It's still a "V" for Victory

I'm decompressing from the weekend.

The huge weekend.

The weekend I thought would never come to fruition.

My first thoughts after awe that it actually happened...

...have been met with criticism.

Not from others, from myself.

I had two goals going into Saturday:

1) FINISH the race in under an hour.
                                           -did that
2)  NOT be the last person over the finish line.
                                            -did that

Why under an hour?  That seems like a LONG time, right?

Well, most fat-to-fit bloggers I read that run their first 5k race have completed it in anywhere from 52-58 minutes.  Their first-run weights were anywhere from 80 more than me to 30 pounds less.  So, I thought "If I can match their starting run times, then I know I'm in good company for going forward."

I started training.  By the week before the race, I was running about 2 miles (give or take depending on the day) and then walking the rest.  I didn't have an expectation of actually running the whole course, but I did expect to run more than I actually did.  I didn't expect to hit a mental wall at mile 2.5.  I didn't expect my feet to hurt so darn much.  I didn't expect to be so thirsty.  And I didn't expect that my adrenal function would have been ground down to a nub the week before the race (or that I would run out of thyroid meds the week before either).  I didn't plan on my anxiety issues to come back and rear their ugly heads.  I didn't plan on any of that.

But I still finished....in well under an hour....and certainly not last.

So, in spite of unexpected things, I still met my goals.

It's still a victory.

And now I have (one teeny tiny) experience card to play in my head as well.

MOVING FORWARD

Instead of all the "I should have's" or "I could have's", I'm going to celebrate the Victory I made on Saturday.  I finished in under an hour, and I wasn't last.

Now I know what to expect on race day and the week leading up to it.

I know how much its going to hurt, and I lived....so I can do it again.

And now I know to set my sights on a goal....and I know I can achieve it.

So, I'm tweeking my goal.

I'm tweeking my training.

And my next run is in September.