Save it for later, Don’t run away and let me down

The Ottawa 10km was just what the doctor ordered.  I wasn’t sure if jumping into a race for my second running workout since March 19th was a good idea but it ended up working out really well.  Many people, including me, had doubts that I was going to stay in control and run 3:10/km instead of being more aggressive.  Before the race I committed to pacing Josh Roundell  who, by chance, also wanted to run 31:40 which made me somewhat accountable to not actually race hard.  Josh ended up going out fast and I was behind him for the first km in 3:00 and was very tempted to race the second pack which was only a few seconds ahead.  But I didn’t.  After 2km we dropped into 3:10 pace for most of the rest of the way and I finished with 31:44. Mission accomplished.

It’s typical to let doubts creep into your mind when layed up with an injury and I’ve recently been lacking any sort of confidence.  It’s crazy that as quickly as 1km into the 10km race I started to gain some confidence and by the end of the race I had a good feeling about a fall marathon.  I guess a 10km should feel easy for anyone running 4 minutes slower than their PB but I was still very surprised how easy the pace felt. 

I never had immediate results as a runner and I contribute any success that I’ve had in running to consistency and training hard.  In the past three years I’ve lost some of that running consistency and during each injury I seem to doubt my ability as a runner more each time.  Especially since I haven’t posted a time I’ve been thrilled with since 2007.

During March I was running good workouts and believed that a 10 000m personal best was in the cards this spring.  It seems like things can fall off so quickly and then when I get back into running things come back pretty quickly too. Must remember that.  Having 31:44 feel as easy as it did was encouraging and I think I might as well run another 10km road race in June.  I think I’ll do the Ancaster Old Mill 10km and maybe push it a bit more, but still keep it under control. 

The weekend itself was pretty fun.  I stayed with Desy in O-town and a bunch of us went out Saturday after the 10km and got some food, some drinks and then more food.  Gillis capped off a good spring road racing campaign and along with the Newfies celebrated with some great poutine. 

Once June 21st hits it will be time to step it up and get serious.  Until then I’ll get the junk food and Saturday nights out of my system.  A few weeks in the 150km range with some easy workouts and cross-training will hopefully leave me feeling fit and fresh going into marathon build-up.  This Saturday night I’ll be hitting up the 401 Distance Series in Guelph (Sub 4 mile?) and the accompanying post-race party.

I drove Josephat to Ottawa and had some interesting conversations about Kenya for about an hour before he fell asleep for the next four hours.  The day before the race I introduced him to the rabbit who was pacing 66 minutes through halfway and said “don’t pass this guy”.  We also discussed taking in Gatorade.  Needless to say Josephat went out in 64:30 and only drank water.  After the race I asked him why he didn’t go with the 2:12 pacer and he said he didn’t see him… well if you go out with the leaders you’re not going to see him behind you, haha.   He ended up running 2:16:41 for ninth, his best time and place at the Ottawa marathon.  In the next year or two he’ll hopefully be able to claim some Canadian only prize money.

I was about to use “Save it for Later” as my blog title and realised that I already have, so I just added the next line…