Shane's Splash and Sprint (Sask) race report

750m Swim:
(The water was colder than I have ever felt a pool was and it was great.)
I felt great during the swim. At first I was nervous as usual but I calmed myself down over the 1st 100m and then I focused on trying to get into a groove and push. The first half of the swim, I calmed myself down and then started to push the pace. Within the first 200m, I was at least 15 to 20s down on the guy in front of me (we started at 10s intervals). When I would reach the flags going into the wall, he was already past the flags coming out of the wall. The people in front of him were even farther, approximately 50m in front of me. I quickly forgot about it and worried about the task at hand and just doing what I can do. And then approximately the half way mark of the swim I realized that I was catching the people in front of me. (which motivated me.) And so I pushed and pushed some more and caught them with 125m to go. (During the catching portion of the swim, I felt like I was flying and nothing was hurting to terribly much.) At the end of the swim I felt like I could have continued at that pace for much longer. When I caught the lead group (three people) I decided there was not enough room to pass and just settled in. I came out of the water in 10:59 (~1:28 pace).

5K Run:

The run was a lot of fun as well and when I entered the track soon after the swim I felt great and there was some what of a spring in my step. I decided to take the first 5 laps (1km) controlled and make sure my calf did not act up or hurt. My 1st km was in 4:24 and it felt good. I did not think I was going that fast but I decided to try and hold pace for the next km. The whole time during the run I thought of good thoughts and told myself that I was feeling great. And if negative thoughts crept in I quickly replaced them with good ones. I was very mentally prepared for this and I felt great because of it. The 2nd km time was 4:33 and I thought great I have held pace and I do not feel like I am totally out of control. I then focused on the next km and before I knew it I was done 15 laps and 3K and this km was 4:25. I then decided that I only had ten laps remaining and I will try and push the pace a little bit here. I think one of the laps I could feel myself letting the demons in, so I thought of good thoughts and refocused. The 4th km then went by and my time was 4:26. So, with 5 laps remaining I decided I really wanted to pick it up in the end and push to the finish. With 3 laps to go I started to run behind this girl that just passed me and I said I am going to stay with her for this lap and then try and push a little harder for the next lap. Suddenly I had 2 laps left and I told myself you need to go, now. At the bell lap, I put it into high gear and blew by this girl and everyone else on the track and pushed through to the finish. I finished with the last km in 4:12 and the 5K in 22:00.

It was a very good race and with the limited amount of speed I have done I am very proud in where I finished. Total time: 34:37. It was a great day to be me!!!

I was on fire for the rest of the night.