Month of Racing: 3rd Weekend Update!

After racing last weekend in Virginia I spent the week in New York with my parents, sister, and Ryan. I had some great runs on Staten Island while we were there and of course enjoyed all of the Holiday festivities that the City had to offer.

Inside Radio City Music Hall seeing the Rockette's Christmas Spectacular with Ryan & My Family

Then we flew back to Denton on Friday and drove to a race Saturday morning in Arlington, Texas. The Don Zetnick Winter Run 10k was my first 10k since July. My goal was to break 36:30 after running 17:37 in the 5k in Virginia last weekend. I felt great running splits of 5:37, 5:39, 5:45, 6:01, 6:07, 5:56 (closed 5:26 pace) and finishing in 36:18. The 2nd mile of the race reminded me of the Jingle Bell 5k I did in Dallas 2 weeks ago. The whole mile we kept going down a slight decline and although I felt great I knew in the back of my mind that I would be climbing back up this for mile 5. So I was actually pleased with my mile 5 split since so much of it was up hill.

The 10k & 2 Mile Start

(The woman with the stroller is in the 2Mile/ had to clarify after some Facebook teasing on this photo)

Same with the young man in this photo (The 10k & 2 Mile shared a start & finish) My athletes teased me about this photo on Twitter

Running hard the last half mile

Side View

The finish

After enjoying meeting so many individuals at the Carrollton Runners Club Prediction 5k two weeks ago I went Sunday morning to their Monthly 5k & Mile runs for a workout. I got in a solid effort running 5:41, 5:48, 5:45 on my Garmin for an official 18:18 5k. More importantly I had fun visiting with the other runners there. I met another individual who loves Saucony (just like one of the sponsors I met at Saturday's race) and it turns out she was at the Arlington race as well and raced the 2 Mile there. I always enjoy hearing more about other's goals and it was fun chatting with several individuals who like myself are getting back into shape and have some fun goals set for this spring.

So far this month of racing has gone really well especially in regards to what I was hoping to gain from it besides just fitness. It has given me confidence of what I can accomplish next year as I lay out an actual training plan. If I can run these times off just running 30-40 miles a week I know that I am still capable of accomplishing so much more when I add in specific workouts and higher mileage. 

This month has also reminded me that at my core I LOVE competing.

I already knew without a doubt that I love competition. After all that is a key part of coaching and I have never been happier than I was this fall training and coaching my athletes through a whole season of competition especially the championship portion of the season. This month of my own racing just reminded me that I still enjoy competing myself and competing will be that much more fun when I have been training hard for it. This spring will still be a test of balancing. As my own training and racing will continue to be a side note of my coaching, but I know that it invigorates me and makes me a better coach when I am still pushing myself physically to be the best athlete I can be. I still think I can learn more from training and racing myself that I can then use to help make my athletes better. So well my body is still able and my mind is still willing I am going to devise a smart schedule and get in some morning training sessions and some Sunday races this spring. 

Next stop for the 4th weekend of my month of racing is Austin, Texas: Sunday January 5th.