Once a sprinter…

…always a sprinter?

Me receiving the baton in a 4x100m relay in high school

Indeed, I began my running “career” as a sprinter and mid-distance runner. This is one reason I think I often have trouble with pacing. But I think any runner can get caught up in the excitement of the beginning of a race.

At the Run for the Door 5k last weekend, I definitely got over-zealous and thought I was super-Vanessa. I was hoping to run an even paced first mile at an average 7:30 min/mile pace, but instead I ran the first half mile at a sub-6 minute/mile pace. Instead of running negative splits as I intended, the first mile was the fastest (I totally wore myself out), the second mile was the slowest (I had to recover from the first mile), and the third mile I luckily had enough left to speed it back up again.

Despite going out a bit fast, I am still pleased with my performance. While I wasn’t aiming for a personal best this time, I was trying to improve upon my most recent race time  and run between 22 and 24 minutes. I did just that, crossing the finish line in 23 minutes. I was pleased to place 1st in my age group and 3rd among females.

On one hand, I regret not sticking to my guns and going out a bit slower, but on the other hand, this gives me hope for my races later in the summer (the Donor Dash and Human Race) where I plan to pace myself a bit better and run a personal best (under 21:18).

But until then, it’s on with the training plan!