If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
I'll be trying again this Sunday at the Payton Jordan meet at Stanford, running my 2nd 10k of the month. Earlier in April I ran a 33:16, eclipsing the Olympic Trials B Standard by 44 seconds and running a huge PR. While in years past, this time would have been fast enough to get me to the Olympic Trials (or US Championships in a non-Olympic year), in 2012 I'm not sure it'll be enough. Ladies have upped their game and it will likely take a sub-33 minute 10k to earn a spot on the line in Eugene in 2 months. So, I'm giving it another go this weekend.
While watching my latest addiction, Downton Abbey, I heard this one-liner: "You don't always hit the bullseye with the first arrow." True story! Realistically, I wasn't going to run the A Standard of 32:45 on my first attempt - that would have meant running a PR by over a minute! For my first 10k of the season, I simply needed a strong race that would build my confidence. Now, with 33:16 under my belt, I've realigned my goals and expectations and am going after that A Standard bullseye.
There's a strong field assembled for Sunday's race - many women will be chasing the A Standard right along with me. I was excited to look at the entries and see the names of so many friends and teammates - we'll work together through those 25 laps.
Not gonna lie, 32:45 scares me a little bit, especially because in the last 3 weeks I've had a LOT going on at work: planning and
coordinating a big fundraiser for 150 people at a Victorian mansion! But I'm trying not to stress about chasing the A Standard and instead focus on being a competitive racer.
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| At SNBC's Sunset Soiree fundraiser last week |
With many long work hours and late nights, recent training hasn't gone as well as I'd hoped - I've been pretty wiped. But, that's the nature of being a working runner. Those of us without individual contracts support our running dreams with side jobs, fitting in our training between work hours. It's the reality of many of us who will be racing on Sunday, so I'm not going to let the stress from recent weeks discourage me from chasing my goals.
On race day, work will be far from my mind and I'll be focused on that bullseye. Here we go! Tune into Flotrack on Sunday for race coverage!
