I hereby declare 2014 the Year of Learning to Look at Things From a New Perspective! Case in point, today’s seemingly dismal half marathon: Time-wise, it was a big time Personal Worst at a road half, by something like 20 minutes. So you might think I’d be all disappointed or pissed, but the reality is that I had a really terrific day and honestly felt like I accomplished something I wasn’t sure I could. Yay me!
Let me rewind a little to the last few days, where I have been sicker than sick with terrible allergies. We’re talking about a head full of snot and wheezy, hacky lungs. Not pretty, and definitely not conducive to good running. I pulled the plug on a planned 6-miler before I even crossed the street yesterday morning, it was that bad. So, I readjusted my already lowered standards and just hoped I’d be able to walk the half at a decent hustle.
I got a pretty good night’s sleep and was up at the crack of night to drink coffee, eat oatmeal, make my post-race shake and attend my all-important “morning meeting.” I got dressed in an outfit just a tiny bit too warm for the weather if I was running, but that I hoped wouldn’t be too cold if I was walking. It was hard to judge, really.
We were on the road by 5:15 (race start was 7 am, and Modesto is about an hour away) and cruised right into some easy parking and no porto-potty lines. Score!
You can see on my face that I’m a little apprehensive about the day. |
Off like a herd of turtles! That’s me right of center in the socks and skirt. |
Happy to say that I survived this summit not once but TWICE on this course! |
I earned this. Official finishing time was 2:42:05, 893rd out of about 1400 participants. |
We worked extra hard for these medals today! |
Another medal for the rack o’ bling! |
Read it carefully. I guess there’s no spell-check on the engraving machine – oops!! |
Kate Geisen says
I saw your time on strava and was confused bc I know you’re faster than that…now I understand. I’m so impressed that you ran/trotted/walked 13.1 miles feeling that lousy! Most people would’ve DNS’d. So cool that a “bad” day can be such a good day. And how nice to run into old friends! My first 5k was a really big one in St. Louis. Even though it was completely packed, I ran into two friends I hadn’t expected to see. Just luck, but pretty neat.
Hope you’re feeling better soon!
ajh says
I’m not going to admit how long it took me to find the spelling error! That is so not okay.! Terrible!
I enjoy a race with no expectations once in awhile. I did a half in RI that was that way and I enjoyed it.
Good job and good attitude.
Running Librarian says
ongrats on hanging in there and completing your half! Hope you are starting to feel better. Nothing worse is feeling sick on race day!
HalfCrazed Runner says
It’s awful running a race when you’re not feeling well. I’ve had a few of those! Great job in finishing!
Michael says
I’ve done a couple of races before with nasty colds, it’s never fun and it pretty much sucks the life out of you. Great job not just getting through, but enjoying it and having a great attitude about the whole thing!