
The middle miles
Hi FitFooters! ๐๐ผ ๐๐ฝ๐๐ป

I raced a 5k yesterday.
My goal was to run under 18 minutes and โ (17:49, officially, I believe - yay!)
The whole experience was fun (fun being a relative term ๐), fast (again, a relative assessment ๐ฅ), and surprisingly fascinating (to those of us who enjoy thinking about running and how to improve, etc. ๐ค)

So โusuallyโ running a great race happens because your pacing was very even (all miles are within a couple seconds of each other - nice and smooth) OR you somehow perform the wizardry that is negative splitting (last miles are faster than beginning miles - I may have successfully done this 3 times in the last 25 years of racing -VERY tricky to accomplish- hats off to those who do this on reg ๐งข)

Neither of these scenarios happened yesterday. Not even close. ๐๐
Here are my splits for each mile of the 5k (pretty flat course, all on pavement or sidewalk, two hairpin turns, but overall gentle turns):
mile 1: 5:36.6
mile 2: 6:02.0
mile 3: 5:39.4
0.1: 33.3
If you arenโt familiar with mile paces, those numbers may look very foreign and not mean much, (which is totally fine - just stay with me - I will wrap this story up nicely in a second ๐) but I would imagine most people would pause and ask โhmmm, whatโs up with mile 2โ?!?
Which is a totally fair question. There were no significant hills in the second mile, I didnโt stop to tie my shoe, I didnโt fall, I didnโt have to ford a stream or scale a wall. None of that.
I just hit a rough patch, let off the gas (pretty significantly, I must admit), and needed to collect myself and coach my brain to get it back together...
...which I successfully did and finished up the mission and it all turned out lovely. ๐ฅฐ
(Ironically, my average pace was 5:45/5:46 per mile, but I didnโt actually run any miles at that pace). ๐คฏ

My point is this: oftentimes we are just in those โmiddle milesโ of life.
We set goals or have a plan or work towards something, start off with lots of momentum and spunk (or with piss and vinegar as my coach likes to say) only to need to take a metaphorical nap in the middle and then regroup ourselves for the final push. ๐

If that describes you at the moment, take heart.
You can be sort of a hot mess and have your plans change several times and still achieve the things that are important to you.

You may just need to take a deep breath and slow down to speed up.
Let me know if you need some great shoes to help you get through whatever mile of life you are currently in. I would be delighted to assist you. Life is more enjoyable with comfortable feet. ๐ฆถ๐ฟ ๐ฆถ๐พ๐ฆถ๐ฝ๐ฆถ๐ผ๐ฆถ๐ป

Personalized socially distanced shoe fittings available for this week! Email me at sudasfitfoot@gmail.com to set up an appointment!

(Remember to always bring snacks โฌ๏ธ )
Stay well, FitFooters!
:) Betsy
