This is one of my favorite races ever. I love it. I have a mad crush on the mid-distance stuff, races that happen inside the city of Pittsburgh, and I have been with this race since it’s inaugural run. I LOVE it and look forward to it every year.
This year was no exception. The first year I ran this race I set the PR of 1:55:29. The next couple years were rough so I finished but they weren’t nearly as good, and I was okay with it, but the times were well over 2 hours. Last year I rolled in at 2:25:56. When I started running again this year, my goal was to come back in under 2 hours, I didn’t care if it was 1:59:59, I just needed to be under 2. At the time that felt tough but doable. Flash forward a few months and I run a 10-mile training run in 1:57. New goal: Beat my PR. Again, shaving off 2 minutes–tough but doable. Then my buddy and I went out last week and he pushed me beyond what I thought I could do and I came in at 1:52:29. The flood gates opened (see my post from last Wednesday if you’re just joining us now), anything felt possible. So I set a steeper goal for myself 1:50. I knew that I was going to PR no matter what, so that was ultimately enough for me, but I needed to put something scary out there and see if I could pull it off.
(me before the race)
I was pumped, I was ready, I genuinely believed I could do this, and I approached the race as such. For the first half or more of the race I was on track to do it, too–my splits were all 11 or better. But around mile 8 I just started to fall apart. I never stopped running. I ran every single step of this race, I didn’t walk for a second, but I slowed down a lot. I wanted to walk but I wouldn’t let myself, I knew that it wouldn’t end well, I knew I would lose too much time, and I knew that it would be that much harder for me to try to get myself to run again if I broke the little bit of momentum I had. I talked myself through it, recited that Marianne Williamson quote out loud–which oddly works as my pace picked up when I was going through the recitation, so maybe my buddy is onto something–and just kept going. I saw 1:49 pass, and 1:50, but the finish wasn’t too far off. So I dug deep and powered through to the finish. 1:52: 04–not the steep goal, but a definite PR (-3 minutes 25 seconds!) and faster than the previous week by 25 seconds. And I ran every step, which I haven’t been able to say since August 2013.
(finisher’s medal)
I’m not gonna lie–I was a little disappointed that I didn’t meet my goal, especially because I was on pace to do it for so much of the race. But I can say this–I left it all on the course. My husband said I was basically a zombie when I crossed the line, and I know I had nothing left to give. I did my best and that’s all I could do. And I just need to keep moving forward and decide what my goal is for the next set of races next year. How far can I push myself now that I know there is no limit?
I have a few more races to finish out the year, but they’re mostly for fun–holiday themed races and such, but nothing I’ll take too seriously. I still can’t wait…I love to race.
Happy Monday.