A Win is a Win?

Expectations, time, and change. Work and reward, balance.

A well deserved break, if I do say so myself, saw ten days of my favourite activities. Time with the kids, great food, nice wine, cake, and some gym sessions with a bit, but not a lot, of running.

On one stop in the Bahamas, the cruise company organises a 5k run. More along the lines of a park run than a full race, no chip time, and in the spirit of fun. 33 degrees celceius is not quite what I would be used to at 9am. My first 'race' since sub three at Dublin last year, still a bit nervous at the line. 'GO' and we were off. Difficult to judge the other runners gathered around, second place for the first half mile behind an overly exuberant teenager, finding myself leading to the finish after that, in an extremely modest 19:20. But 'a win is a win', kind of.

Back to the more familiar climate of home, with three weekends left to Berlin. Despite getting off an overnight flight on Sunday, I managed a 10 mile run. It went well enough, although I definitely noticed the extra found from unlimited food of holidays.

I had signed up for the Dublin race series 10 mile a few weeks ago. Knowing how far away from last years fitness I am, I planned a 'conservative' 6:50 pace for the 10 miles. The familiar crowd at the start line were like old friends I had missed for many months, with a few notable missing comrades.
Positioning too far forward, smiling to myself that I would be one of those I would often complain about in races gone by, who caused an obstruction and should have know their place.

At the off, the first two miles were too fast, but perceived to be comfortable at 6:30 exactly. The brain knew it was too fast, mile three 6:36, and I knew I would not last and got some sense finally and slowed towards a more comfortable pace of 6:45. From 5 miles the effort was tough and at times I wondered if I would have to stop, but I persevered until I couldn't, which thankfully never came.
As always I had no sprint finish and when I was on the final stretch I was satisfied with the clock just ticking over the 1:07 to finish at 1:07:04. But I was spent. The tought crossed my mind as I looked at the 6:42 average pace, how the hell did I managed just a few seconds slower for 26.2 miles just a year ago?

The calculators say that I should be capable of a 3:06 with that 10 mile benchmark time, but this is where the experience of the human knows better. With no run longer than 16 miles, and no particularly high mileage, I am still thinking anything under 3:30 would be optimistic. But like today, that would be a 'good result'. It's great to want to improve, compete, do well, but if those are not options, then feck it, I might as well just enjoy it!