The Rowe Family Blog

It’s been a few weeks since the Shamrock Run but I wanted to write about it. I think I’ve reached the point in my running that I wanted to avoid. I care far too much about my race times. Going into this race I had high hopes but I couldn’t help but feel disappointed during the race when I saw that my mile splits were not what I had hoped for. This is an 8k race and I was hoping not only for a PR but to turn in a time that would impress me. Instead my average pace was slower than my performance months ago at the 2009 Rochester Half Marathon. I would love to say that I wasn’t giving it my all but that would be a lie. This was a race and I put forth a lot of effort. It is a true gauge of my current ability.

I did earn an 8k PR and I was happy with my performance relative to other participants. I’m worried about being overly critical of myself. Getting faster was easy at first — it just happened by itself. Now I have to work at it. The trouble is that I expect the year to year gains that I have been seeing. I won’t be seeing gains like that unless I significantly increase my training. Most importantly I need to keep things fun.

My time was 32:27, an average pace of 6:32.