Another 5k and some decisions to make

A close call in the pool this week: I was the only one swimming in our community lap pool when a huge swarm of BEES came. I am super allergic to bee stings but I had no idea they were swarming above me until the Gym manager came out and yelled at me to get out. Luckily I was wearing my Splish Wonderwoman swim suit and was able to make it to the locker room in a flash :-)




Saturday morning was the 4th in the AZ road racers 5k summer series. We missed #3 because we were on vacation. I don't know if we could have ben less prepared for this race! The hubby and I have not been consistent at all with running this summer. I took a good 2 weeks off after the last 5k because my knee was bugging me, then we went on vacation which included a lot of walking, sitting and eating, but no running. I did a track session on wednesday and was sore before I even went to bed that night (my body didn't even wait for DOMS) and I have been nursing a nasty chest cold ever since I got back to Phoenix (or it could be from all the dust here?). In any case, armed withour list of excuses as to how this was going to suck, we left the house bright and early with 2 sleepy boys in tow. We drove over to Kiwanis Park in Tempe and my spirits were immediately lifted by this great location and the 1000 other runners who were there. It is awesome that so many turnout to run in the summer heat! We were to start on a canal path so they requested that we seed ourself into waves. The 6 min pace group were to go first, then the 7 min, and so on. Hubby lined up near the front and I hung back. I decided to go at the end of the 6 min group which turned out to be good because I was always around people but never over crowded. We turned off the canal path and into the park for a loop, it was a nice course. It would have been a good PR course because it was flat and it wasn't too hot out, however this was not a PR day for me. My first mile of 6:10 was way too fast even though I felt good. You see this is where you find out you have no endurance when the next 2 miles feel like hell. But 5ks hurt and I was in the pain cave. At least they are short! I finished in 20:45 which was OK. Good enough for 3rd in my AG. I was expecting to be over 21 so I'll take it. JT ran a 19:01.



I have been thinking a lot lately about what I am going to do next in terms of training/racing. It's like I have a split personality right now. The first "me" wants to have no goals, no plan, just go with it and have fun. The other "me" wants to pick a race and train for it. Some of my friends are racing the Soma HIM here in October and it's been on my mind. It's a fast, flat course close to home and I would get to race with my buddies but I have done Soma twice, and many other races on parts of that course, and I'm not sure I want to do it again. There's Pumpkinman in Nevada around the same time which offers a completely different 70.3 experience (hilly and tough). Then there's my body: I am honestly not sure if my body can hold up to the training for a HIM. I lost a lot of confidence in myself over the past 2 years due to illness and injury. My problem is that my motivation is there but the reality is that I have bad knees. Of course, I could look at that as a challenge rather than be down about it. I could experiment to see how well I can do at the 70.3 distance on less training, not under train but train differently?
So, all this is mulling in my head. The first option (training for fun, no goals) is appealing but I also know deep down that it is the easy way out. I can't be let down if I don't put myself out there? I am reminded of this quote “You have to go in, commit 100%, be totally passionate and risk it not working out” (Mark Allen, I think).
I have to make up my mind pretty quick if I am going to train for a fall HIM. Today's 5k was a good reminder that I have a long ways to go to get my fitness back.