Progress isn't linear

I raced another 5k on Sunday, September 19th in Cuyahoga Falls. The course was advertised as fast and flat but in actuality it was slow and rolling. However, that made for a great training effort (22:44). The effort felt a lot harder than the previous 5ks but it could be because I didn't warm up as early or as long as I am used to and I didn't get much sleep the last two nights. Or, it just wasn't my time that day. Or the obvious, it was a slower course. I can try to analyze what went wrong all I want but I'd rather focus on the positives, not only in the race but with the progress made in the last year:

Race-wise positives:

• 6:56 first mile
• Felt like I was pushing myself the entire time
• A female passed me around 2.5 miles but I battled back and got her at the finish line
• Won my age group
• Foot hurt afterwards but nothing tore

Other positives:

• Took some time off after that race and foot has been feeling better than ever
• Not in tip-top shape and yet I'm running at my previous PR times
• 1.5 minutes faster than last year

My man friend has told me that progress isn't linear, a couple times actually. But after this weekend it finally stuck. I'm not going to get from point A to point B to point C in a straight line (i.e. improve each race). Rather, the process is going to cycle, with some ups and downs, dips, highs and lows. Each time however, I will learn something new and keep making contributions to my fitness.