Monthly Archives: January 2014

Winter Run 5k – Race Recap

This weekend’s snowy 5k was a lesson in patience and will.

Screen Shot 2014-01-19 at 9.19.02 PMThis was my second year running this 5k. It’s also the second year in a row the course was snowy and cold, though this year I thought it was a lot colder and snowier than the last! As a result, or totally unrelated, this year I finished about 3 minutes slower than last year.

I wasn’t really happy with the race itself, but I was very happy to finish. This was a really hard race for me with the two hills on the course that I ended up having to walk up and my toes going numb about a mile in.

Before the race started, the race organizer’s gathered everyone in the gym at Marian University.  I tuned out a bit for most of the announcements as I was quickly trying to make a playlist with two last second song adds.  Side note… why can’t you add songs via iPhone 5 to an existing playlist? That seems like a no brainer.  As the race was about to start and the participants were about to head out to the course (also right before I accidentally deleted my newly created playlist) I heard the “frostbite warning” and how to spot frostbite on your fellow runners.

So, this year wasn’t going to be as fun of a run as last year. I hit the course and instantly regretted not wearing another top layer, but figured I’d warm up as I ran. I did, but I also greatly enjoyed my face mask for about 1/2 the race. Using it as a neck gaiter the other 1/2 for quick access.

Overall, it’s not a bad course, just hard when it’s so snow covered. They had great course coverage with cheering this year, which I don’t recall from last year at all, and that helped. I brought water this year, which I remember wishing for last year, so that helped. But, it was a smaller field this year so I felt myself slipping into panic mode that I’d be the last one across the line somehow and felt myself competing with others, which quickly slowed me down and beat my spirits mid-race.

I fought hard to finish this one strong, though the time doesn’t reflect it with the walked hills. Overall it was a good workout and glad I got my January race in.

And now… I’m ready for slightly warmer weather and paved trails and sidewalks so winter running can go back to being less stressful on my ankles and grip!

 

Perfectionist Problems

I don’t run to be faster than anyone else.

In fact, I don’t run to compete against anyone other than myself.

That’s part of the reason I usually get my training runs and races in by myself. I can be easily tricked into trying to race against others when I train or race with them. It shifts my thought process into a battle for perfection that I won’t ever win.

I’m a self-aware perfectionist. It was only recently I added I added self-aware to that statement. I hate making mistakes and can beat myself up for hours and days when it happens. When I make a mistake I felt that pit in my stomach and my heart rate rises, predictably, as I work to fix whatever happened or is off. After the fix, it still sticks with me. I beat myself up about it because it was made in the first place.  

But, because I’m trying to be more self-aware, this week I tried to dig into that emotion and identify what the underlying concern and cause is. Yes, I want to do things right. I don’t want to make mistakes. But, in the bigger picture… how do I shift that focus from beating myself up to being able to objectively solve the mistake. I want to identify what went wrong and work on developing skills to change that in the future, rather than relive those mistakes over and over. 

This week I also found myself talking out loud and saying, “I just can’t do everything.”

Something that should be a simple admission, but it feels like a failure, like a mistake. I believe part of maturing is understanding that I really can’t do every thing. Some days, I just won’t be able to fit a work out in. And that has to be okay. Some days, I won’t be perfect in my diet. And that has to be okay, too. Cleaning the house will have to fall back some days, while work projects have to be reevaluated and repurposed when competing projects butt heads for limited time.

The hard part, and what I’m going to have to learn, is that those choices and leaniencey doesn’t equate with failure, mistakes or loss of anything other than perfection.

Because, in reality, perfection isn’t possible to achieve. It’s possible to strive for, but not realistic to expect as a result. The end result can always be better, I can always work harder and learn more. I’m working to understand the difference between striving for perfection, which encourages high quality, thoughtful, strategic work in everyday life… with the expectation of perfection and anything less than equaling failure and mistakes.

Snow Days Like Any Other

I still enjoy the snow.

-12 degrees right now, snowed in to the house, about 14 inches of snow on the ground and I still love the snow.

Although I do miss the days of youth when a snow day meant an actual snow day of hot chocolate, snowmen and sledding. Now snow days mean shoveling, snow blowing and working from home in comfortable clothes with no reason at all to have to brush my hair. Not quite the same… but I still like the snow.

I appreciate my 4-wheel drive jeep that gets me through any weather, my warm clothes and house and the fact that, to date, the power has stayed on keeping us safe and warm.

It didn’t dawn on me until after my 3rd round snowblowing yesterday that I didn’t even consider playing in the snow this year. Just got down to business clearing the snow and ran back in the house for some coffee and swiss cake rolls (some childhood things never change, obviously).

To make up for the lack of fun yesterday, we enjoyed a nice dinner tonight with a glass of wine and I roasted marshmallows over the fire in the family room. Because, what else would you do on a snowy night when it’s not fit for man nor beast outside?