First half marathon in 2013! First half marathon since 2011! And I was not trained for this race. Honestly, I don't even remember why I decided to register for the race in the first place, especially only four weeks prior. Who does that? Apparently I do. ;)
One of the benefits of being relatively untrained for a running event is this...I went in with zero expectations. My only goal was to finish the race and run the whole time. I was confident that I could accomplish this. Anything above at beyond that would just be icing on the cake.
Mmm...cake...
What was I talking about? Oh yes, the Get Lucky Half. It was cold and incredibly windy. The website had pictures from last year's race and people were in shorts, this year was much different. Wanting the dress the Irish part, I had purchased a green running shirt. Short sleeved. No problem, layered it over a long-sleeved orange shirt and I was all set. The race started off by Soldier Field then headed South on the Lakefront path for an out-and-back race. The Lakefront path worries me with a larger number of runners. It can get crowded on a pleasant running day, let alone for an organized race. Fortunately, this was not a pleasant running day so there were not as many additional runners/bikers/dog walkers to commingle with the race participants. Another fortunate occurance was that the race organizers seemed to have had a handle on an appropriate number of runners. There were two distances to run, the half marathon (21K) and a 7K. The organizers appropriately spaced the start of the two races. The half started 30 minutes before the 7K started, assuming most of the half marathon participants would be past the 7K turn-around before the 7Kers caught up with them. I never really felt like I was jockeying for position or trapped behind anyone.
Like I said, I went into this race with zero expectations. I seeded myself in the 11 minute/mile group hoping that would help keep me from going out too fast. I reminded myself to treat this as a training run. No need for speed, just run, have fun, and avoid injuries. The only thing missing was a running buddy. The run itself went surprisingly well. My first mile was around 10 minutes, but I was feeling good, so I stuck with it. While I would check my watch at the mile markers to monitor my pace, I focused on running by feel. My knee was doing well, my foot was doing well, my strides felt smooth and seamless so I chugged along. The first 6.505 miles had a tail wind, even better.
And then...the turnaround...
If you've ever run on the Lakefront path, you will agree with me that it can be beautiful. It can also be an unforgiving "B". The tail wind that we were all enjoying now was a vicious headwind, cold and whipping off the lake. When I ran cross country in high school, my coach would remind us that everyone's running in the same conditions. Whether it's 50s and gorgeous, or 30s with high winds, everyone is battling the same elements. Basically, no excuses. Half way through the race and I was on PR pace. I wasn't about to let a heavy headwind take that away from me. That's right, I started the race with no expectations, but at the turnaround point, a switch flipped in my brain. I was running a consistent pace and I was feeling good. In other words...
Bring.
It.
There is a side effect of switching from no expectations to racing with the intention of beating a previous time. The race changes from a fun run to a mental game. My mental game truly began at mile 8. In my prerace planning, I was going to space out my Shot Bloks between miles 6-11, a Blok a mile. At mile 8 I had 4 left. And at mile 8 I could feel my sugar dropping and the mental game starting. Negative, defeating thoughts start at this point. But I only had 5 miles to go and I was still on pace for a PR. I just needed a rush of carbs. I finished the remaining Bloks. Best choice of the run, it was just the surge of carbs and caffeine my body needed.
Mile 13. A tenth of a mile to go. The PR was mine. The seconds were ticking away. I realized that I had the chance to break 2:10. Another thing my high school coach told us was that if we could sprint it in, we hadn't given enough during the race. Leave it all on the course. I didn't have much left to give because I had left it on the course. But my body wasn't starved for oxygen either. Despite little training and high winds, I had a race that exceeded my expectations. I wanted to break 2:10. I had come this far. I needed to break 2:10. I just need to demand a little bit more from my body. I gave the final push.
The results...
Broke 2:10 by 11 seconds. Beat my previous best by 9 minutes, 28 seconds.
And I couldn't be more pleased :)
 |
| To the victor, go the spoils |
 |
| Runner's high after a 9-minute PR |
No comments:
Post a Comment