Why My 5th Half Marathon Will Be Awesome

I’m running my 5th half marathon on Sunday.  It will be the second time I run this race, my first repeat half marathon!

The Chilly Half Marathon: About two months after my first half marathon last September, I ran my second.  It was the Chilly Half Marathon that Greg was running with many of his coworkers, and that I usually watched from the sidelines.  I’d worked so hard to reach the point where I could run a half marathon that I wanted to participate instead of watching from the side.

About a mile into the race, I met up with someone from Greg’s company who runs a similar pace.  His companionship distracted me from the physical and mental challenges of the race, and for the first time in my life I was surprised by each mile marker.  Motivated to stick with him and not jeopardize his running goal, I ran an impressive PR, shaving ten minutes off my first half marathon time from only two months before.  Not only did I run about 45 seconds faster per mile than in my previous race, I finished with a smile.

I still haven’t beaten that PR.

My failed PR attempt in June: I gave it an attempt in June, heading out at around 10 minute miles for the Runner’s World Heartbreak Hill Half Marathon.  I got my heart broken around mile 7.  No hill required.  I walk/jogged my way to a disappointing finish, my worst half marathon time and barely under 2 hours and 30 minutes.

That experience led me to train hard all summer, take the distance seriously, and run a cautious race at my fourth half marathon in October.  My goal for the Maine Half Marathon was not to take risks: I would start out at a pace I knew I could maintain for 13.1, and pick it up at mile 10 or 11 if I could.  I didn’t.  I finished in 2:17:49, slower than my previous year’s PR of 2:16:12.

Ok.  So I worked hard all summer.  I started doing track repeats several times a month.  I added cross training (and have stuck with those spin classes).  I increased my mileage.  Yes, I had a little bit of a tough fall… but only compared to how much I was training at the beginning of the summer, not compared to LAST fall.

So why I was faster at Chilly last year than at the Maine Half Marathon this year?

Because my race partner helped me through my biggest racing challenge: mental toughness.

In order to run your fastest race, you need to choose a realistic pace, but then you also need to believe you can run the pace you’re setting out at.  You have to conquer the fear of not finishing and have the confidence to race each mile, one at a time, at that challenging pace.  You need to feel and accept the pain, and know exactly how much pain per mile you can take and still make it to the finish.

I over-estimated myself last June, and it caused me to play it safe in October.  Playing it safe cost me a PR.  I had the race I wanted; I ran steady, never stopped running, and felt consistently good the entire way.  I needed that after my horrible race in June.  But expecting myself to “pick it up” if I felt good towards mile 10 wasn’t the best strategy.  I’d settled in at that point, and even dropping the pace by 30 seconds per mile wouldn’t have been enough to lead to a PR.  I needed to maintain a faster pace throughout the race, spreading the effort (pain) across the miles to achieve maximum results.

Why I was able to run so well last November:

Confidence: I had the recently discovered confidence of a runner who has just completed their first half marathon and knows they can run the distance.  I was no longer worried about finishing, I was excited to see how fast I could finish.

Distraction: I had a running partner who distracted me from the effort I was putting in.  Instead of my normal silence, which gives my brain far too many opportunities to analyze my current pace, running performance, pain level, fear of finishing, etc. – I had light, enjoyable conversation.  The mile markers surprised me.  The doubts didn’t have time to surface.  I was thinking about all sorts of things that had nothing to do with whether or not I would finish – or how fast.

Pacer: I just had to stick with my running partner, who was a very experienced runner and stayed steady at his goal pace.  There was no reason for me to check my watch every thirty seconds, so I could settle into my stride and zone out the Garmin – and all associated mental baggage.

Motivation: I WANTED to trust that my impromptu race partner would keep going if I dropped below his goal pace, but I was secretly terrified that I would prevent him from reaching his goal if I didn’t keep up.  What if he fell back because he was talking to me and didn’t notice that our pace had dropped, and I ruined his race for him?  That’s a lot more motivation than “your PR will be 8 minutes faster than your first race instead of 10 if you slow down!”

Disclaimer: A perfectly paced running partner is not the only way to achieve distraction and mental toughness.  It’s the way I discovered the importance of mental toughness, and achieved a PR in the process, but perfect running synergy is not the only way!  When I figure out how to do it on my own I’ll let you know 😉

My Hopes for Chilly This Year:

I have mixed feelings about the race – it’s been a difficult fall in terms of finding time to run, leading me to write blog posts titled “Why I Probably Won’t Sign Up for a Half Marathon Next Fall” and “Being a Mother Runner Means Sometimes You Don’t Run”.  Wow.  Sure makes me sound prepared, doesn’t it.

At the same time, I ran a steady, solid race in October, and I’ve stayed active.  My jet-lagged, champagne loving self enthusiastically ran 3 miles and biked 10 last Sunday in Paris.  I’m stronger than I was a year ago.

Besides… I e-mailed my impromptu race partner from last year, and we’re running together again!  I don’t know how long I can maintain his goal pace of 9:58, but I’m excited to find out.  I managed it for just over 6 miles in June.  But that was June, unprepared, by myself.  Now it’s November, after a summer of training and a steady October race, and I won’t be facing the challenge alone.

Last year my race time improved 10 minutes between September and November.  To meet his goal of 9:58 pace, I’d need to improve 7 minutes between October and November this year.

Dare I hope?

I do.

I am better than I was last year, I am stronger than I was in June.  I will embrace the pain mile by mile straight until the finish, and I will run myself into the ground keeping up before I quit.  That’s an attitude I lacked in October when I played it safe.  It’s time to try something different.

PR, here we come?