Generally I have pretty high expectations for myself. While this isn’t bad inherently, it kind of exacerbates my already-perfectionistic tendencies. And if I don’t meet up to these expectations, I do one of two things: 1) Brush it off and congratulate myself on a good effort, or 2) Let the guilt of failed goals settle in–and camp out . . . for a really long time. These reactions certainly apply to my athletic pursuits, but they creep into my life goals and wishes. For the most part, I try hard to meet the expectations I’ve set for myself, but let’s be honest, some of these optimistic goals are never really what I want to do, so those are the failures I don’t allow to bug me very much. But those goals I really strive to conquer? I’m crushed when they aren’t achieved, and I spend too much time worrying about what I could have done better.
The good news is that I’m human, and as such, I’m not alone in this thinking. Now why do I bring this up? I’m setting new goals for myself and am scared that they won’t pan out despite the effort I’ll put into them. I’m terrified of the what-ifs. I’m afraid that I won’t be good enough or that I’ll give up on the goal. But I don’t want to. I really want to meet this goal. I can do it, but I need to be motivated enough to put in the effort and be satisfied with the result. Sorry that I’m being vague, but I needed an outlet to share these thoughts. When I really solidify my goals into manageable pieces, I’ll let you know, but in the meantime, I need a new mantra.
What are some mantras that you live by when you’re working on a goal?
Half Marathon #2!On April 27, I ran the Thanksgiving Point Half Marathon. It was hard. The end.
Just kidding. Actually, it was a pretty good race, even though I ran a couple minutes slower than my first half. Why slower? Well, basically the whole course was made up of hills, but I feel that since I only ran slightly slower than my first half—which was mostly downhill—I’ve improved a bit. I’m excited to see how I can do with better training.
Speaking of training, for this half, I definitely should have trained better. It seems that even though I can cover the distance, I have a lot to work on.
Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself . . .
The night before the race, we ate some DEE-licious pizza at a small-town pizza restaurant. After that, it was time to go home and get a good night’s sleep. My beautiful sister-in-law stayed over so we could ride to the race together in the morning. I love her, and I love that we do some races together. We chatted a bit (and the Engineer and his brother talked about video games?) about our training, the race, etc. Good stuff.
Race morning, we woke up at 4:45 (or something ridiculous), got ready and made our way up to the race venue. We parked pretty much next to the start, so that was nice. We milled around a bit, tried to do our business, and got ready to race. Eventually we headed to the start line. My sister-in-law was running with one of her friends (who was running her first half marathon! Way to go!!), so they lined up a little further back. I lined up near the 10:40 pacer (I was optimistic because I didn’t really know what was coming even though I’d seen the elevation map), ready to rock this half. We had a moment of silence for the Boston Marathon victims. Then we were off!!
I kept up with the pacer for a few miles—maybe 5—but eventually I had to slow down because of all the HILLS! I had looked at the elevation profile a few times, but I really had no idea how hilly it would be. There were a lot of steep declines and more steep inclines. And moderate inclines. And short inclines. Sigh. At least the course was pretty. 🙂 It’s not like I hate hills—I don’t—but after a while, it was just a bit much. We raced through some tulip gardens, though, which were really pretty. I think I fueled decently (could have eaten too much, though) and was well hydrated. That’s a win for me. Finally the course flattened out for the last mile and a half. And I just wanted it to be over. I sprinted to the finish (and looked really “great” in my finish pics). I got my medal and helped myself to the delicious treats at the end (definitely a plus for me since I have really high expectations). The Engineer found me and helped me hobble around and carried all my stuff. We made our way to where my brother-in-law was standing, and surprise! my in-laws were there to watch us finish! We watched my sister-in-law finish and then headed to the PT booth. The PT worked on my feet and stretched out my IT bands. I felt tired but great overall. Definitely better than my first half.
FINAL TIME: 2:26:22 (slower than my last, but I felt a ton better this time around)
Next up: Nestle 5k on June 1, Freedom Run 10k on July 4, and another half on July 13
Today I ran the Earth Day 10k in South Jordan, Utah–once again with our Blister Sisters posse. None of us had ever run around that city before, so we didn’t know what was in store for us. And I’m sure none of us were expecting a LOT of hills . . . and rain . . . and more hills . . . and wind. It really wasn’t too bad, though, because I’d rather run under cloudy skies and in cold weather than under cloudless skies and in blistering heat. But I’m getting ahead of myself . . .
What is up with my foot?
I wanted to run this race smart, not go out too fast, and stick to a one-mile-run, one-minute-walk strategy. I think I did all of those things well, though I think I went out a little too fast. Not too bad, though. The first two miles were fine and flat, but right around mile 2.5, we started going uphill, then uphill some more, then kind of flat, then uphill again, then up and across a pedestrian bridge over the highway, then it was kind of downhill, then we went uphill again . . . Seeing a trend here? Anyway, we finished an uphill part, then there was a steep decline–which is where I think I made up some time. Then it was slightly uphill to flat to the finish. I overshot a turn–along with some other runners–and had to backtrack and catch the correct turn. Sigh. I totally could have finished before about 5 more people. Oh well. I finished in 1:03:54 (28th place overall and 11th in the 1-30 age group). A little slower than my first 10k, but I’ll take it considering the ridiculous amount of hills. 🙂 I really do love the 10k distance.
Cute shirt
The race was really small–I’d say like 60-75 runners–which was nice. It meant there was a better chance that a gal in our group would win an age group or a raffle prize. And two of us did–a raffle prize, that is! I won a $20 gift card to a local pizza place, and another Blister Sister won a gift bag from Chik-fil-a. Good times. The finish line food and stuff was really good too. Chik-fil-a breakfast sandwiches, fruit, water, rootbeer, and chocolate chip cookies. The swag bag was also pretty good. Nice tech shirt with a cute design, actually useful coupons and a bulb for a butterfly plant, which I thought was cool since it was an Earth Day race (even though Earth Day is on Monday).
The route was really hilly, but I kind of feel awesome that I ran a good race on hills. The course support was pretty good, though I wish the finish area route were marked a bit better and that the race weren’t so far from home (little over a half hour). I’m only saying the distance thing is a problem because we have like a billion races in my town. All in all, it was a good race, and I’d run it again.
