Well the sky is all blue and very sunshine which are perfect for my virtual race theme of 5k, It’s my first time using it which is nice with being flexible schedule with my crazy busy schedule with my rehearsals going on my performance in Maryland.
Where did I found that information and you can go to “Gone For A Run” .(Click here if you are interested.) I decided to do running at Schooley Mill Park where they have a lot of horses with a lot of shadows and green views there in Olney, Maryland.
It was beautiful morning and it was in the low 70’s and a nice breeze. Perfect running conditions in my opinion! It was somewhat of a relief to have that pressure off. Perfect for my theme of ‘Running is my Sunshine’. As I pushed my watch to start as my watch vibe to say “GO!”.
The first half mile I felt great. I ran along singing in my head from my performance of “The Music Man”, no lie, my favorite theme song is “Stubborn Iowa”. It go like “We are Iowa Stubborn!!!!!” that pushes me with my running pace.
Mile 1: 14:47
“Come on Nicki, be Iowa stubborn runner!” Gah gotta love it in my head. Speaking of which am I the only mom who wakes up in the morning singing ‘The Music Man’? I had a nice, steady pace.
Mile 2: 14:30
My hamstrings are burning from my long hours for two days in a row of dancing for ‘The Music Man’ rehearsal. Note to self: you CHOICE to be actress for a musical theatre, how about running on it more often? This has got to be some sort of great resistance training!!!!
Somewhere around mile 2.6 I started having a coughing attack, out of blue! My lungs cooperated and I thought I could manage it well. My breathing was off, my focus was off, even my attempt to get ‘Iowa stubborn’ back in my head didn’t work. And here came the evil voice in my head saying ‘just walk for a minute, catch you breath, you’ll be fine, you aren’t competing”. NO NO NO!!! Go away voices!!! At mile 2.9, my legs just…..stopped. WHAT HAPPENED? No, no no no.
Yep, I admit I did stopped and walk to caught my breath…..
Finish/clock/chip time from my garmin watch 44 minutes 20 second. I’LL TAKE IT! And, it was good enough to earn me medal and preparing my next virtual race which will be 10K in four weeks!
I learned a very valuable lesson. There really IS something to be said about pacing yourself from the start! (I can hear in my head the collective groans of ‘your in trouble!’) I will work on that…..
