forgive yourself if you give up. So I pushed through it.

I look happy? I wasn't happy. I guess I was just motivated by the idea of a good photo.

And I PRed! By 2 minutes! So I'm still no pro, but I'm proud. There was not one moment of this race that felt good to me and there were definitely moments where I really wanted to quit, really thought about quitting. But I didn't and now I have a shiny new PR. I know I can do even better than that but just knowing that I am slowly but surely coming back to my old running abilities excites me and makes me feel strong.