World Master's 5,000 in the books!

Photo credit Tammy Stevenson

Oh my gosh, I won!  I can't believe it!  But I'll start back a bit....

Dave and I had a nice and uneventful flight to Malaga and got our luggage!  What a relief!  We made it to the hotel just fine and took a nap.  I know, you're not supposed to, but we were tired and wanted to be rested more than we wanted to get on the right time zone. 

We had a few days to goof around and get the lay of the land and get our credentials.  We found the Canadian race walkers who are always wonderful to hang out with.  We watched some races at the track and got excited.   I did a few easy sessions and by the day before the race I was moving decently well and thought cool, I can have some fun! 

As I posted on my FB page this has been a massive year.  I've raced three 50Ks, an 85K, a 300K stage race and a 100K race.  The 100K race was two weeks ago, so I am in no way fresh.  Especially since after the 100K I got sick and it just would not let go of me and hung around for just over a week. 

Photo Credit: Tammy Stevenson

As most athletes are I am a very competitive person.  I can smack talk a game of Yahtzee like nobody! ;)  But I went into coming to this race with the view of having fun.  I thought after the Isle Of Man I'd be pretty tired and didn't want to do anything to hurt myself, so I tried to take expectations away. 

And one thing I tried, and again I posted this on FB, was I raced in a crop top, something I've never done because of a poor body image.  For those of you who posted to my FB page in support THANK YOU!  It made me feel amazing!  I really, really appreciate it!  But I was going to the start line feeling more self conscious than I normally would. 

The Women's 35 and 40 were racing together, so there were a decent number of ladies on the start line.  I knew I wanted to get out quick to get out of the mess.  They lined us up and the gun went off and I went right to the front and.... they shot the gun again!  They called us back to the line!  I've never actually been in a race walking race what got recalled.  It felt kind of cool, like I was a sprinter or something.  It wasn't that anyone actually false started, there was a problem at the finish line.  So we all lined up again. 

The thought went through my mind, since I was getting a second chance to start a race, and who ever really gets that, of do I start off differently?  Did I hit it out too fast?  But I thought, nah, go with it!   So the gun went off again and I again went to the front.  I came through 200 in about :55, well faster than I knew I could do the whole race, but my plan was to go out, get out of the mess and then settle.  So I spent the next 200 or so gradually slowing the pace.  I fully expected that when I eased back I would get passed.  That was my expectation.  Imagine my surprise when that didn't happen!  I was actually a bit confused!  From 200 to 600 was around a 1:57, a pace I was much happier with, so I settled around in there or a bit slower.  Again no one was passing me!  And it sounded like the breathing of the ladies behind me was a bit labored.  At that point my breathing wasn't hard at all.  And they were taking water early, something I didn't do until around 7 laps in.

I decided to just keep pushing.  The American age group record for 3,000 was 15:11, something I thought I could break on the way, so I pushed a bit for that.  I was satisfied to come through in 14:52!  After that I slowed a bit, to around 5:08 per K to finish in 25:08.  I kept expecting people to catch me.  I even mouthed over to Dave to tell me how far back second was.  When he told me 50 meters I was quite surprised.  So I finished comfortable.  I could've pushed harder and broken 25, which would've been nice, but I didn't really see a point.  I was comfortable in 1st and there's still the 10K and 20ks to go.  There are more women racing in the 10Ks too, so there will be more competition which will be fun!

Photo Credit: Tammy Stevenson 

Once the gun went off I didn't think about my top at all, it was quite comfortable.  So yay! 

I was asked if I did well because I took the pressure off myself.  I honestly think the answer to that is no.  Because even if I'd wanted to win I probably would've gone out the same pace and the result probably would've been identical.  I just went to walk my race and I did and on that day I came across the line first. 

Photo Credit:  Dave Talcott

Now we'll go spend a few days in Morocco and then come back for the 10K.  I have no idea if I'll be able to do any workouts while I'm there, so that should be interesting preparation for the 10K.  But I still hold true to my thoughts that I'm here to have fun and just enjoy myself. 

Happy training everyone!