I set up a 5K course using the GMaps Pedometer around my 'hood. My final time was 23:59 giving me an average below 8min/mile. I walked for 45 seconds after what I thought was mile 2. I set it up so I could have a good measure of my mile for mile time. I was shooting to run the miles in 6min, 7min and finally 8min for an overall time of 21min. 21 is my goal time for the next 5K I do.
Where I went wrong was using the wrong signs for my markers. My first mile was measured too short and my second mile was almost a half mile too long. I killed myself on the second mile, I kept checking my watch and saying 'im not going to make it, Im not going to make it' so I pushed faster. In reality I ran my second mile under 6min, but the pace I was running and the extra almost half mile I ran just took everything out of me. I had to walk for a bit.
I was so mad at myself because as I was walking I knew I screwed up. I knew that I had started to push too soon and was on it for too long. When you get so set on a goal and totally miss it there is a lot of mental work that needs to happen to get back in the stream. My last ~mile was very good. Just a nice easy pace that I knew would keep me under 24 min and I hit it bang on.
Its hard to work through those mental blows. Especially when youre tired and still quite a ways from home and the only thing to do is run. And thats the lesson here, just keep on running. No matter what happens or how badly things have gone you just need to keep pushing forward. Left foot, right foot. Left foot, right foot. Because its when you stop, thats when youve given up and have doomed youself to failure.
Sure, sub-24 minutes wasnt my original plan, but when things feel apart I made a new plan and stuck to it. When in doubt, keep running.
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