Run easy

Every intermediate runner knows that the cardinal rule of racing is this: DON'T GO OUT TOO FAST. You might be suckered in by the flow of fast-moving runners around you. You might be cocky from your training and convinced you can keep up. You might be feeling energized at the starting line. But DON'T GO OUT TOO FAST, because inevitably it will come back to bite you.

This weekend I ran the New York Road Runners Mini 10K for the fourth time. The Mini 10K is the first race I ever participated in, and it's always been my favorite: it's women-only, it's my favorite distance, it attracts awesome elite athletes and this year, it was on my birthday. I've also set a personal record for the 10K at this race every year and I was determined to do it again.

So what did I do? I WENT OUT TOO FAST. I have always run negative splits in races, which means that I always run the second half of the race faster than the first. But this weekend, I was attempting, against all logic that served me well in the past, to run each and every mile at a zippy 9:00 minutes or faster. I did that for the first mile, and then for the second. And then I crashed, bonked and hit the wall all at the same time. You know that Reebok "Run Easy" ad that says: "Why hit the wall? It hurts." Dear Reebok: I get it now. At the third mile, I felt like I had at about the 25th mile of the marathon. I poured water over myself like I was in a war, but my legs simply refused to go. I tried to stick to my friend, who had not gone out too fast and consequently caught up to and then passed me, but I couldn't do it. I couldn't even summon the energy to kick at the finish. It was, without question, the worst race of my life.

When it was over, I had finished about 30 seconds slower than last year, but I felt about 30 times worse. But you can't set a PR at every race, and the races that humble you are the ones where you learn that important lesson: DON'T GO OUT TOO FAST.