Bedlam Run

Yesterday my friend Stephanie and I participated in our local Fleet Feet's Bedlam run.  I did the 5k and Stephanie did the 10k.

My race was pretty dissappointing.  My ankle is still bothering me from where I rolled it last week, so that hindered my running. It was super hot outside, and the course had a pretty major hill right in the middle.

Here we are at the beginning of the race:

Here I am after I had to fall back so that I could walk a bit for my ankle.  I've never had to walk in a 5k before.  Oh well.  Final time was 38:44.  It's a PW by about three minutes.

I am also coming to the realization that I am just not in the shape that I was in the spring.  I keep trying to fake it and then feeling like a failure.  All of my long Saturday runs have ended badly (one with me wandering around lost in downtown Tulsa with no phone or car keys).

I spoke with my half-marathon coach about it, and I think that I am going to bump down to a slower pace group.  At first I was kind of depressed about having to go down to a slower group.  But I felt like I was failing every week, and I knew that soon I would stop trying.  I would like to succeed, and that means bumping down.  I am choosing not to view this negatively.  I am still running, still being healthy, still out there every week trying.  And at the end, I will still be running a half marathon.  I will be winning!