I have had the notion, in the past, that I could not have another 5k PR at the age of 62. My coach would not approve of this self deprecating statement! The truth is I have only hoped to get close once again to my last PR of 26:41 in August 2012, two years ago! I have not raced since last December 2013, 4 months ago, at the HoHoHo 5K race with a time of 27:59. Well, at my last race, Power of the Woman 5K, April 12th. I knocked my PR down to 26:33! I was a very happy runner.
Race
Report: Power of the Woman 5K. It was a very small race of only about 60 runners I was
pretty relaxed waiting to start....no competition around until another women
pointed out this grey haired lady, tiny and petite wearing shorts and a
tank...and the comment was: she looks like she's pretty speedy. I thought
uh oh...maybe she is in my AG. I took off and was still relaxed and went out at
what I realized when another asked if I knew the pace...7:45...I was whoaaa
that's crazy I'd better slow down...then realized after a mile that I was
running at about a 8:15 pace and wasn't in too much trouble breathing too heavy
etc After the 2nd mile it got harder and noticed it was slowing down
more....saw the finish line timer turn to 26 minutes and I was whoaaa...I'm
speedy....kept it up and finished at 26:33...my best PR ever!!
So, what have I learned from this race?
Do not consider your age as a determining factor
in how you will do every year at every race.
Do not believe that your race/running times will always diminish with every birthday.
Do set your expectations higher than you think;
what is the worst result? You achieve it next time!
Do believe that you can PR instead of cannot.
Now, I just have to remember my own good advice at my 10k race on Sunday.
I will be looking to beat 56:33.
Stay tuned for the next race report.
