"People should always do their best. If they can work twice as hard tomorrow, then they should have worked twice as hard today. That would have been their best. Catching up leaves no room for them to do their best tomorrow. People with the philosophy of putting off and then working twice as hard cheat themselves."
-John Wooden
Today was supposed 2B the Frozen Half Marathon...which ended up actually be the Frozen 11.75 miles because of course errors. I thought maybe I was running so fast that I just missed mile 7, but unfortunately everyone else missed it too. First time I've ever seen this happen, but you roll with the punches.It was still a great way to usher in the first race of 2011. Perfect weather - overcast and about 25 degrees and, opposed to what the Team has been accustomed to for the last two months, we were actually running on road. Wow, what a treat to not have a 3-inch bed of snow and slush underneath every footstrike!
As far as my own personal race, it was a struggle from the start. My achilles (R one especially) have not been feeling great lately and have really inhibited my pushoff. I spent the majority of the race trying to find the happy medium between keeping a cadence and pushing off...while not slamming my right foot down with every stride. Felt straight ugly.
After the last incline (just past mile 12), my connective tissue was absolutely shot. Still had energy to burn but muscularly couldn't go there. In fact, I got "chicked" in the last mile...which is something I don't think has EVER happened to me before. Not in the last mile, at least. But she deserved to pass me...I was running like a bag of sh*t at the end :-)
Finishing time: 1:22:25
In reality, this would have been a 1:31:00-1:32:00 half marathon if the distance was legit. Far from a PR, but that's ok. This is why you race early season...to test your fitness...to learn...to evaluate...to apply.
I always tell clients that you should learn something in every race you do, and I learned (or perhaps have already learned, but just further reinforced) all that really matters in a race is that you give your best effort. Finishing time, age group place, hardware, etc..., are secondary. If you give your best effort you'll always walk away happy and you'll be satisfied when you look in the mirror. I gave my best today...just sometimes you have the legs, sometimes you don't. But I wasn't going to walk away from the race thinking "I can slack on this one and try harder on the next one." The reinforcement of giving less here or giving more there is not consistent with my philosophy and values.
Have a great Saturday!
2B Team, complete with Polar Bear (he's the one in the middle...lol). I must have ran so hard that I fell asleep during the picture!
