The half went well. It was a perfect day out. I get very headgameish about races. I find myself to scared to commit to a goal time b/c if I fail I will be upset. However, I am working on that and I did make some goals. My first goal was to beat my one and only previous half of 2.17. I did that. My next goal was - I would love to run in btw 9 and 10 minute miles. I did that. I might have had a dream goal of doing it in 2.05 or under. I did NOT do that. I did 2.08 and after writing this out I feel pretty good about it. I felt strong. My coach told me to not go out fast, to go out and have it feel easy. My first 2 miles were 10 and 10.04, everytime i checked my garmin i mostly saw 9.36ish. so i was scared i was going to fast but i was comfortable so i kept going. Miles 3 - Mile 7 i was pretty consistent -9.57,10.03, 9.57,9.53,9.57.
My wonderful hubby with my darling girls were at mile 6ish so i was happy to see them and get a hug. I knew that after I saw them i was half way there and wanted to go faster and have a better second half. I tried to pick it up. Mile 8 was 9.43. Here is where i started to figure out how much longer i had left, i do that thing were i am like, wait did i run 8 or when i see 8 am i starting 8 ?? confusion. 5 miles left seems a bit daunting and i was scared to push it. mind games. needed to try and stop that and just run on feel. Mile 9, 9.37. I was stopping at every water stop and drinking. i did not saunter, but i did slow down, grab water and then stop to drink. At mile 10 my coach found me, i was so in a zone i was startled when she called my name out. She said I was looking good and asked my pace, i told her i seemed to be at 9.30ish, she said ok, you have a 5k left, what can you do for 30 minutes. i asked if i could throw up ?? i use humor to cover pain. she said just keep going, and try to pick people off. I tried to pick it up. I still have the mind game of holding back, i get so scared of using my gas all up and having nothing left. But i tried. Mile 10, 9.26. She saw me again and said good I can see you are picking it up. It was great having her there to coach me on.
At this point the balls of my feet were burning. BAD. I knew if i slowed down i would want to walk, so i tried to keep going faster. I thought of the story Unbroken and how that man survived. I thought of how I always end a race and am mad at myself for not fighting harder and pushing through. I told myself in my head to dig deep. I just kept trying to go faster or at least keep going at that pace. Mile 11, 9.21. Mile 12, 9.08. Ok, one mile left, no more holding back, TRY to go fast. THe race is crowded so i was with a ton of people and this helped b/c i just tried to pass people. Now we are running on the boardwalk along the beach and I know it is close. I am just trying NOT to stop and keep going and give it 100% and pass people. Mile 13, 9.08. My garmin end miles were 13.26 and my time was 2.08 - 9.41 minute miles.
My balls of my feet killed after ?? I am moving to my new sneaks. I am wondering if the socks i wore were not good. Need to figure that all out. Overall I am happy. Of course I am already thinking of doing it next year and breaking 2.00 ???
It was a great day.
