I started weather stalking the run about a week out from the race. At first it was supposed to be hot. Then it was supposed to rain. Then it was really supposed to rain. Overnight the night before the race there were terrible thunderstorms. The severe weather sirens sounded in the middle of the night. I thought we would either be running this race in the rain or it would be cancelled due to storms. It sprinkled a tiny bit on the way to the race, but then the skies stayed overcast and not one drop fell on us the entire time.
I knew going into this race it was hilly. I'd done hill work each week for the last two months trying to prepare. I also knew going into this race that barring something unexpected (oh, like a thunderstorm?) that I was likely to set a personal best. I also knew there was a long shot chance that if I had a good race day I could break 2 hours in the half marathon.
John and I lined up with the 2 hour pace group and the run started in kind of funny waves. We all just sort of ambled to the starting line, saw the mats and started running. I stayed with the pace group for the first six- six and a half miles or so of the race. The pace felt a little bit challenging to me, but for the first five miles or so I thought I might be able to hang in there. We went up and down and up and down and up and down rolling hills and I those hills started to get in my head. I was craving a nice flat stretch of road to regroup, maybe pick up my pace. But there were no flat stretches of road.
Just before the seven mile mark I told John I was going to slow my pace a bit. Fall back, run a little slower, but try to keep the pacers in my sight. I still thought if I caught a second wind I might (MIGHT) be able to make up some time. The pacers got further and further away as the miles passed, but the rolling hills just kept coming.
I crossed the 10 mile marker and had to run 3.1 miles in 27 minutes to break 2 hours. And I knew that wasn't doable for me that day after 10 challenging, hilly miles. I refocused on trying to keep a consistent pace and run hard through the finish. I came across the finish line at 2:02:19 to John and Brian cheering for me. (Brian finished in 1:55, John in 1:58).
I know I should be very, very happy to post such a good time on such a challenging course. My prior half marathon personal best is 2:11:59, so I shattered that record in less than one year. And I do feel very proud of that. What is bothering me is how hard this race was for me, both physically and mentally. I tried very hard to push myself and my pace out of my comfort zone. I thought that pushing I did would yield a faster time. I wanted to feel better out there, enjoy myself more, finish feeling stronger. By no means was this race a disaster.... I felt well trained for it, I am proud to run 13.1 miles at the pace I did. I was reasonably consistent (but did not have negative splits) through out, but my first mile was my fastest and my last the slowest.
If each race is supposed to teach me something (and I believe it is) I think my lesson from this one is not to assign to much weight to an arbitrary finish time. Goals are important to me, to be sure, but I think had my time been 3 minutes faster I would be feeling much better about this race and that is just plain silly. When I trained for and ran the Twin Cities Marathon I tried to keep my mindset in a place of gratitude. I will run with gratitude. Gratitude for the people I love, for my health, for the experience, for the support that surrounds me. I think my lesson from this race is to run with a little more gratitude and a little less ambition. I suspect the goals will follow when gratitude is first.
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