Madison 13.1

(Once again, I wrote this on Sunday and forgot to post.  Fall  is kicking my butt! Sorry! )

This past weekend I ran a half marathon in Madison, Wisconsin and it was AWESOME.  The race itself was beautiful and went really well, but it was also some seriously overdue girl time with my besties.  Bridget and I hardly ever get to see each other, so when we do it is just a total debacle.  We have so much fun together and are always on the same page (even if that page means getting lost in an unfamiliar town or making friends with strangers).  So any minute I get to hang out with her pretty much makes my week.  Our other good friends Nicole, Kirk, and Kimmy also came down which made it even more fun!

It was my first big race all summer and as I have mentioned before, typically I book my whole summer up with races.   But this year my focus is on consistent crossfit workouts and Boston training.  Despite some of them being a struggle, I have been right on pace with my track workouts, pace runs, and mileage, yet I was still nervous going into this race if I was going to see any improvements thus far.  My goal was to be under 1:40 BUT I also did not want to go out and “pace” my race.  I like doing races based on how I feel, not having to stick to a certain pace.  Once I start thinking too much about pace and looking at my watch every 2 minutes, it is a mind game I always lose.  Now, of course during training I DO focus on pace, big time.  So Ideally, I can just show up to a race and run the pace I need comfortably, because I have already put in the work.

I know it sounds super bizarre, but I know this is the ONLY way I can potentially qualify for Boston and still enjoy it.  Enjoying my marathons is really important to me, I want to push myself of course, but I want to feel good.   Whenever I have tried to stay with somebody in a race or tried to pace each mile, I feel like crap and it is miserable. Being miserable for a few miles is one thing, but being miserable for 10 miles or more is a whole other issue.   When I just go out and run how I feel, I always PR and I always enjoy the experience.  Like I said, ideally by the time I get to a race, the work is done so my body should just flow into the pace.

So let’s get to the race already right?  I went out and ran my first mile not with any pace in mind, just went out comfortably as if I could hold a conversation.  If you were to ask me in that moment what pace I was running I probably would have guessed like an 8:15. I hit the first mile marker and looked at my watch and it said 7:22.  HOLY CRAP.   So I immediately felt like I should slow down in fear of not having enough left at the end, but then I felt conflicted because I DID feel comfortable so I should just stay at this pace right? AHH!!  I literally fought with myself the first 5 miles over this and eventually just said screw it and ran without looking at my watch until mile 12.  Somewhere in there I was hanging out with a 1:40 pace group for a few miles and felt too slow,  so I ended up just going ahead.  That is when I knew I was going to hit my goal.  When I looked at my watch as I crossed it was at a 1:38:02 but according the the race site I was a 1:37:52.  HOLY COW YOU GUYS.

I mean, I know I have been hitting my marks on my runs.  I have only missed one workout.  So I know I am doing everything I can, but to actually see it WORKING?  It is seriously surreal.  I think I really can do this.  I think I can qualify for Boston.  I could not get over how comfortable a 720-730 average pace felt.  I would also like to take a moment to give a shout out to my crazy fast friends.  Bridge, Nicole and Kimmy have always been super fast runners.  They all were in the top 7 in high school and Nicole even went on to run at a D1 college.  So my friends who don’t know me well often roll their eyes at me when I say I am NOT a naturally fast runner.  But these girls have left me in the dust since I have known them,  they have also all inspired the heck out of me.   It took me 4 half marathons to break a 1:50….this was Bridge and Kimmy’s second 13.1 and Nicole’s first ever and they ALL hit the 1:40’s.  Total ballers.  Not fair 😉

So this week it is back to the weights, back to the endless track workouts that I dread, back to the strict diet (I may have had a little too much food fun after the race Saturday).   Less than two months to go, I got this.