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| more race bling! |
This past weekend, I embarked on an adventure in a somewhat spontaneous fashion. I signed up for the New Orleans half-marathon back in December. I gave myself about a month and a half to train, which considering as much training as I have been doing non-stop the past two years makes sense. However, this half-marathon is my first long race since the 70.3 Ironman 4 months ago (yes, it's been that long). This was to be my 10th half marathon, which I wish I had realized prior to mile 5 of the actual race, but that's what I get for not really spending much time in preparation for the event.
So, how did I prep for this race? Well, I didn't train as I had trained for any previous race. In fact, my training plan consisted of me just trying to continue to recover from the previous months (half-ironman, car accident, whiplash, and two months of nothing). In the past two years, I've spent 5-7 days each week working out...either swimming, biking, running, or doing some form of strength training. In the past 4 months, I've worked out maybe an average of once per week, during my good weeks. Granted, my life required me to take a break...car accidents with whiplash and job changes will do that to a person.
Four months ago, I almost PR'ed my half-marathon time with getting around 2:04 for the 13.1 mile run portion of the half-ironman. I was convinced that my next half-marathon would easily be under 2 hours. I planned to run the Thanksgiving half in Atlanta simply to break that 2 hour mark b/c I knew I could. Then life happened. A seemingly minor fender bender left me with whiplash and a re-injured back. I wouldn't run for two months. I finally got back into running and found myself in tears after realizing how hard it was going to be to start from scratch again. That hasn't stopped me yet, though.
In December I ran my worst 10k ever...slow, painful, and not at all to the standards I had set for myself. I still decided to sign up for the half-marathon this past weekend in New Orleans, if for no other reason than to go to New Orleans for a weekend. Since signing up, I got very busy at work, had the holiday break as a distraction, got the flu for a week, finally started running again, and then I threw out my back. In preparation for this race, my longest training run was 8.5 miles (and was the only really good run I'd had in months). I was running maybe once a week for the past couple of months in prep for the race. Typically, I prefer to run 3-4 days/week with specific running workouts (tempo run, easy run, interval run, and long run). I also have been eating/drinking like a college student (including fried food and ramen, no lie), which is quite different from the last two years of healthy eating habits.
So, as race week arrived, I decided that I may as well go ahead and book a room and stick with my plan to run 13.1 miles, unprepared. The night before the race, my friend and I had a few beers, ate some awesome New Orleans food, and even enjoyed a bit of people watching on Bourbon Street. I got maybe 5 actual hours of sleep in my hostel bed the night before the race. For the first time, I spent less than 20 minutes preparing everything for race morning. I didn't think too much about logistics or any other detail I normally obsess over. Race morning arrived, and I didn't make myself stick to some pre-determined routine that I "had" to follow simply b/c it was race morning.
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| Night before the race: Bourbon Street |
It was one of the least stressful race experiences ever (second only to the half-ironman, which was just surreal). I had a fun race. My goal this year is to enjoy racing instead of constantly trying to compete (mostly with myself). I don't want to always be pushing myself to the limit for every event. This race was proof that I can really just have fun and feel great about it after the race. It was one of the hardest half-marathons I've run because I did not properly train or eat well or hydrate for more than a few days. I still had fun. This race was an opportunity to prove something to myself, and for once I was trying to prove something other than how fast I could race...I proved that I am capable of just enjoying running and racing for what it is. Plus, in the end, my race time wasn't that bad, all things considered. It was not my slowest half marathon by a few. My first 2 or 3 races were around the 2:30 mark, right along with this one. So, while I hope to break 2 hours next time, I can still have fun and be okay with a 2:30 half marathon.
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| Even if I look half dead (and felt it), I survived another 13.1! |
I learned that I don't have to beat my best race every time I race. I learned that sometimes, it's okay to let life happen, take a break, and jump back in when I'm ready (and no sooner). I skipped a race the previous weekend because I just wasn't ready yet.
I needed this race to go the way it did with the little amount of prep. I tend to stress out and freak out if anything goes wrong with my training, even if I'm not trying to be uber competitive. I am more concerned with injuring myself for lack of training, but I learned that as long as I'm fairly well-conditioned (and I listen to my body), I can have fun and run a good race without being in tip-top shape every time. Although, I do love the process of training, so as soon as this horrible winter weather finally goes away, I am so ready to get back outside running/biking most of the week!
A little known fact about me on race day: almost every race in the 2-hours-or-longer time range can be an emotional experience for me. I am fairly certain that I have teared up on the course of every single endurance race I've run (in that 2+ hour range). I know I did for my first of every race, including my first 5k. Almost every race where I was beating my previous time, I teared up. This time, though, I wasn't doing anything I hadn't already done, except proving that I could enjoy racing regardless of how prepared I was for the actual competition. Every time I get out there with a race number attached to my belt, I am doing something I never would have expected a few years ago. I am getting out there and trying, and that is something worth getting emotional over once in a while.
So, once again, I race because I can. I run because, at this point in my life, I am able to run. I do it because my body lets me. One day, I may not be able to run a half-marathon after having only done a few training runs, but right now I can... so I will.
