It's the night before the race: the first 13.1 I'm going to attempt after swearing off half marathons for a year. I haven't talked very much about my training cycle, or how I'm feeling about said training. And to tell the truth, it's for fear of jinxing myself. Even calling the last couple of months a training cycle seems to be admitting something. And no matter how I do tomorrow, I'm really grateful for this race that has got me back into running more miles, training and the love of running. But if I acknowledge that I've been focused, consistent, and intentional in my running, then what happens if I don't do well? If I was consistently writing about all the great tempo runs where my (hopeful) race pace didn't feel too hard, or about completing my longest training run ever (12 miles), or about my new dedication to yoga, or about my obsessive foam rolling, or about how I'm hydrating like a boss, it's like I can't fail or I'll be disappointing someone. That is COMPLETELY CRAZY, I know. Obviously the person we fear disappointing the most is ourselves. So I just felt like flying under the radar on this little comeback.
all ready to go! |
It's been so long since I've really felt invested in a race. I suppose it's truly been a year. After Eugene, I just felt pretty defeated and I think that was my body (and my wonky leg) telling me to take a step back and heal up. Sure I had a wee PR in the last year; I followed a plan and prepared for that race. But this feels different, there has been weather stalking (showers, boo!), playlist perfecting (see below), even perhaps some taper tantrums: my lower back started aching after a little fender bender where a girl rear ended me last week and it's clearing up with the help of my chiro. He thinks I'm fine to race, but I'm still freaking out about it! I'm even thinking through a 'race plan' (yes I'm using quotes on that) which I've NEVER done before. All I've ever done was just hit that start line running and hope for the best. Tomorrow my 'plan' (just visualize me using air quotes there) is go out at a very comfortable effort, but an effort nonetheless, and not look at my watch for the first four miles. After that, I'll adjust my speed as necessary, whether I need to reign it in a bit or speed up with the end goal being to negative split. I'll then do the same at mile 8 and mile 12. Mile 13 will hopefully be all about kicking it into high gear.
My first sharing of a playlist! I'm still adding/tweaking, and I never put it in any kind of order: I'm a shuffle kind of gal. You can check it out here. And yes, there are a couple songs that are definitely 'one of these things is not like the others' in there - I like to mix it up, to a point. |
**Since I put this up later in the day, if you happen to be reading on Sunday morning, please send speedy race juju my way. I appreciate it in advance.**
I'm so excited for you. You will rock it. You've got this!! (By the way, I just ran my 3rd half this month and am signing up for another...but not until October. Why are they so addictive? Anyway--good luck!! And have fun. Show us pics of the medal when you're done!!)
ReplyDeleteah, the opposite happened! but I've already started thinking about a redemption race - a favorite course/race that's early next year. The rest of this year, halfs will be just about FUN ;)
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