Shakeout: Power of Belief
What’s really holding you back?
In the fall of 2017, I fulfilled a multi-year quest by finally breaking 19 minutes in the 5K. My time of 18:50 earned a medal in my age group and a place in the top-20 of a decently competitive local road race. More importantly, my performance validated an idea that had been kicking around in my head for a while. What if instead of slowing down when things got really tough, I tried going faster?
Think about it. How many times during the course of a race do you have doubts about whether you can accomplish the goal you set out to achieve? In the specific instance of my kickass 5K, we’re talking multiple moments of doubt and uncertainty hovering over my race like a dark cloud. Each and every negative thought threatened to throw me off stride and wreck my goals.
I remember thinking at Mile 1 that my pace, while on target to go sub-19, was too fast and unsustainable. No way could I hold on for 2.1 more miles. Before going too far down that negative rabbit hole, I course-corrected by suggesting I try hanging on to at least the halfway point of the race before conceding. That way, I would at least give myself a fighting chance to meet my goal.
At the halfway point, I went through the whole mental exercise all over again. After convincing myself to hang on to at least Mile 2 – just in case – I found myself gradually tuning into a growing belief that I could actually do this. In fact, all I had to do was simply not give up and my training would take care of the rest. When the race got hard, run harder. Instead of self-doubt, embrace inner confidence.
It’s crazy how easy all that sounds. Just be positive and good things will happen. Obviously, it’s not that easy at all. In fact, nothing about that positive mindset comes naturally to me. I’ve had to consciously work on my mental approach through years of hard physical training and honest introspection.
In retrospect, the only one messing with my attempts to go under 19 minutes was me. I was the one who wasn’t doing the necessary workouts, mainly because I was the one who wasn’t sure I could do it. By giving myself a chance, via the unbeatable combination of hard work and belief in myself, I was able to accomplish a pretty cool goal.
Until this very morning, that was also the last competitive 5K I’ve run. Some eight years after setting my adult 5K PR, I’m going to run another one. This time I’m guaranteed to come in first place in my age group because I’ll be the only one running. At age 51, my goal is going sub-20, which would translate to around a 6:26 pace.
That’s pretty ambitious, but I think I can do it. Check that: I believe I can do it. The rest is up to me.