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December 5, 2004

You gotta get your head straight

Good news: I pr-ed on this course by a wide margin. Bad news: My overall pace was slower than two weeks ago at the half and I came in behind - a good ways behind - people that I finished with or ahead of last week. So what does it all mean?

I think it means that it's hard to run your best race when you're not committed to running hard or getting a specific task done. It's not that I didn't run hard; man I was tired at the end of this race - no strong kick in for me. Definitely more of a sputter. But when things got rough at different points I started to lose focus, thinking that I didn't *have* to run hard today, so why was I doing it? Mental focus is a highly underrated element of running, I think, and I have the ability to do it well. I just didn't do it today. And I'm not kicking myself over it or anything - it was a good race and I had fun and I worked hard. I'm just not jumping for joy about it!

And yes Meghan is as cool as you think she is. We didn't have a whole lot of trouble finding one another after the race based on physical descriptions. Funny - Alison didn't have a hard time picking me out of a crowd, either! I guess I'm just *that* short. (And knowing what you're going to wear ahead of time is always helpful, too.) Andy and I ran part of her cooldown with her and then hung around the awards ceremony with her for a while. Hope she and her West Texas friends have a great time in the big city today. It was also my first time to meet Richard, even though we've been running in the same circles for months now.

There was a 5K that started 5 minutes after the 20K this morning that was called the "Brown Santa" 5K. Andy couldn't *help* himself with the Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo references. Very inappropriate. (But very, very funny.)

And the mommies ran really strong this morning! I missed them coming in - I got pretty cold pretty quick after standing around the finish for a while and they probably finished while we were putting on layers of clothes. But their results looked great. Don't you hate it when your friends set the bar way higher than they need to?

I must admit that I did feel a little bit of pressure this morning after all the good feedback I'd gotten after the half-marathon. It's always so nice when people notice that you're running well, but at the same time you worry a little that now they're more likely to notice when you *don't* do as well. I'm a little more sensitive to it this year than most because most people know I'm running a lot of miles, and I've gotten more than a few warnings about overtraining and peaking too early. WELL ... I could say ... I ran the half marathon at the end of an 80-mile week and this race at the end of only 70, and prior to that was a 25-mile week! Sure looks like high-mileage works better for me. Hmph!

So now I get to work the rest of the afternoon. I really like my job, by the way. I just wish I could do it on my terms and only when I felt like it (which is not right now!)

Posted by jenandmats at December 5, 2004 2:39 PM

Comments

Racing when you are not 100% committed to the task at hand does sometimes lead to not so great results. If you were not running in a pack it is only that much harder. A PR, having fun, and a good effort are all worthwhile. You don't sound too terribly upset about the race as a whole.

This is not the first reference to your height, how tall are you?

Blondie

Posted by: Blondie at December 5, 2004 5:09 PM

Glad you had a great race (even if you aren't doing cartwheels about it)! I suspect it was a very good race, better than you are letting on to. I may be wrong but you just seem like the even-keeled type that doesn't get overly excited about too much. :) Hope you have a great week!

Posted by: Beth at December 5, 2004 5:28 PM

I'm definitely not upset about the race. I'm fine with having an "ok" race at this point in the training. I just hope it's better in February!

Blondie ... have you seen that gnome in the Travelocity commercials? Ok, I'm not *that* small. My driver's license says I'm 5'1". My mom *insists* that she's 5' and I'm defintiely taller than she is. Still, there's a chance I'm not quite 5'1" ...

Posted by: jenandmats at December 5, 2004 8:15 PM

5'1" is not short. The gnome on the other hand, is small. February will have a much better race in it.

Blondie

Posted by: Blondie at December 5, 2004 8:24 PM

Congratulations - you may not be thrilled, but from where I'm sitting you had a solid performance on a remarkably tough course. And it was fun to put a face to the name, too.

Posted by: Richard at December 5, 2004 11:24 PM