I made the decision a long time ago in my life that I love to compete but am not that competitive. I really like playing games and sports but if I dont win I really dont get that upset. This has carried me from the end of high school and I'm not sure if I see, or want, any change of that.
I like competing because it gives me a goal to strive for, a place to plan and a future even to look at. I dont take it too seriously, though. I set reasonable goals for myself, sometimes too reasonable, and take it from there. Doing so allows me to reach those goals without killing myself, staying fit and healthy without being a crazy person and have a good time while I'm doing it. I always figured if I pushed too hard or expected too much from myself that it would become a job and I would lose interest in it and ultimately lose the drive to keep pushing. I dont want that, I want to run and enjoy it, for the sake of running and for the fitness aspect.
So I run competitive races for the event shirts. I do like the idea of really training hard and pushing to the front of the pack, running up against the big guns in the twin cities and pushing my body further. But in the end I always choose to run with my friends, at a pace we can enjoy, and having a good time in the early morning. I dont know that I could ever be a 1st place kind of guy, I mean in any race that draws a crowd, and Im not sure I want that level of stress. I have never wanted running to be stressful, I dont need piles of data to keep track of and I dont want to look at my next event and dread the thought of doing it.
On Saturday the 4/09 I ran the CampWannaRunaMileorMore 10K in White Bear Lake. This was the second year I chose this even as my first of the year. Mostly because its in the center of the known universe and because the course is beautiful. The run takes one lap of Bald Eagle Lake starting and ending in a park. The crowd is small and the shirt is a really good quality running shirt, one of those sweat wicking types. If I had planned to run it a few months ago the entry fee would have been just $20, which is very reasonable, but because I signed up last minute it was $35 (still a good price) Last year I came in 3rd overall and 1st in my age group, there were only 40 people in the race however, so it wasnt that much of an accomplishment. This year there were just shy of 200 men and women and I finished 15th overall, 7th in men and 3rd in my age group. Nothing too special there and my time was 3 minutes slower than last year with a 51.08.
I had a great race, personally. The temp at the start was 60 degrees, the route was beautiful and I got to run with my friend Laura almost the whole time. I did scoot a bit faster for the last mile and a half (like I usually do) but overall the race was great and Im glad I did it. I think had I tried to run with the elite guys I would have found myself overly tired, still not up front of the pack and not able to enjoy the rest of my day, or weekend. Forever I will run for fun, fitness, the wonder of the course, set reasonable goals and most importantly for the t-shirt.
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