RJ Crowley's 3 Mile Run: Mary Gives it All up in the Last 1/4 Mile

This race report won't be long. This is because I ran LIKE EFFING SHIT yesterday and I would prefer not to dwell on it. However, it is time to own up to my lame ass performance, so here goes. 

I drove there. I warmed up. During warm up I felt slow and heavy. This was not good, but I figured it was because it was drizzly and cold and after I got warmed I'd get my legs. Wrong wrong wrong. I ate some GU. I went to the starting line. Like usual, my warm up was soon all for naught b/c the race director felt the need to start the race a good ten minutes past the hour it was supposed to start. I was chilled and grumpy. I looked around at the field. It seemed large, but mostly nonthreatening. I chatted with my friend Barbara-- who asked what I'd been doing for training and raised her eyebrows a bit when I admitted that I had only been running 3x a week. 

The race director gave an uninspired "go"--and we set off. Within about 300 yards I knew it wasn't going to be a good race. I just didn't feel zippy. But, I reasoned, better to stay strong and upbeat. It could be okay. The first mile I was the second woman. 6:46. I was too tired, though, and I knew I had to scale back. Second mile: 7:15. Strange. That is the EXACT splits of the first two miles of my last race. Interesting--and depressing. At the start of mile 3 I was passed by another woman. Okay. Third. I can deal with third. I just had to hang on. I did my best to pick up the pace and stay strong. 

 A quarter mile to go. A little (and I mean little) girl zips by me. I found out later she was 11. Okay--4th--but hey--at least I knew she wasn't in my age group. ' Last 1/8 of a mile--I get passed by not one, but two women. FUCK! I try to kick, but I have nothing. There's one more girl on my tail. I hold her off just barely for 6th--3rd in my age group. A shitty time (21:09) and a lame ending. I felt bad. Really bad. I also felt angry. 

Why did I run like shit? Enough of this running 3 x a week in zone 1! If you want to run fast, you have to run fast when you train. I felt pissed. I still feel pissed. I get home and check the results. The fucking bastards (who were writing down who came in where--no chip in this event) REVERSED me and the chick who I held off. So she got 6th, I got 7th, and she took my 3rd in AG. I was seething. I still am. It's bad enough to have a shit race, but to be denied the only good thing you did in it--to hold someone off--that just SUCKS. The only thing to do now it train like a mad woman and smoke everyone, everywhere from this day forward. Watch out ladies, I'm running you down. Sincerely, pissed in MA.