10K Nerves!

Dear running diary,

I've been mulling committing myself to a 10K race for a while now. I haven't even hit my first goal of a 5K park run yet! 

However, I've decided the 5K goal is going to happen tomorrow morning at 9am. I gave myself till 25th Sept to do it, but on the basis that my 4.5K went well on Wed, I'm going to go for it.

I also figured that it's a good thing to commit myself motivationally, so when I achieve my first goal, 2 and 3 will shortly follow if I am to do the 10K. So... time to do a little bit of planning for the distance increases up to that time.

I signed up to the 10K over t'internet, and I'll be honest here, I was almost shaking. I've not known nerves like it in a long time. I don't think it was just the distance that was making me nervous. I think part of it was that I haven't been involved in any sort of sports competition since school days. I know I'll be nervous on the day, but I'm old enough and ugly enough to know a couple of ways to calm myself: 

1. Enjoy it - You'll never be running with all these same people ever again

 People would always say to me "just enjoy it" during nervous situations, but mostly the nerves would be so jangly it would go in one ear and out the other. However, not long before a best man speech I was to deliver, an "enjoy it" did make me realise one thing (although slightly more poignant to a wedding) that this was a one time deal. I would never get to read a best man's speech to these people (for this groom) ever again. That might seem a bit on the morbid side to some people, but to me it made the nerves go and I was able to ask myself whether I was going to make the best of that situation I could. The answer is always yes...

2. Eminem - Loose Yourself

There aren't that many recent tracks I can think of that had lyrics which were an instance motivator for me... Eminem hit the nail on the head with... "You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow. This opportunity comes once in a lifetime". I don't tend to replay those exact lyrics in my head when I do need a pick up. It's more something like "You've only got one shot... Have you got the balls for it?". Again, you can guess the answer every time.

Maaaan 10K. That distance seems like a world away at the moment. However, that's not the current goal... tomorrow 9am, we'll see if I've taken my shot at the 5K park run.