5 Reasons Why I decided to Sign up for a Running Race after 8 years

It has been a long time since I ran in a race.

From 2001 – 2006 I ran in a few marathons, several half marathons, 25K’s, 10Ks, 10 milers and a bunch of 5k’s.  At some point the novelty wore off and I decided to run without specific races in mind. 8 years later, I realized a few reasons I need to get back into the race scene.

I am coming out of retirement!

Wow, that sounds strange to say as I am only 39 years old.  Look out all you people in the front of the middle of the pack, I am back. The shining moment of my racing career was finishing 3rd in my age group in a 10K in St. Paul that no longer exists.  It was a great feeling, but I am still mad that I did not receive that third place trophy. Hey, that was the highest I had ever finished by far, the least I could do is get a small trophy to remember it by. But I digress.

Here are five reasons why I decided to sign up for a race after 8 years.

1.  Setting a Target can make you Train Harder

The instant I decided to get back in the running race game my training runs became faster. Hear me that I have not stopped running these past years, I just have not trained for any races. I still run 20-30 miles per week, but lately my runs have become a bit monotonous. Maybe it has been the winter from hell that had something to do with that as well. Running on ice for the past few months has not been something that has motivated me to love those runs.

Set a target, plan to get there, and see how much more motivated you are to get out the door and run.

2.  My friends all run races

I work with a bunch of runners and hearing the races they are doing made me motivated to get out there and see if I could still improve on times from 10 years ago. You are who you hang around right? I am glad to hang around some seriously motivated people.

3.  I am inspired by the other bloggers at MinneapolisRunning.Com

I read a lot about what other runners are doing here in Minneapolis. Many of the bloggers are doing races, going faster, and like my friends at work, this is also motivating for me to get out and race again. I’ve learned so much the past two years from the people who contribute great content to this site. This no doubt has a big influence on me getting back into the race scene.

4.  Competition drives me on race day

I am a very competitive person. One of my Clifton StrengthsFinder results is Competition, and I constantly compare how I stand to other people in most situations.  When I run around Lake Calhoun, Lake Harriet, or wherever I see runners ahead of me and I try and catch them and pass them. Comparison drives me in training and on race day. I look forward to the juice of competing that I will get at my 10K in a few months.

5. Training Plans are Everywhere

There are so many great apps and training plans readily available. I keep track of all my runs on NikePlus, and I chose the 10K training option and hope to smash my personal record when I run in the Walker Methodist 10K in a few months.

My goal is to run faster than 45 minutes, I will let you know how it goes!

Bonus Reason. I really Need some T-shirts

This is actually not true. 🙂 As a volleyball coach and runner I have so many free t shirts I really do not need any more. But, it is something I always pay attention to on race day, what kind of shirt are you going to get, is it technical fabric, does it fit, who was the designer etc. Am I the only one who does this? When my wife ran the Disney World Marathon I was amazed at the quality of the dri-fit long sleeve shirt they gave out – fantastic quality.

Have you taken time out from running races? What happened when you went back?

What races are you signed up for in the next few months?