This weekend I completed the Colfax Half Marathon with a personal best time. I’ve come so far in my last four years of being a runner. Four years ago, I was already at my goal weight and starting to find confidence in fitness. I completed the Colfax in 2015 but I have not run it since. You can read about my first experience here! This year was so much different.
Last summer I trained and attempted to run the San Francisco Half Marathon in under two hours. I failed and it hit me really hard. There were several reasons and excuses that I had given of why I didn’t make the goal that day. But when it came down to it, I hadn’t pushed myself hard enough through all of my training and I didn’t deserve the victory. If I had made my goal last year, I wouldn’t have learned anything that lead me to my success this year.
What I did yesterday wasn’t extraordinary. Lots of people have set and met the same goal. Here’s all the practice I had to do outside of daily mileage and prescribed paces. There’s lots of pieces to the puzzle.
- Self Talk – Usually in a run I find myself thinking about how hard it is. In previous training weeks I’ve seen the miles as a task to check off my list each day. I’d try to zone out and just get through it. This year I tried to stay tuned into my runs, encourage myself, experience the run and be thankful for what my body can do. Telling yourself you can gets you that much closer to actually doing it. Feeling sorry for yourself and just wishing it was over? That just makes it last longer.
- Fun – I was able to have so much fun in this race! When I felt like it was getting too hard or I would have to walk, I looked to the side lines and found someone to talk to. I thanked Police officers for keeping us safe. I high fived children. I slapped “Power Up” signs, I mentally pet every dog on the course and I talked to runners around me when I needed to. A few seconds of interaction with someone would give me another quarter mile of easy running.
- Off Season – Spring PRs (personal records) are built in the winter. All of the running that I’ve done from the finish of my season in 2018 to the start of my season in 2019 made a difference. Running an extra 2 miles because my Game of Thrones episode wasn’t over helped! Forcing myself to do a long run every other week when I wasn’t training for anything? Made a difference! It’s not just the time you spend running during a training season that conditions your body, its all the miles.
- Motivation – This year I found several avenues of motivation while I was training. I love to listen to podcasts about great runners because they all admit to their weaknesses. It’s easier to remember that all runners struggle, regardless of their pace when you hear them speaking about it. I love to think of people and their stories as I run.
- Community – This year as I prepared for the race, I got more support texts than I’ve ever received. I felt backed by my community of support whether I failed or succeeded. I felt so much love crossing the start line! Knowing that many people care and are watching made me run that much faster. While running is a solo activity, it’s a global community!
Still wondering how I did? This year I absolutely CRUSHED my goal. I was pushing to see 1:59:59 and I got……1:55:24! Thats a 9 minute PR for my previous record. While I know I trained really hard and set myself up the best I could, it always comes down to that day. What can you do that day in that race? I chose to dig deep and prove to myself what I could really do!
