(Rocky Theme)
Alarm off.
There's no need to hit the snooze on my phone, especially on race day. As I lay in bed, rubbing my eyes sweat starts to bubble up on my skin. It's hot, even at this time of the morning. Having a lot of rain the past week and it's almost July, I know I can plan on somewhat of a humid day. I slowly start to process the day ahead of me as I lay in bed staring at the ceiling. I roll over and stare at he moonlight shining faintly though a crack in the bedroom window. Slowly spacing out and slipping back into dream land I decide to get up and start to make my way to my gear I set out the night before. By 5am, as scheduled, everything's ready to go and my girlfriend and I are out the door. The one hour or so ride seems to fly by as I am ecstatic as normal before the race. My girlfriend on the other hand, not so much. Sipping on her coffee and questioning how in the world I am so awake at this time of day is nothing new to me.
Being my second half marathon in almost a month I have a better idea of what lies ahead. I have a little extra motivation I decided to bring along this time though. In the early morning, while getting ready, I was thinking about how the first half marathon I did seemed to fly by along with a roller coaster of emotions throughout. I decided this time I wanted to take everything in and just enjoy the journey. I grab some tape and a marker and write "Enjoy the Journey" on it to help remind myself when I get wildly out of control sprinting up a hill or if one by one every runner in the race seems to be passing me to just relax and enjoy the journey and not get caught up in competition. I ask my girlfriend to write something on there too since she cannot be at every mind road block I encounter as well to help. And trust me, the simple "I (heart) you" got me through some tough times, even though she might not believe me.
We pull up to the park where the race start line is and of course, I'm one of the first ones there. I check in and get my bib number and head back to the car to get everything situated and ready. About 15 minutes before the race, or so I thought, the announcer tells everyone the half will start at 7:15 not 7 as there was a mix up in some time reports in the paper. Oh great! I think. More time to warm up and spend standing in the start line. I do a quick jog to get loosened up some more and find my way to the front of the start. The volunteer at the start notices we still have about 10 minutes until things get started so he rattles off some race trivia, which I had no idea to any of the answers, but it was better than standing in awkward silence the whole time. I space out and focus on the next 13.1 miles and before I know it we're seconds from taking off. With a loud ready, set GO (horn blow) we're off.
I start out at a more comfortable pace than I did for my first half, but still pretty fast for me (about 6:45min/mile). I keep the two lead runners within sight for the first 3 miles as they start to pick up their pace around a few corners. Around the 4th mile I notice my shirt is absolutely drenched in sweat. Hooray humidity! I take in some water that I brought along and slightly slow down my pace as I am still in 3rd. The course goes along a golf course and up a few hills before the pavement turns to gravel. I look back and see a few runners creeping up behind me and as their footsteps become closer and louder I try to keep up with them as long as I can, but eventually let them pass as I still have quite a ways to go.
I feel pretty good so far as I knock out a few miles at a relatively quick pace with no one in sight. Around mile 6 or so I hear, what sounds like an olympic sprinter running up behind me. He passes and I think, there's absolutely no way I'm going to keep up with that crazy (who ended up coming in first) and continue to run my own race as planned. A few rolling hills and still on gravel I come upon a gut wrenching smell from a farm right next to the road. Now, don't get me wrong, I love farms, but being from the city and running mostly on city roads I'm not sure if I should hold my breath (which would NOT be a good idea while running) or run faster. After a few seconds I either get used to the smell or it passes as I come close to the half way mark.
At this point in the race I'm really starting to struggle as my mind starts to wonder off and I ask myself why the heck am I even doing this, when will I be done, only 7 more miles to go, or 8... or 7, ugh I need to walk. No just keep running. You've already ran this far just keep going only a few more miles to go. I look down at the writing on the tape one my wrist, "Enjoy the Journey" and what my girlfriend wrote on the bottom side,"I (heart) you". I quickly forget about all the daunting questions that could have slowed me down and gradually pick up my pace. As I come up to mile 9 I see a sign that says, "Mile 9 and you're still lookin' fine". I think, psh of course I am. Looking down at my shirt, covered in so much sweat it looks like I took a detour and jumped in a lake to cool off. Yea, I'm looking wonderful ha.
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The last hill. Oh-my-god. As I ran up the hill that seemed like Mount Everest my legs felt like they were slowly sinking in quick sand. Before I reached the last water station I started unscrewing my water bottle to fill up for the last mile in case I hard core crashed or cramped before the end. I finally made it to the top and grabbed a few cups of water and met up with the runner that was behind me most of the race. "How about that hill?" he says. "Yea. That damn hill," I say as I feel my legs slowly starting to turn to Jello from stopping. I quickly fill up my water bottles and my new running partner Eric and I head off with only a mile to go and chat a bit. By this point both of us are really feeling the humidity and I think it would be a good to have someone to keep me company to the end.
With about a half mile to go we step up our pace together and see what's left in the tank for one last push to the end. Off in the distance, as we come down the final hill, I can see the top of the finish line. Best. Sight. Ever. Just around the corner and we're done! We quickly jaunt down the hill and around the corner to the finish. As we near the finish I see my beautiful girlfriend standing a few yards away from the finish line and I take off, not realizing, or trying to outrun my new friend, but to just finish. I sprint across the finish line and walk aimlessly around the finish coral and pick up my medal. Eric comes across shortly after me, bent over and out of breath he says, "Good run," as we bump fists and head over to get some water and food.
Once I meet up with my girlfriend, cool off, stuff my face with bananas and cookies I change clothes as we listen to awards for first place finishers in their age group for the 5k and 10k races that were also going on. After a while the results for the half were up and I could hardly believe my eyes. 6th place and 3rd in my age group!
After a week of reflecting on this race and my training in general I feel I have realized something that is hard for some to comprehend and take somewhat of a different approach to my "training", or as I now like call it living. What sparked this thought and new found philosophy came from a quote in the current book I am reading called, "Born to Run".
“There are two goddesses in your heart,” he told them. “The Goddess of Wisdom and the Goddess of Wealth. Everyone thinks they need to get wealth first, and wisdom will come. So they concern themselves with chasing money. But they have it backwards. You have to give your heart to the Goddess of Wisdom, give her all your love and attention, and the Goddess of Wealth will become jealous, and follow you.” Ask nothing from your running, in other words, and you’ll get more than you ever imagined.”
People have been conditioned to associate everything they do with materialistic items, time limits, false doubts that creep into their heads about ideas they have never even tried; ultimately losing sight of what they are really after resulting in a crash course to a life limiting themselves to less than their full potential. Not too often do we actually sit back and assess the moment we're in and come to the conclusion we are doing it for pure enjoyment. By doing what you love, no mater what it is, enjoy every minute of it as if there is no where else you would rather be. No matter what struggles may surface remember to enjoy the journey and you will get more than you ever imagined.
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| Standing at the finish before the race |
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| Almost to the end with Eric |
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| Bib and finisher medal |
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