Personal Best

When I ran my first half-marathon back in May, I wasn't sure what to expect. I had trained for 18 weeks, but didn't know how things would come together on race day, so I set a fairly broad and conservative goal. I didn't want to set too lofty of a goal and be disappointed if I fell way below it. I decided that I'd be happy with anything under 2 hours and 15 minutes. I ended up finishing at 2:02:52, and I was happy with that. Or so I thought.....

Being only 2 minutes and 52 seconds over the 2 hour mark, the excitement of the race had barely faded before I was already wanting to beat my personal record. I knew I wouldn't be satisfied until I finished under 2 hours. So I immediately signed up for the next half-marathon; it was scheduled for June 27.

The 6 weeks between the two races got really busy and I was finding it hard to even get in a couple runs per week. I was starting to worry that I would do even worse than my first time, rather than better. But I was determined to try my best.

The morning dawned overcast and gloomy. I was on my own this time - I had no support crew to drive me to the race, find parking, take pictures, or meet me at the finish line with a warm jacket. It was just me, myself, and I. My cat Tux was the closest thing I had to having a fan..... although, he didn't seem to be overly excited about taking a pre-race photo with me.

Only a couple km into the race, I realized I was already behind by several seconds for what I needed to finished under 2 hours. I picked up the pace slightly and after another couple km I was right about at pace. I worked hard through the entire race to make sure I was as close to the time I needed as possible. By the time I reached 19km, I was 10 minutes to the 2 hour mark. I knew I had to run the last 2 km FAST! So I started to really push it, but 10 minutes is a long time to run really fast. My muscles started burning and I was loosing steam. With only 2 minutes left, I started to question, "Why am I doing this?" "Is it really worth it?" "What will happen if I don't finish under 2 hours?" But I kept pushing on as hard as I could.

When I crossed the finish line, I was happy it was over. I had to wait for the official results to be published, but I had a pretty good feeling that my personal time was under 2 hours. When I saw my time - 1:59:45 - I knew it was worth every second of it! I finished under 2 hours. I set a personal best time. I was satisfied.....

For now. ;)

My shoes, my medal, my time.

Woooo Hoooo!!!