Rumpshaker

I have to say that I am so proud for 3 of my friends that have signed up to do their FIRST 5K with me at Rumpshaker! We didn't have enough people for a team, but that doesn't matter in the end. Those that will be joining me are Lauren (friend and coworker), Kathryn (Matt's sister) and Amy (running/walking buddy with who/whom? I have standing Sunday morning 'date'). It took a lot of courage for these ladies to sign up and I look forward to cheering them on in the days leading up to and on race day! Today I caught Lauren (friend/coworker) looking up 2009 results from the race and she was relieved to know she wouldn't be last!

I find it interesting, but also relate to, that the fear of "being last" can keep us from going into unknown territory (race length, certain races, trying something new completely unrelated to running). I find myself looking up past results of races to see if they're something "suitable" for me to run. There is a local 15K with a really great and scenic course that I pondered doing in April, but a look at the past finish times dissuaded me from signing up b/c I didn't want to be last! All of the runners seemed super speedy and I didn't want to stand out in a bad way. Same with smaller races. I want to blend in, not be identified from the crowd when it comes to my running.

Why should this even matter? Would I love any of my friends any less if they were "last"? NO! OF COURSE NOT! I would be upset if they let their fear paralyze them from trying something new, especially if it's something they wanted to do. Would I hate myself for being last in the Statue to Statue run? No. I should be more angry with myself for letting my irrational fear stop me from doing something I know I can do. I can run 9.3 miles. I've run further than that on more than one occasion. And frankly, who gives a shit anyway? Does this mean I'm signing up for Statue to Statue? I wish it did, but I'm not quite there. I'm working on it...

In other news, I KILLED my 7 miles (7.35) on Saturday!! 5 x 400s were great yesterday too (legs felt awesome, I just need to get my lungs to catch up with what the rest of my body is capable of). Schedule for the week:

Sunday: 4 miles (new trail with Amy with hills that literally kicked our butts)
Monday: 5 x 400 IW (I did the last one at 8:50 min/mile...I'm getting there!)
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: 3 miles
Thursday: 35 min tempo run (ugh, I need to get a better attitude about these)
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 8 miles