On a crisp Fall morning in September in Columbia, MO, I lined up with a buddy of mine and 700 or so of our closest friends and we ran the Roots N Blues N BBQ half-marathon.
I had a BLAST. I haven't been running as a sport for too long, a few years now, but I had yet to run the Half as a race. I've run a couple runs of 13.1 on my own and turned in sub-3 hour times so I figured I wouldn't be in too much hardship if I ran one as a racer in some sort of more formal race setting. So, I called up my dear friend Craig and told him about it and a few weeks later there we were standing in the Start line, waiting for the gun to pop so we could all just run for a few hours or so.
The race itself wasn't too much to speak of. I mean, it's 13.1 miles along what was mostly a pretty scenic course of wooded river bottoms and the University of Missouri campus. There was a pretty even split of road course and trail (mostly on chat and gravel) that gave me a pretty good running tour of a town I've been to a bunch but never really been out in. I suspect this is what the race course designers were going for, but it may happen that they lucked in to it. I'm pretty sure I was their intended target in the design as well ;)
As for the racer, well, that is a different story altogether. My ultimate goal was to finish, which was pretty simple since I knew it could be done, but I did end up with a few take-aways from the race that I truly need to focus on:
#1: Better Race Prep
I spent the night at my friend's house the night before and, as usual, we stayed up a little too long, drank a little too much, and then got a bad night's rest. On the plus side, we ate well and did drink plenty of water. In the morning, I was rushed to get the car seat back together after my daughter had puked in it the night before, so my wife could drive the
girls down to the finish line and watch their father hobble across and earn his Mic Ultra Lite. I have more to say about the Michelob Ultra Light, but I'll save that for another post. Anyway, I was rushed. This led to me not really eating a great breakfast: half a cup of coffee and a banana. THAT could have been better with another banana and the other half of my cup of coffee.
#2: Effort
Around mile 9.5, because of my aching knee, my throbbing ankles, my tired legs, and mostly my stupid, stupid brain, I quit running and began to walk a bit. Okay. I limped, but I wasn't running. I could have continued on in a slow run (13'/mile pace or so) and still been okay, but instead I quit on myself and walked a bit. I didn't stop and sit down or DQ myself from the race because I was tired, but I needed to put some more effort into running the entire time instead of letting my physical tiredness affect my attitude. This item dovetails into the next one nicely.
#3: Attitude
This is really the crux of the whole race. Every race. Everything, actually, and it is why the majority of this post is just this one item. Every time I train, or you for that matter, your attitude is what ultimately determines how well you or I will do. When I wake up and am kind of tired and don't really -FEEL- like going for a run but I go for a run anyway, I feel great afterwards and am so happy that I did. Conversely, when I don't go for a run and I give in to that weakness of being tired or not wanting to put in the effort, I ALWAYS, without fail, always feel bad about not running or going to the gym or whatever it was that I knew I should have done. When I give in to that weakness is when I regret the decision to be weaker. Now, am I 100% in getting up early and running and then taking the girls to daycare before work? No. I accept that I won't always be able to get to bed at 21:30 and be up by 05:00 for a 30 minute run and then shower and get dressed before everyone is awake at 06:00. Its life. I don't always get 8 hours of sleep. I don't always wake up on my own or set my alarm or whatever. That's being human. I know what I need to do, but I don't always get it done. So eating better is affected by this item. My race prep was affected by this item. I know I need to eat a better diet. I know I need to get a better pre-race routine in before I run. It doesn't always happen.
At the same time, if my attitude is in the right place, if I'm focusing on running with a more efficient stride, making a mid-sole foot strike as opposed to a heavy heel strike. If I focus on not looking down at my feet, at keeping my head up, my race will go better. It will be "easier". The "easy" will be in the physical side of this. The difficulty lies in winning the battle with my mind. The reason for this is simple: My Mind is Brilliant and I'm an Idiot. My mind makes tiny, little chips at the base of my confidence to weaken my resolve. My mind does not just make one big fatal blow at my resolve and try to kill it because it knows I WANT to run 13.1 miles. My mind is more Sun Tzu and I'm more General Custer. I go straight for the issue so that if my mind wants me to quit I just try to over-power it. It works. Sometimes. What ends up killing me is my mind creeping in on me with things about how I'm tired, or that one little nagging spot on my calf and how I should really get it looked at. THAT little issue is probably going to cause me to get tired.
Those things are what kill me. Death by a thousand cuts instead of one mighty slice. And they come from where you're not expecting them. Let me give you this example: Craig and I are standing there in the throngs of the start group. We're surrounded by our fellow racers and we're all in pretty much the same boat. Its early, we've all had some amount of caffeine to get us going. We all trained to a greater or lesser degree. We're all aware of what we get to do and what we're about to do. It's not like any of this is a big surprise to any one of us standing there at that moment. Craig and I are joking about our respective deaths on the course or failures to finish and at that moment a very sweet younger runner turns to us and says "Oh, I LOVE the Half. Its my FAVORITE distance. You'll love it too, after this."
Now, let me just pause the conversation here. Craig and I are both farting distance from 40 so we're closer to that whole "over-the-hill" bullshit than I really even care think about. This girl, cute as she was, didn't know either of us from Adam and she didn't really even have to acknowledge our existence or even offer up her opinion on our stupid little jokes of self-doubt. The fact that she did, however, that she gave some of her knowledge to us, is a testament to her. She was trying to help us out and we were just stupid old men standing there filled with self-doubt from our shoes to our ears. Bill Nye is right*: "Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don't." I should have listened to him. I mean, he's the freaking Science Guy for crying out loud. Who am I?
Okay, time-in: So Craig and I laugh it off (we weren't rude, just stupid) and go back to our own little fear factory talking about who is going to return whose corpse to their respective spouse. A short time later there's a little pop, a puff of smoke, and we're out on the course. Yadda-yadda-yadda, we finish the race and drag our crampy asses back home to lick our wounds and sleep for the rest of the day.
So let's take a look at this for a moment. This nice young girl offers us some positive experience from her experience and we kind of crap on it. Not on her, but just the positivity she offered us. Would accepting that little kindness from her have made either of us finish the race any faster? Who knows. But the fact that we just kind of ignored it and favored our own little blend of hilarious fear certainly didn't help us to enjoy the day any more. Maybe her statement would have kept me from walking at one point, maybe not. I do know that I wouldn't regret that one moment when a sweet kid tried to help me race just a little bit better that morning. THAT was the dick move because it turns out that she was right. The Half *is* a fun distance. Is it my favorite? No, but that doesn't mean I'm never running another one again.
In fact, not 2 days after I finished my first Half, I was chatting with my wife about when I was going to run my NEXT half. I think I have it picked out, too. The Kentucky Derby Festival Mini-Marathon is April 19, 2014. And that's pretty much perfect.
I will have about 8 months to rehab some of the actual injuries I have; I can address a number of form issues I need to work on; I will be able to train during the cooler part of the year, which is always great since my favorite time of year to run is in the Fall; and I can do better in this next race and focus more on the positive outcome as opposed to all the horrible things I am afraid of that I know won't happen.
That being said, there are a few logistics to work out for this, but I will save all of those for another post.
What about you, Dear Runner? Do you have any special items or issues you took away from your last race? Am I completely off my nut? I would love to hear about them in the comments below.
* I don't know that Bill Nye is THE FIRST person to who have said this, but in the Internet ages it has long been attributed to him. What? Am I NOT going to give The Science Guy props? Pssssh. Runner, please.
No comments :
Post a Comment