Yesterday, I ran the race of my life. I never intended to do so, but sometimes the unexpected happens.
Barbigirl and I went to Toronto for the weekend to do the Toronto Waterfront Marathon. This was the 2nd time around in this race (and distance) for me. Last year, this race destroyed me, chewed me up, and spit me out. I had a bad taste in my mouth for the last 12 months about it. This year, I planned on doing things different, a lot less aggressive than last year (last go around I was hell bent on qualifying for the Boston Marathon). This year, I had a more modest time goal, 3:20ish and was really just hoping to run the entire race without having to stop and walk. I convinced myself over and over and over again during training to not go out and try and run the sub 3:10 that is needed to qualify for Boston (the toughest qualifying time at that), and to just run the race and prove to myself I could run a good race. I though, hey, if I run less than 3:20 I would be stoked.
Well, like I said, sometimes the unexpected happens. I DESTROYED my goal. Killed it. Buried it, along with that bad taste of lasts year race. 3:05:46. Yes, that's right.. Boston. Not just the 3:10 I needed, but killed the qualifying time. Ran an almost perfectly even race. Last half was less than a minute slower than my first - not an easy task in 42 k.
I honestly had zero intention of doing that. But everything was exactly perfect. Shoes felt like slippers, weather was gorgeous, training went great, I felt good etc....
The first 10 KM, I was practically pleading with myself to slow down. But I couldn't, and by 18 KM I knew I was committed to the pace I was running. By 32 KM, I KNEW I had it, and the only thing that would stop me would have been an injury. I placed 130 out of 2700 runners (but like 40 of those are world class elite marathoners).
Anyway...done bragging.
Barbi did great too. Ran the entire thing (huge accomplishment) and broke her time goal of 4 hrs by a few minutes. Sweet....
Later
Barbigirl and I went to Toronto for the weekend to do the Toronto Waterfront Marathon. This was the 2nd time around in this race (and distance) for me. Last year, this race destroyed me, chewed me up, and spit me out. I had a bad taste in my mouth for the last 12 months about it. This year, I planned on doing things different, a lot less aggressive than last year (last go around I was hell bent on qualifying for the Boston Marathon). This year, I had a more modest time goal, 3:20ish and was really just hoping to run the entire race without having to stop and walk. I convinced myself over and over and over again during training to not go out and try and run the sub 3:10 that is needed to qualify for Boston (the toughest qualifying time at that), and to just run the race and prove to myself I could run a good race. I though, hey, if I run less than 3:20 I would be stoked.
Well, like I said, sometimes the unexpected happens. I DESTROYED my goal. Killed it. Buried it, along with that bad taste of lasts year race. 3:05:46. Yes, that's right.. Boston. Not just the 3:10 I needed, but killed the qualifying time. Ran an almost perfectly even race. Last half was less than a minute slower than my first - not an easy task in 42 k.
I honestly had zero intention of doing that. But everything was exactly perfect. Shoes felt like slippers, weather was gorgeous, training went great, I felt good etc....
The first 10 KM, I was practically pleading with myself to slow down. But I couldn't, and by 18 KM I knew I was committed to the pace I was running. By 32 KM, I KNEW I had it, and the only thing that would stop me would have been an injury. I placed 130 out of 2700 runners (but like 40 of those are world class elite marathoners).
Anyway...done bragging.
Barbi did great too. Ran the entire thing (huge accomplishment) and broke her time goal of 4 hrs by a few minutes. Sweet....
Later
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
haphazardous:
Congrats!
bender99:
Wow you did awesome! I am really impressed! I think next year I am going to make the jump to the marathon. When I was finished the half I felt like I could have done it if I had trained a little more. I hope to get a few half marathons and then do the full waterfront marathon.