After just a bit of debating.. okay, a TON of back and forth and the wild psycho-ness of being way too hard on myself over a five mile race… I decided to run the Shamrock Townebank 8k on Saturday!
Part of my decision to run was created by a late night text Friday from my friend Lexi telling me to set my alarm because she’d be at my house at 6:45 am to scoop me for the race. YESSSSSS. As soon as I committed, I knew there was no turning back!!
Although I really wasn’t feeling my best.. ( I continued to hack up my lungs the entire car ride over) ..the large crowd and the race location (Atlantic Ave. & the boardwalk) had me PUMPED.
lil map from my garmin 😉
The first two miles in were GREAT. Not too much congestion- just some tired legs that haven’t moved enough in the past two weeks, but nothing to hinder my running!
After mile two, the race course had us turning from Atlantic Ave. up on to the boardwalk, and against the wind. I seriously felt as if I was running in slow motion, and suddenly I began to feel all the congestion in my chest. It was TIGHT. I imagined it was the same feeling that people with asthma get, and my breathing felt rattled. Not fun.
It was at mile three that I just wanted the race to be OVER. Maybe I pushed myself too hard after being sick- I probably should have just jogged in the back or walked with the walkers and had more fun, but I wanted the thrill of racing…I am extremely competitive when I run, but only with MYSELF. This time, however, my body wasn’t up for the test. I tried too hard when I wasn’t feelin’ it, and definitely made the race less enjoyable than it could have been.
Meh. I’m still learning. I’m still figuring out this whole racing business, and hopefully I’ll be good ‘n healthy at my next race and this will be a non issue. 😀
Either way, I didn’t do too bad! I have some stats from my garmin: mile 6 with a pace of 4:53 makes me giggle because I definitely pressed start in the car ride home by mistake…
(You can really see where I was strugglin’ during mile 3&4.. that wind was ROUGH.)
And my final Townebank 8k Results: 42:49. I came in 23rd in my division (women 20-24) out of 304 chickadeeees. I am super proud of my time, yet semi-disappointed in myself for not running a tad slower in my congested state. I think I could have been a much happier runner during the race, and instead I wanted to be a fast runner, whether that made me miserable or not.
Like I said, it’s a learning experience! Back to work, rainy Mondays make me happy that I work from home.
P.S. Would you believe me if I said that not only have I not taken even one SIP of diet soda since my decision to quit, but I haven’t even THOUGHT of the stuff? Danny has been teasing me about how long the cases of Diet Coke last, now that I’ve kicked my habit..
cupcakedynamite 
YOU GO, GIRL! I’m so proud. 😉 my running buddy sham-rocks!
YOUUUUU shamROCK! I am inspired by your awesome run- when I’m not coughy and when you’ve recovered….. RUNNING DATE
that is AWESOME!!! great times girl!
THANKS! Not bad for being sick, I pushed as hard as I coulllld!
Congrats girl! Hope you start feeling better 🙂
THANKS! I finally nabbed an antibiotic..so I should be back to normal SOON!
Amazing Job! Especially considering that you were sick! Too bad it wasn’t a 5k, you would’ve been done at mile 3! You rocked it anyway though 🙂
THANKS SO MUCH!! UGH. Trust me- that was my first thought at the third mile marker! This was my least favorite race by far- I will never run again while having bronchitis! eeeek
Awesome job! I really hope you’re feeling better though! And just so you know you ran that faster sick than I could have run it well=)
Hope you feel better soon! Can I ask what you do for work? As a Comm. major looking for a job right now, I’m finding that it’s a little overwhelming- I’d prefer to do something with writing, but I know that I could really go in any direction!
Definitely! It took me a GOOD amount of time to find a job in this field. If at all possible, try to take some time off from all other work to work solely on finding a job! It’s definitely overwhelming, and writing is my thing too! I work for a neurologist/author and write/design all his e-mails for marketing, plan events, & manage the twitter/facebook/any social media. I work from home which is pretty lucky, and wait tables to make some extra cash/get away from my computer and out of my house!
I would definitely look into any type of social media jobs because they are so up and coming! Good luck, let me know if you need any help!
Thank you so much! I have been looking into social media jobs, but I am realizing how much time job searching takes! I like your idea; if I don’t have a job before graduation I’m not going to sweat it- I’ll make job searching my full time job and find something that I’m interested in!