First Race Jitters

Do you remember your first race? The anticipation of the start, camaraderie of those around you, the training, the planning all of it?

Here is the big question. Did you have a time goal? Most people when doing something new are just happy to do it. I venture out a little further. I like to challenge myself. Not just do something, do it well. Not that I achieve all that I set out to do. It is said that anything worth doing is worth doing badly!

My first race was the 2008 Classic Mile in Cambridge. It was a 5km race and I was under prepared as I had only been running for 6 weeks. Regardless, out I went gung-ho with no idea what to expect. With a time of 31:50 I was happy to have crossed the line as the hills of West Galt proved to be too much for me causing plenty of walking over the last 2km. To hard at the wrong time, a rookie mistake.

That being said I learned from my mistakes and trained plenty. A year later I broke 25 minutes, and another year I broke 23 minutes. Next plan is to break 20!

We can't expect to know everything going in to that first race but that doesn't mean we can treat it like just another training run. Do a little research, know your limits and then push just past them.