I am happy to say that although I always get hurt before running this race (goes back to the first one I ran with my Dad a million years ago when I twisted my ankle crossing the street and extends to me tripping on a raised sidewalk about 50 yards away from the accident I just described where I messed up my hands and back and neck) I was able to push through the pain and run a pretty good race.
While we were waiting for the race to start the hubby asked me, "So is the plan to run it as fast as you can?" In my head I was yelling hell yeah but out loud I mumbled something about being hurt. I have a lot to learn about the killer attitude in running--I just don't know how to be bold and go for it, can someone teach me?
Anyway, when the gun went off we took off running like chickens without heads. It was really disorganized with the Sounds of Freedom Military Troops swerving all over the road, causing us to swerve all over the road. I didn't want to get run over or trapped so I was hopping over the median trying to figure out which way to go. Mike told me to follow him to our normal route (left side) and we just tried to stay out of there way. That proved hard because there were so many of them and they were all over the place. The running lane was very narrow making it hard to dodge runners and pass and when we made it to the first few water stops things got really chaotic causing me to have to stop and walk as there were runners coming to complete halts and all kinds of madness.
With all the dodging I just tried to keep running on the edge which is my mantra. To me it means that I always need to feel like I am pushing myself and not cruising (which I am super good at--the cruising that is). There were many times I wanted to put it in a lower gear and cruise but I would not let myself go there. I wasn't really sure what I had in my legs since my training has been spotty this year but I decided to just run hard until I couldn't run anymore. When we left Nimitz Highway and approached the hill I knew that I had a good chance to PR and I willed myself to keep pushing. The callouses on the bottom of my feet and my left leg were giving me pain making it hard to run the hills strong which has been my strength on so many runs. Nevertheless I would not give up and willed myself to go as hard as I could. As I neared the Stadium I told myself to suck it up and give it all I got. That last half mile was harder than normal but I fought to the end and was rewarded with a 1:13.39 finish time. Just a little less than a minute PR over my best race two years ago. So excited to be starting my year of racing on a great note!!!
And with that I am committed to getting back into the training and working hard to achieve my goals in 2015. :)
