Since hubby and I started doing races, the kids have tagged along for a few events. I’m not sure what it was about these events, but both of our kids have expressed a strong interest in doing a race. Who are we to say no?
This was the perfect opportunity for them to try out a race, so I signed all of us up. Hubby and I did the 5k that started at 8:30, and we got back in time to get the kids lined up for their Fun Run at 9:15. My mom loves coming to these events with us too, so she hangs out with the kids while we do our race.
I made a big boo-boo before this race.
After dealing with some digestive issues again, I decided to do some more intermittent fasting two days before the race. My gut immediately felt better, but I had significantly decreased my caloric intake from what my body was used to getting. I was hungry the night before (even after dinner), but I pushed through like I have done so many times in the past. Just one day of the intermittent fasting and decreased caloric intake would have been fine…but I ended up doing it TWO days before the race. Insert face-palm here.
Come 3am, and I wake up…excruciatingly hungry. I got up to use the bathroom and drink some water, then it took another two hours to fall back asleep. I woke up around 6:20 and laid in bed like a zombie. I got up and ate a Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Bar and an apple, along with some more water. While we were on our way to the race, I could feel that I didn’t get enough to eat and started to worry about crashing. When we parked, I drank half a protein shake just to get some calories in my system before getting started. Compared to how I normally feel before a race, I did not feel strong.
Don’t push too hard. Don’t worry about your times in this race, just keep that steady pace and jog the whole way.
There’s that inner voice, guiding me. My stubborn competitiveness was now arguing with her because I have wanted to keep improving my race pace at every event. I knew there was a strong possibility that I wouldn’t be able to improve this time around because of my lack of pre-fueling error.
Note to self: don’t deplete yourself of calories before a race. Come on now, you know better than that. Don’t do that crap again. But for today, just do your best and keep going. You learned from this experience, so don’t dwell on it. You’ve got this!
In all honesty, the reason I did intermittent fasting so close to the race was because I had been OVER-eating and my digestive system was paying the price. I’m really, really bad about eating when I’m not hungry and eating too much, which leads to digestive issues when it goes on for too long. My daily fasts range from 13-15 hours per day, and that seems to be the sweet spot for a regular basis. If I overeat one day, a longer fast to reset my gut the following day does the trick.
My problem with over eating is that I constantly find myself rummaging for food when I’m not hungry. Even though I’m eating healthy food, it’s still too much for my system to handle when I overdo it…and I end up eating 5-6 times a day when I’m NOT hungry. It’s called Food Addiction, and I most definitely have a problem.
Even though I wasn’t feeling my best, I was excited for this race. Not only were my kids doing their first race, but it was a Halloween Race and there were a lot of people dressed up. I decided to dress up as Mrs. Incredible for this event, because it was easy to get creative with this costume and perfect to run a race. It’s not every day you can wear underwear OUTSIDE your clothes and not get judged too terribly. I’ll take it. My husband claimed he was dressed up as a runner, which sounds about right. He saves the good costumes for actual Halloween when he’s not shooting for a personal best time.
Some of these races we participate in have a chip timer for both start and finish, whereas other races only have the chip timer for crossing the finish line. I saw that this race only had the chip activation for the finish line, so I made my way to the front. I learned the hard way that if you’re in the far back of a race when the timer goes off, you definitely get cheated out of seconds on your time. I ain’t doing that again!! Although I’m not fast, I lined up to the far edge close to the front. This way, I’m not blocking the faster runners when they take off.
I remember watching the tortoise and the hare as a kid. Back then, it made absolutely NO sense to me how a turtle could in any way beat a rabbit in a race. These days, I completely understand the concept. Now that I have set a steady pace for myself, I have noticed how a lot of people start out hot, running fast, then end up wearing themselves out and I eventually pass them on the course. This race was no exception, so my turtle self just kept moving forward.
You’re a ninja turtle, remember??
Ahh, yes. That’s right. Maybe that should be my costume for next year! I have already started looking at Ninja Turtle t-shirts for next year’s costume, because I’m a neurotic planner.
My energy levels definitely paid the price of not fueling enough for this race. Although I felt decent after, there were no spurts of energy and I didn’t improve my race pace…in face, it was 1 second slower per mile. Another life lesson in the books that has slapped me in the face.
As far as my family, they killed it!! Hubby improved his race pace and reached a sub-9 minute mile and was super pleased. Little guy was a little worn out since he busted out with a sprint for his fun run, but my favorite story about about our girl. I told her before the race, “Start out easy, and keep a steady pace so you don’t burn out before the finish line.” She said, “Oh yeah, I plan on it. I want to sprint at the end!” That’s my girl.
Hubby and Grammy took the kids to the start line, while I stayed at the finish line ready to take some video. I wasn’t surprised when I saw little guy in second place running to the finish line…but what I wasn’t expecting was for his big sister to come blowing past him in the end, and she took second place!!
As we were leaving, the kids talked about how much fun they had, and wanted to sign up for the Santa run in December. It’s on the list.
MY TIMES
Total Time: 33:46
Pace Per Mile: 10:53
Division Place: 6/13
Gender Place: 47/81
Overall Place: 100/200
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