Post-Race Analysis, or What Were You Thinking?

First the hard numbers:
Age group: 13/18
Gender (M): 93/150
Overall: 141/295

So, I place in the bottom third for my age group, just out of the bottom third for my gender, and the top half overall. Hmmm, I can't keep up with most of the guys my own age; I can't keep up with most of the guys period, and I beat a bunch of girls (and plenty of them beat me!).

I feel pretty good about myself!

I actually do feel great about this race. As you all know, I haven't been training at the fastest times lately; in fact, I've been sloggin' it out in the heat and just going slow. So, it was refreshing to run at that 10 min/mile pace and maintain it for 5 miles.

Ok, not refreshing, but encouraging. I'm really glad that I ran last night and am looking forward to getting with Coach K's program. See, I saw the results of my training in the race.

I saw my fartlek training kick in at the very end as I sprinted to the finish line. That made the difference between making my <50 min goal and missing it.

I saw my strength training pull me up those hills. I took a look at my graphs from my Garmin, and my pace was steady no matter what the terrain was doing.

I saw my heat training sustain me through a very hot (high 80's/low 90's) run. Thankfully, there was some wind, and I took two waters at every station - one for drinking, the other for dumping on my head.

I saw my race discipline training pay dividends in setting my pace and maintaining it in the early miles. Yes, I got passed by a bunch of people at the start (so many that I was tempted to look behind me to see if I was the last one!), but it wasn't very long before I saw them again. After I passed them, I usually didn't see them again.

And finally, I saw my endurance training pay off in not quitting, even though I wanted to. When I see people walking, I want to walk. I hate that about myself, and I'm not sure why it is, but, it is. But I resisted the urge to walk, so yay on me for not quitting on myself (sarcasm implied.)

What I need to think when I see a walker is: There's another person behind me, I might just win this thing!!!