13.1

That is right! I am now part of the half marathon club. 3 of my good friends were signed up for a half marathon that was 2.5 hrs away. Crazy I thought. Why would you do a race so far away? You would have some serious child care issues. And then I realized that if you resolved your child care issues, you would then have a mini trip. Hmmmmmm. Plus I have always wanted to run a marathon just to run a marathon and knew I needed peer pressure so thought I might give it a whirl. So I ran 8 miles with my friends 6 weeks ago and it went really well, so I signed up........and then the next day happened and I was soooooo sore! I was regretting that decision immediately. Turns out I am really quite busy too and to find the time to train properly was difficult. With Ryan's unusual schedule of working a week on and a week off, I really didn't run much his week on because I would have to run between the hours of 8pm to 5am - and lets face it, those are my useless hours. Then of course I was working more then normal getting trained in the ER so my training was full of holes and the longest I ever ran was 9 miles with very little running during the last 3 weeks before the race. As the date approached I realized I am going to need something more then training to make me successful. So I devised a plan. I was going to capitalize on visualization, positive thinking, prayer and trial my sister homeopathics. I know, you guys are laughing at me right now, but that is all I had to work with at this point. I also knew from my past endurance activities, success is largely your frame of mind and merely just keeping your body moving.

The day before the race I dropped my boys off at my sisters (Ryan was working) and headed down with one of my friends to stay at her parents house that was 30 min away from the race site. I had psyched myself out for success by this point, was confident and very optimistic - To accomplish this I just disconnected the rational part of my brain and ignored the lack of miles that I had logged. It was as simple as that. It was almost a running joke between the two of us. The weather was suppose to be terrible on race day with a 60% chance of rain and temps in the 50's, but I was positive it was not going to rain and 55 deg is perfect running weather - right everybody? (I swear there has been more then once that sheer positive thinking has staved off bad weather for me - and so I applied it now. History had my back.) The course was described as "rolling hills." We all wondered what that meant and when we saw the "rolling hills" our hearts sunk just a bit. But what does a positive thinking semi-delusional person say? I am glad you asked. They say, "oh, no worries. As you get closer the hills get flatter. It won't be a problem at all." Again the rational portion of my brain had been disconnected so this was an easy sell. You don't even want to know how homeopathics work. All you need to know is if they work, and that day, they would. I just knew it.

And so the race began. As I began running I told my self stuff like, "Quinae, this is your reality now. Get use to it. You are going to be doing this for a long time. It is not a problem, it is just your new reality. Adjust." This speach with some good moving music, I felt pretty good. I hit a wall around 7- 8 miles which honestly is delayed for me. I usually hit a wall at 4 miles, so I was well pleased. The 4 mile wall though is usually psychological and this wall was a fatigue one which was pretty much right on time. It was just harder to move my legs. They were tired. So, I visualized my fat stores breaking down glucose, and flooding my blood stream for some quick fuel for my muscles for about a mile. This didn't really get me results. So, I said, "Body, you are just going to have to figure out how to do it, because I am going to expect more from you starting now." The reason why this thought even came into my head is because I have noticed there are some people that can get so much better and consistent behavior out of my kids and one of my theory is because they expect more (and are really consistent) and the kids eventually rise the occasion. I wondered if this would work with my body. I was the boss of it doggonit. It was just going to have to figure out a way to please the boss. I picked up my pace a bit and it actually seemed to work. My legs were still tired but it wasn't as hard. Hitting the 9 mile marker was uncharted territory, but "it is not problem. I am just running for a really long time. That is all. That is just what I do." At 11 miles we hit our biggest hill. "That is okay. No worries. It going to be hard, but that is what I do. I am a doer of hard things. In a few minutes it will be over. All I have to do is keep moving." Mile 12 - this is where I had to really yell at my pscyche. Knowing I was so close and there was only one mile left was when I wanted to get distracted and expect the end at every turn. I tweaked my ipod for my best running songs and knew I just had to run through 2 last songs. "Ignore the next curve. You have to get through 2 songs before the next curve can mean anything. Remember this is just what you do! You are a doer of.... " and then without permission another voice said, "Oh shut up! I know the end is near." Apparently my rational brain turned back on. "ignore the mean voice behind the curtain." I tried to save face. Sigh "legs just please, please don't stop that is all I am asking."

For the last half of the race there was a girl that I kept passing and she kept passing me. The last .5 miles she passed me again. Till now the longest race I had ever done was an 8K (5 miles ish) and I was 16. However, on all my past races I can usually give a good sprint in the last 100 yards or so. So I banked on that because I couldn't seem to keep up with her at that moment. In the end I was surprised I could sprint at all, but sprint I did and we tied. It was awesome. We both giggled as we crossed because once she caught wind of what I was doing she started to book it too. It was absolutely anaerobic those last 100 yards. That sprint sucked every last ounce of oxygen out of my muscles - I was almost numb, but it was totally worth it.

I crossed in 2:01 and 44 seconds. I was very pleased. It was faster then my training pace. My goal was 10 min miles and this logged me at 9:18 min miles.

Verdict

-I won the psych race of a half marathon. - Even though it was hard it was not emotionally painful at all which when it comes to running and me, that is saying something. I totally believe in personally psyching myself for success. Based on my training this should have gone much worse. The human mind rocks.

-I am so happy with the results. Yeah, it may not be that fast but it was the best that I could do.

-I do not have a need to do a Marathon -EVER

-I don't have a need to do a 1/2 marathon - ever again either

-I re-learned that running is not that fulfilling to me compared to other physical activities

- Even though I don't really like running, I love the energy of races and will probably keep doing them. 10K is now my personal max - guilt free.

P.S. It never rained. The weather really was perfect running weather.