Saltair Half- April 4, 2015

I actually got a good night's rest.  I am usually quite anxious the night before a race. I woke up and got ready and headed out.

I got there in plenty of time. It was very cold and I began to worry if I should wear my jacket, but I opted out as we got ready for the race.

I started out slow at a 9 minute mile pace. I felt great. It was really hard not to punch it because of the adrenaline going.  I wanted to go fast, but I knew I needed to pace myself. At about mile 4, my legs were feeling tired, but I tried to ignore them.

At mile 5, I knew I wanted to speed up. I ran that mile at 8:30, which was my goal for the remainder of the race.  But after the mile, my body wasn't responding.  My body was tired. I was getting frustrated. The wind was blowing pretty hard, but It was more a side wind than a head wind.  I struggled to keep under 9 min miles. 

By mile 8, my body was getting more tired. I would try to push my pace, but I couldn't.  So, I thought, okay I will keep 9 min as much as possible.  But by  mile 9, I was so tired I wanted to quite.  I didn't understand! In my speed training, and race pace days I was going 8:30 or faster for 8 miles.  But today my body wasn't having it. Maybe it is because of my marathon training?  My body is tired? I don't know, but I wanted to yell at my body!

At mile 10 everything became mental.  I wanted to walk, I wanted to give up.  My legs were so tired. I decided to dedicate each mile to my kids.  I fought hard to keep 9 min miles.  I even started going under 9min. 

I surprised myself when I had 1 mile left that I passed the 2 hour pacers. I looked at my watch and knew that I could do this last mile fast.  I gave it my all that last mile. My body was so tired but I pushed.  That last mile I believe was a 8:40.

I crossed and I couldn't believe it.  I got my PR.  I came in at 1:57.  That is 7 minutes faster than when I did my race back in November. 

So why was I so mad at myself? I was so incredibly disappointed.  I felt like in all my training and speed training, that I could have gotten 1:55 or lower.  It should have been no problem.  Mentally, I was there, but my body just wasn't prepared I guess.  I was so moody the rest of the day.  It was horrible. I should have been so happy that I finally gotten my PR.

So, I guess the lesson I learned is that each day is different.  You can be rocking your runs and sometimes when it comes to race day, it could just be an off day.   And that's okay.

It's not the end of the world. Afterall, it's just a race.