10-26-19 Super Saturday

I did a 7:00 PM 5K race.  It was a Glow run and since it is sponsored by the Choctaw Nation we got a chip times event, certified course, and awesome tee shirts with no cost to registration. It was the same day as many of the Highschool State Cross Country meets and the highschool Cross Country kids are usually the only people within about two minutes of me at the race.  So...I thought it wouldn't be very competitive.  I ran with my daughters for the first half mile then could up to my brother just before the mile marker.  I was about 1 minute slower on the first mile that I am when I trying to PR, but thought with a little over two miles left I still might be able to win the race.  I so started passing people. At first it was easy but then the people in front of my started to be harder and harder to catch.  When I passed one of my former team mates from the Choctaw Trail of Tears run I asked him how many more people were in front of us.  I feared he would say ten, but he said two which gave me hope because we still hadn't hit the two mile make and I could see both of them.   I worked hard and pick off one then started to dial in on the leader, but feared that I would catch him and be so tired that I wouldn't be able to hold the lead.  So I tried to hold pass with him for a while with the hopes that he would slow down and I could make my move when I has a bit of recovery from my curge and he was dying from trying to hold me off.  When he never slowed down.  If anything he was speeding up.  After a bit of a breather I went into attack mode and tried to catch him but I kept going fast and the gap still stayed the same.  With about 1/4 mile to go I knew I had to make my move, but was already going as fast as I could...so I eased up to catch my breath again hoping to me able to make one more attack before the finish.  As I eased up the gap increased.  I was so far back when I went for my last attack that I knew I had zero chance of catching the lead.  I lost by 10 seconds.  I shouldn't have felt bad since the winning time more than a minute slower than what I do in most races, but it was the first 5K that I had run in Oklahoma since I moved back from Texas 5 years ago that I didn't win.  I was trying to not be so competitive and run with my daughters at the beginning of the race, etc.  It was great to see the race through their eyes at the beginning of the race an be in the middle of a big crowd.  That was probably the best part of the race but I still felt a little empty to know that I had been right on the tail of the winner for over a mile and wasn't able to beat him.  So...I need to practice losing more races so that I can enjoy running them with my daughters and not trying to win every race.  :-)