Race Results

I have a standard ritual after each time I run an organized race.  I can't wait to see the race results.  Some races post the results at the race.  I specifically like the races that give you a card that has your overall finish, your age group finish and your time.  Even if I get all of this information at the race I will still check my computer several times after the race until the full resuts are posted.  I check my time in the rankings.  I check to see how I compared to people I have raced against in the past.

I sometimes go to a website called Athlinks.    Here is their website address.  http://athlinks.com/login.aspx?ilo=1 . 

The concept of this website is interesting to me.  This website does all of these comparisons for you.  It tells you how you compared in the race you ran.  How you did compared to other peple who ran the race that are on Athlinks.  One particular feature I liked is where you can compare how you did with other people that are signed up to Athlinks.  It calculates how many times you beat them in a race and how many times they beat you.  I had one person on Athlinks who I deemed my nemises as they always beat me by a few seconds in the races that we ran together.  

Race results are always a good motivator for me. I am currently in a plateau with my training.  I compared my results for this past race with others who ran the race with me last year.   My time this year was a couple of minutes slower than my time from last year.   Others who ran the race last year improved their time from the previous year.  I know that might be taking it a bit too far but it works to motivate me.  I have most of my races mapped out for the rest of the year and this information gives me that extra push to keep improving.