Japan Day 4M 2013

So clearly The Japan Day race is my jam. The 2011 race held my PR at the 4M (totally had to look that up- do you know your 4M PR?) and spoiler alert: this year's race holds it now! I definitely pushed the majority of the race and I'm really proud that I did. No one improves by just going through the motions, a lesson I'm learning from the many months of marathon training I refused to try to get faster in fear of getting hurt.

It almost felt like my very first race. I was nervous. It felt like the first time I ever met up with TNT to run in the park. I was terrified. I knew once I got out there and remembered what it was like, I'd be ok, but that didn't help me with the in between time. I was a mix of emotions all Saturday night. I was excited to get to lay my stuff out and get ready, but I was also trying to fight the "do you really want to wake up that early?" feeling. I did not miss that alarm clock going off at the ungodly hour. Get back into training is awesome. Let me tell you.

Originally I wasn't going to check a bag (just tie my shirt around my waist) but when it started raining, I knew I'd want my long sleeved shirt dry and ready for me at the finish. This also gave me a chance to experience the new security area. The bag check process for all races seems to have morphed into the same as big races- there is a secure area that you bring your clear plastic bags (no other kind was allowed in the area. If you had another kind, security asked you to put everything in a clear one that they had available for you). There are volunteers behind a table, who take your bag and hand it back to you. Gone are the days of wide open spaced bag check with volunteers checking your numbers match at the exits. I don't know if Rumsey Field is the permanent home for bag check every race, but getting to it can be tricky the first time.

The race was just the middle loop of the park. I knew I wasn't going to be a fan of Cat Hill before mile 1 or the 3 bitches on the west side, but it was nice getting reacquainted with my old training friend. I knew I also wanted to see how fast I could go on the road since I had been running fast on the treadmill. Even though it wasn't as fast as I was hoping, it was still an average of a minute and a half per mile faster than I had been run races, specifically during marathon training! It wasn't fast enough to hit my 10K PR goal, but it's a good start!

I would also like to thank the annoying lady who's goal throughout the entire 4 miles seemed to be making sure she was in front of me. I let it go after the first mile, but when I caught up to her at the end, I had had enough. It was cute how she tried to kick it up a notch at the end of the race, but since she had been pissing me off the entire race, I ran as hard as I possibly could and came out the victor; entirely ok that I wanted to vomit as soon as I crossed the finish line. Welcome back to racing, Abs.

Seeing as the race was also a part of The Japan Day celebration, there were a lot of food and drink venders around. The weather turned out to be a great day to hang out in the park.

What motivates you to run faster?