Rattle Me Bones

The result:

5K ran in 38:16 (not a PB, but a PB in chip-timed races!)

Lessons learned:

• Today, I understood what « Plan the race, race the plan » meant
• I left my ego at home and ran 3:1s, because I felt it was my best option, given the tightness of my legs. This paid off in a PB for this year!
• Worrying about the weather forecast does no good – we runners have good karma and we should believe in it more!

Inspiration:

• At one point, I started thinking about the banner Msdesigner1 made for NCM, and the one phrase I remembered from it was “Remember when you couldn’t?”. This brought tears to my eyes. It’s OK to cry during a race!
• When I was becoming a wimp and felt like I couldn’t go on, I wondered which Maniac would never give up and thought about Kiza for inspiration
• It was great to see Brian pacing Stephanie for her first race!
• In the song “Reason to Believe” by Dashboard Confessional, it says “I have reason to believe that i have victories to taste, I can feel them on my teeth, upon my lips and in my chest, I can roll them on my tongue, they are more subtle than defeat, I feel the tension in my lungs and every move is filled by my resolve to breathe” – sang that part out loud

Being thankful:

• Never underestimate the power of a positive attitude: thanking volunteers and people who cheered on me raised my spirits during my race
• I said a grateful prayer when all of a sudden, there was a ray of sun to heat my face and the wind was at my back to give me more power

Love and friendship:

• It’s great when your other half enjoys running as much as you do. It makes for lively conversations in the car on the way back home!
• Apparently, some people have sent me good vibes during my race. I felt it and they definitely made all the difference!
  
• For the first time, I felt like I really belonged to the running community, and to Running Mania. Thank you Maniacs for being my friends and supporting me in my endeavours!

Today wasn't supposed to be a great day, but I made it one and I'm very happy about it! :D