Getting Fast?

One week to go until my 10K.  This is the first race I've ever run that I'm actually going to try to race.  Training has gone pretty well.  I followed this plan (they have a bunch, depending on your goal- ie, want to finish, want to not be last, want to hit x time) and I recommend them- lots of running plans include a lot of jargon but this one doesn't.

I've followed it pretty well, although I sometimes couldn't go as fast on fast days because I've been getting shin splits, and I think I went too slow on the really long runs- but I had to switch it around a little because of typhoons and stuff, I did my last big and fast run today- 60 minutes with 40 minutes at race tempo in the middle.  It might not be good to do that so close to race day but I learned a lot from it.

One thing I've learned from trying to go fast (for me) is that it hurts.  And I can run fast enough that it's not fun and keep going for a while.  And when I think about it, people who win races don't look happy and refreshed when they win.  They go throw up or something.

Tonight was kind of fun in that a couple of men who were going pretty fast stayed behind me for a long time at the track.  We were the only runners there and I thought that was pretty cool of them- I think in the US a man couldn't handle that.  Maybe the fact that I'm a foreigner made it easier to swallow?  At one point the one passed me and said, "You're going slower!"  I was like, thanks, dude.  I don't have a girl to pace off of.

So I think as long as my shins don't kill me and it's not too humid I'll be in good shape.  I would never expect to get anywhere near the podium in a real race but I figure: a, this is Taiwan; b, it's in Fong Yuan and there's another 10K in Taichung the same weekend; c, it's a holiday weekend.

I've also tried visualization.  I read that you need to make a simple sentence in the present tense.  So here are my sentences (it's not like I'm chanting this all the time, mainly in elevators):  I come in 2nd, 5 minutes behind the leader and a minute in front of 3rd place.  And, I run it in 54 minutes (even though I've been training for 50-52).  I know that one of the things that holds me back in life is an overly-pessimistic view of my abilities (actually it's probably realistic but successful people shoot for a little more than they're capable of), and it's so weird that even in my own fantasies, I don't picture myself in 1st, or being able to hit the time that I've trained for.

So... it's a week of easy or short runs and then we'll see if I can do it!  And win money and glory!