The temperature has begun to drop, and it has been raining off and on for several days. I have now brought out my cold-weather running clothes. My body and mind seem to be reacting to the fall weather — it’s as if they they know that the marathon is around the corner, and they better be ready. For the past few days, I’ve noticed that my legs feel stronger — I am gaining back my confidence.
This past Saturday was Grete’s Great Gallop Half Marathon in Central Park. This was a points race for NYC running teams, and with the Marathon right around the corner many people used this as a tune-up. I on the other hand, obviously did not get this notice. I decided to join up with a male member of my team to run this “race” as part of an easy long run. We had talked beforehand about running at about 7:45min./mile pace, right from the beginning we ended up running about 15 seconds slower. Although I knew I could run faster, I also felt some loyalty to the runner since I had previously agreed to run with him. We did end up running a fast last mile, but in the end I was frustrated with the entire situation. Just as I was starting to feel strong again, I was running an easy half marathon (my slowest one to date). In the end I took it as a lesson learned. Although it is good to treat some races as training runs, and also to start slow and finish strong, it is most important to run one’s own race. On that same note: Adam had a great run! He ran fast and said that he felt good and relaxed the whole way.
Thankfully there are always more races, including the Staten Island Half Marathon this weekend, AND it is on a relatively flat course. I sit here on my first night off in about a week and a half. As I look upon the remainder of the week, my main goal is to maintain my strength, and hopefully run a strong, fast half this weekend. Although I have run several half marathons, my best official time for the half is just 20 seconds shy of qualifying for a competitive start in the marathon (1:35). With this weekend as my last chance to qualify, I can only hope my training will pay off and that i can finish with a PR, without exhausting myself in the process.
