In 2008 I raced a half marathon after recovering from my first stress fracture. For the 3 years that followed I ran 2 marathons and missed 3. I spent most of my time training, or recovering from some injury so I never had the chance to really sign up for smaller races. I also didn't ever feel capable because I was always training for a long distance event, never a short fast race.
A little over a week ago I had the idea that I could run the ADT half marathon. After all my time off from Boulder I had just started sort of training. I had close to 2 weeks of, "Training" in. A couple of long runs and 2 hill workouts. That being it I really had no goal in mind. With no real speed training I didn't expect to do much at this half marathon. Then I got sick. I started to get sicker and I didn't run from Wednesday until the race on Monday. In the mean time I rested and took a friends suggestion and bought some Elderberry(Great stuff!!!!) Again, this cold was really swaying my confidence so I told my husband not to tell anyone I was registered for a race. If I bombed no one would know, and frankly I'm becoming known for my disastrous races more so than my successes. I knew I could finish in 2 hours without any real hardship, so I kind of told myself to look for that.
I had no Garmin because my strap is broken. My husband had an extra strap but it's very big and I hate the feeling of hit moving around on my wrist. Besides I tend to race better when I just run how I feel. So I saw the 2 hour pace guy up ahead and positioned myself behind him, pretty far back actually. I told myself just to keep him in sight. The gun went off and so did we. My first mile was 9:08, after that I have no idea, I looked at my watch but never really did the math. I remember thinking he was running kind of fast, but slowly but surely I was catching up to him. Eventually I ran right by him. In fact I was running past a lot of people. I thought to myself, "Can I hold this pace?"Then I reminded myself, "This is a race, so run." With that I just told myself I would run, and would give it what I could.
I was surprised at how good I felt but worried at the same time. I just didn't know if or when my body would say ok, that's enough. After the turn around I had to go to the bathroom, by mile 8 there was a porta potty and even though I knew I would lose time I went. As the miles ticked on I knew I would finish under 2 hours, that was in the bag. By mile 11 my legs were definitely feeling a bit heavy. Then I was alone, no one around me and I started playing games in my head. I was bargaining with myself. I knew I had plenty of time in the bank so I could slow down quite a bit if I wanted to. Back and forth I went as I got closer to the finish. Up and around I went into the park and I looked at my watch and saw 1:54 coming, "Oh geez hell no." I thought and with that I kicked in what I had left. Finish time was 1:53:36.
I honestly never expected to break 2 hours. I didn't think I had it in me. I know it's not some super fast time, but being I was not trained to run the pace I did I'm pleased. Now I know I can run faster with some training. After years of struggle I finally walked away feeling like I did well! and thanks to
by Mamaruns