Looking back at my first race on May 13th, I can tell you that nothing about it was what I expected. Before I get into it let me share some background on my race. To start, this was my first race I have ever done. When choosing a race, I specifically signed up for the 10k because I wanted the extra challenge. I raced in NYC Run’s “Summer Loving” 10k on Governor’s Island. The course was pretty flat and had awesome views of downtown Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. We ran around Governor’s Island twice to hit the 6.2 mile distance. In this post I will be sharing with you what my training looked like, what I learned from this race, and my experience of racing for the first time.
My training:
When I signed up for the race I just started running. I got the “running bug” right after my first run in a long time. I signed up for the race 6 weeks out. I knew 6 weeks wasn’t a lot of time to prepare, especially with just getting into the sport, so I gave that 6 weeks my all. My coach had me on a 5 day program. I strength trained twice a week, I ran twice a week, and I cross trained on the assault bike once a week. During this build up I was dealing with a flare up in my big toe so we had to keep the mileage super low. The first time I actually ran 6.2 miles straight was the race. In the short amount of time that I had to physically prepare I also had to figure out smaller things that worked best for me. Two things that play a huge role into the sport is your mindset and nutrition. In this training block I had to figure out what food and how much was best for me pre run, post run, and the dinner before. I also had to figure out what positive affirmations help me stay mentally strong and what I like to listen to while running. It was super fun trying new things and learning what worked best for me. For this training cycle I ended up finding that a small bowl of cereal worked well pre run, nothing super heavy post run, and I liked listening to upbeat Christian pop music while doing more tempo work and worship music on easy runs. Looking back at that cycle I am really proud of what I was able to accomplish in a short amount of time, but if I were to tell my past self advice it would be to manage my expectations. This leads me into what I want to share about what I learned from this race.
What I learned:
Like I said at the beginning of the blog post, nothing about the race was what I expected. To start I wasn’t expecting to be in as much pain as I was in. I definitely started out too fast. The combination of the adrenaline of racing plus having too high of expectations for my paces led me to blow up halfway through the race. I did have a goal of hitting sub 50 so I wanted to take the risk and push myself, but now looking back that goal was a little out of reach for me at the time. I also learned to leave my ego at home. I remember someone asked me the week of my race if I was planning on stopping for water at the hydration stations and if I was planning on walking any of it. I remember answering very confidently no to both of the questions because I haven’t needed water or to stop in any of my training sessions. Well race day comes and it was the most humid and hot I ever ran in. After running the first mile I learned real quickly that I was going to need to stop for hydration or I wasn’t going to finish the race. I also remember at 4.5 miles in that I needed to stop for a minute to walk and catch my breath or I also wasn’t going to finish. It bothered me so much in the moment because it felt like I failed. I remember negative and prideful thoughts roaming through my mind. “What are you doing?” “You are fit enough to run 6.2 miles without walking.” It was a huge wake up call to me that running is super challenging, even if you start with a solid aerobic base. I remember I had the thought of “I never want to do this again” while I was running. I had that thought but my heart knew it wasn’t true. Looking back I am happy both of these things happened because it has helped me become a smarter and more humble athlete and I know it will help me race smarter in future races. Lastly, another big surprise for me was how I strongly disliked listening to music while racing. I remember talking with one of my good friends about what she listens to while racing. When I asked her what she did she responded that she doesn’t listen to anything. That in a race environment music is more of a distraction. I remember being really surprised by her response because when I ran in my sessions music kept me motivated and would help distract me from the difficulty of the sessions. Well again my expectations of what I thought I would like were wrong and listening to music for racing is not for me. It was very distracting and with already having enough adrenaline from the excitement and nerves of racing, I felt like I couldn’t focus and coach myself through the race. The next race I am running I am definitely trying to race without music and see how I do!
My experience:
I’m going to start by stating that this is my experience. I’m not saying this is how it is for everyone’s for first race, but this is what happened to me. The common theme I feel God taught me was expectations. Since this was my first race, I had no idea what to expect. So as many of us now do we turn to Instagram or YouTube to do research and see what other’s experiences were so we have somewhat of an idea of what to expect. This can be a good thing so you aren’t going in to whatever you are doing for the first time completely blind, however I think it can become a very detrimental thing. It can become very easy to look at other people’s experiences and think that is how it is going to be for me and that is how I am going to feel before, during, and at the end of the race. So over the six weeks of my training I was looking at other people’s highlight reels and just assuming that I would have a similar experience. To go a little deeper of what I am talking about, I had the expectation that race day was going to be this big deal. Both the race itself and celebrating after. I thought I was going to feel a lot different racing than I did, love racing more than I did, and celebrating was going to feel more grand than what it did. Pretty much I fell into the trap of building the day up in my head. Again, it was hard to live this out because of the disappointment I felt, but I know that experience has prepared me for races in the future. Personally, I think it is healthier for me not to put so much emphasis on one day. Instead looking at it as a day to test my fitness. Sure, there may be other races in the future that may give me different feelings. But I have now accepted that races may be different for me than others and that is okay. I would much rather love the build up than the race itself, because I am spending more time training for the race. As they say, “It’s about what you learn and how you transform on the journey rather than reaching the destination.”
I hope giving insight on my first race will help you in any way. I would say my first race was a hard day and with those hard days it’s easy to walk away feeling defeated. However, if we allow ourselves to learn from our mistakes we can gain so much from our failures. My biggest advice for anyone doing their first race or starting something new in general is to manage your expectations by setting realistic goals for yourself and to protect your mind by what you consume online. I tend to get very excited and tunnel visioned on my goals, but at times it can lead me to setting the bar too high for the time span I have for those goals. Goals are great but what I am learning is to work hard towards my goals while letting my hands be open and have the heart posture of humility as my plans are not always His plans. I know that can be hard to swallow sometimes, but because God is a good God who loves us and is only good we can live with the confident hope that Paul writes in Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”
-Shara