Owning My Slowness

So this week we had our first group run for the Richmond Marathon Training Team.  I joined the intermediate group so that I would have enough long runs in before the Marine Corps Marathon.  The decision to run the Richmond Marathon will be done at the Richmond Expo.  This training team has three sets of groups, one at 7 AM on Saturdays, one at 7:30 on Saturdays, and one group that meets on Sundays.  But for the first week both Saturday groups met up at the same time.  We had the coaches talk to us on what to expect and things that are going on.  Then everyone ran at the same time.  I was the last to finish out of everyone.  It was a bit humbling to say the least.

The White Lightning Team

I did sign up for the 7 AM Saturday group as I do know how slow I am.  At least I would have a 30 minute buffer on some runners.  I was at the back of the pack for most of the run.  The only other runner in site was a 70 year old man.  We would tag team and chat a little and he would stop to stretch, find a water fountain, or something else and then catch up.  He ended up going ahead of me in the last mile and I was the last runner in.  Though, I did stop to take a photo with a police officer I found at the very last bit of the run for #runchathunt.

I found that run a little hard.  I did get dry needling done the day before (which always makes something hurt).  I was trying to run via heart rate, which is steady till I hit the hills, and there were very little hills on this run. I did feel a bit defeated being the last one which didn't help my mood to finish.  But those are all excuses.

I need to own my slowness.  I need to be proud of what I can accomplish. I need to not compare myself to others.  I shouldn't even compare myself to my past running as things have changed since (though that is one of the hardest things to do).  The only thing I need to care about is to make sure that I can "Beat the Bridge" at the MCM.

I am a slow runner and I am proud of what I can do.