Mantra Monday: Dispel the Rumors.

The I Love Mother's Day 5k

Well I did it.

I pr'd my 5k yesterday, the "I Love Mother's Day" 5k in Palm Harbor. I broke into the 27 minute range by 1 SECOND!!

That's right, I was at 27:59 and damn it -- I was NOT going to see 28 minutes on my watch as I sprinted toward the finish!!!

I was not!

I fought for that second!


And made a little tiny man real proud of me. Hell, he'd have been proud if I were last.

 So the first mile I did in 8:35! The second mile I slowed a little and looked down and at one point was in the 9:30 range but then the 5k leaders passed me and I saw that they were breathing hard and it didn't look easy for them either, so I figured a little pain in the last mile was not going to kill me right? I mean, the faster I go the faster the pain ends anyway!

So I maintained about an 8:45ish for a little while in the last mile and sprinted toward the end!

Which means I was somewhere in the 8:30-8:34 minute range FOR A WHILE! Not for the whole thing, but for a LOT OF IT!


happiness.

 Why is this a big deal you ask?

I'll tell you why.

Because I spread rumors about myself, to myself.

I tell myself lies.

It's a constant fight to believe in myself. And I don't mind fighting it if eventually I will become the winner.

Because once upon a time I believed I was not a runner.

And then I believed I could run. Just not very fast.

And then I believed I could run comfortably at a 10 minute pace for a while.

And then I believed I'd never break the 10 minute pace. Ever. Simply because I was not made for it.

Throw in a couple tough races in a row where I didn't do as well as I had hoped I would and well, a girl mightcould just start to stop believing in herself. (Did you follow that?)

And that's just tragic.

So today I'm dispelling the rumors that I can't break the 10 minute barrier. In fact, I'm dispelling the rumors that I can't break the NINE minute barrier!!

I'm also going to dispel the rumors that all my races SUCK because this one, by far, did not. For once.

In fact, St. Anthony's didn't even suck. Because you know why? It's a tough course and a tough race and I had a hernia-ish thingy going on (which still bothered me, even today and right now) but just because a race is hard and I didn't finish in the time I wanted to doesn't make it suck. It doesn't even make it an imperfect race.

It just makes it a race.

That's what races are.

That girl right there in the pink is in full Ironman training. 140.6, baby. She's awesome and she inspires me.

And today, this is what I was.

Happy.

For every reason in the world.

The next race is sprint tri on June 6th. And I'll be ready for it.

I hope everyone had the best Mother's Day ever! What did you do??? And what's YOUR mantra for the week? Join me every Monday and set the week up right!

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Florida friends: I'm giving away a family four-pack of tickets to Disney on Ice: Toy Story 3! Click here to enter!!