A Little Mental Toughness....

On Saturday, I set out with a few goals in mind...Well actually one goal and one default goal....Goal #1 was to set a PR in the Half-Marathon(1:47) and Default Goal was to set a PR for the Rock N Roll Seattle Half Course in case I did not set a PR for the day...

The day started out rough...4:15 a.m. Wake-up, get ready for the race, load up the family with the help of Vanessa and head over to Seattle...From 4:15-6:15 it was SMOOOOOOTH, then we got to the drop-off area...actually 15 blocks from the drop-off area...It was here that I had to get out...otherwise Vanessa and the kids would be in traffic for the next hour....I already made her get up at the butt crack of down, this may be pushing it.

So I got out and started walking with Hundreds of my closest friends to the Starting Line....2 Miles later, I was there....Let me think, the last thing I was to do before a Half Marathon is walk two miles...

It was now 6:45 a.m. and the race start was in 15 minutes..."Well, I had better start my watch"  Sometimes it takes a few minutes to pick up the satellites...Wanted it to be ready for the start..This is how I pace, how I motivate, how I stay on track.....HOLY SHIT!!!!!  That's right, it did not turn on...NOOOOOOOOOO, this could not happen...I already hurt, I was mentally tired...I needed it...I actually tried the damn thing for the next 5 minutes, to no avail, and with every failed start the SHITS, F#$%s etc. got louder...Now what?? Well I had to pee, and I had to pee bad...Have you ever been too a race with 27,000 people?  Well it seems as if all of them have to go to the bathroom at the same time...So after waiting in line for 9 minutes, It was time to get into my corral for the start...

How was I going to meet my goals...I have not run WITHOUT a watch in a race for over 2 years....First thing I did was look at my playlist...Memorized the order of the last 5 songs and told myself, when they start, I will have to be at mile 11+ or else....Then the gun went off, and we started to slowly progress to the starting line...When it was my turn, my corral was 9 minutes behind the start of the clock....and then it hit me, that will be my clock....

So for the next 13.1 miles, I would look at the time and subtract 7-9 minutes dependent on how I wanted to feel...and it worked...

It all worked, my music cues and the clocks...enough so that when I crossed the finish line at 1:54:23 I still had songs remaining and I had set a PR for the Rock n Roll Course...LAst year I ran it in 2:06...12 minutes better...I will take it....I missed a PR in the half by 6 minutes...so there is another goal.

So what did this race teach me...I have a little mental toughness....and I am going to need it as I move forward with my training for the Portland Marathon in October...My goal is to get back down under 200 by the start of the race, and to set a new PR for the Marathon...so for those of you keeping track, I will need to get a 3:58.....

Enjoy the pics...and thank you to all of you who read this and comment...I appreciate all of you....

Love

Chris

Thank you I-Pod....

The last month has been pretty brutal for my training...Why?  Well I never really took a break after the marathon...Instead I immediately jumped into the maintaining my miles for the next marathon on June 26th...So my feet have hurt, my achilles have hurt etc.  What did I do...Nothing, just have kept running...

Then today happened...I was supposed to do a 20 miler...supposed to do...That sounds so funny...Like anything less would be a failure...NOT...This 20 was already starting off bad, I had a great late night last night catching up with an old college friend...So I was a little tired this morning...

So I started out the run with all of the usual suspects, the water, jelly beans etc.  and of course my I-pod...The first 8 miles were great....then it happened...the I-pod died....actually the battery did...and I immediately felt the pain, tiredness and lack of energy kick in as I struggled through the next 2 miles...but what I did not know was that it would be the best two miles mentally that I had experienced in quite some time.

Rewind 3 years ago...the day after the Super Bowl in 2007....This was the day that I changed my life...Yes, I know that I have told this story before, but this time is different...The reason I changed my life originally was because I had a fear that I was going to die before ever seeing my children grow old, walk down the aisle, be a grandpa, celebrate my 10th, 15th, 20th etc.  Wedding Anniversary with Vanessa.... Yes, I know that anything can happen, but I had control of this...I had control of my weight, so that is why I started Running, and Running and Running...

Today though I realized that in running, running and running some more I have started to now jeopardize being able to do those things again...I have stopped listing to my injuries and have for reasons yet to be determined started to compete, compete and compete again with myself...I have always thrived on competition, loved competition and still do...but I have to remember to keep it in perspective, and make sure that my priorities are right....and no I have not been neglecting my family, but I do not want to start to or cause myself to by taking unnecessary risks...

That being said, I am going to switch my entry for the Marathon at the end of the month to a Half-Marathon entry....Why?  Because my body is telling me so...if I limp while running I am going to limp while playing with the kids etc.  So instead of running two marathons in two months I am going to go for setting two PB's in 2 months...a Marathon PB and a Half-Marathon PB...More Realistic?? Of Course??  But will it also allow my body to heal? Yes... Allow me more time with the family?? Yes...Which was why I started this journey in the first place...

So as I look forward to the year in advance and what races I will be competing in, I am changing my goals....Goal #1: Remember why I started this in the first place..#2: Spend more time with family #3: Set a PB on June 26th in the Half Marathon...#4: Set a PB in the Marathon in October at the Portland Marathon....

So thank you I-Pod for giving me 2 miles of perspective...