Tangent Tuesday: Meeting My Goals

The week of the 5k started out just as badly as it possibly could—with me sick and unable to talk or breathe well. I forced myself to lower my expectations and kept telling myself "just do your best!" Inside, I always wanted to hit my three goals, but I began to realize they were less and less likely. Add a stressful semester and limited time to train to a massive head cold, and that's hardly a recipe for a personal best run.

But I still woke up that morning, ate my best "running" breakfast, dressed in my favorite outfit, and headed out to the starting line ready to race. I stood next to my sister and her friend—who talked about running a sub 20:00 race and starting out at 6:30 pace. Not happening! I knew I had to let them go out and start conservatively.

Personal photo. Me with my two sisters after the race.

Conservatively for me turned out to be a 7:18 first mile, which was perfect for this race under these conditions. At this point I estimate that there were about ten girls in front of me. The second mile contained the largest hill—but I powered through it with a second mile time of 6:58 and passed four or five girls, including my sister's friend. I yelled encouragement at her and started the third mile.

Ouch. This one hurt. I rounded the corner to last big stretch and my grandpa shouted "You're in fourth!" Knowing I was so close to my "A" Goal, I tried to push it. However, there were winds gusting up to 25mph and a full half mile of the section was directly into the wind. Finally, with less than a half mile to go, I passed the third place girl and settled in about ten yards behind the second place girl.

I tried to kick, but it just wasn't there. Finally I could see the clock ticking closer and closer to 22:00 and finished strong, just ten steps behind the second place girl for a time of 21:53! I was absolutely thrilled. I had no regrets in this race—I ran the best race I could, met all my goals, and set myself up for success in the future!

Personal photo. First, second, and third place girls overall. My sister took first!

So what do you do when you run your best possible race and meet all your goals? Set new goals of course!