Running Worries Out Loud

 

Do you know about or utilize the website Athlinks to keep track of all of your races?

I can’t recall when I first learned about this website but once I found out that such a site existed, it was pretty cool to claim my name and see all of my races and associated finish times listed.

 

I sort of forgot about this website until earlier this week when I started thinking back to my first 10k race, the Great Cow Harbor 10K, which I ran three years ago right around now, two weeks before my first ever half marathon.

 

During the Cow Harbor 10k, I recall approaching the finish line questioning how in the world I was going to run 13.1 miles at the Hershey Park Half when finishing the last .2 of the 10k felt like death.

Of course two weeks later in Hershey Park, I completed the distance just fine, but I always recall this pre-half marathon worry from my past because worries such as this are normal (right?) and in some ways, going through these thought processes helps to make us stronger runners.

Monday morning’s run is what sparked this 10k memory. Let’s talk about it.

I came out my front door flying, the temperature was around 59 degrees and I felt fast and glorious.

My only issue was that MapMyRun was giving me splits that did not seem accurate at all, at least for the first five miles.

I was in my groove and feeling light on my feet but my pace was telling me something different.

Each time that voice chimed in my ear with my current pace, I couldn’t help but slightly freak out wondering if the tracking was simply inaccurate, which it has been happening lately, or so much worse, that I was possibly off in judging how I felt in relation to my pace.

I easily felt as though I was running a good 30 seconds faster per mile than MapMyRun was telling me.

A part of me does think the tracking was slightly off but I will never know for sure (especially since I changed my route a bit so I couldn’t go by normal mile markers) so of course some panic started to set in.

If this is how an 8:30 pace feels right now, how the heck am I going to hold a pace 30-40 seconds faster than this for 13.1 miles on October 3rd?

Maybe I am getting old. Maybe I can’t expect to run any faster. Maybe my fastest half was in May 2013 right before I turned 35.

Am I really 37? That sounds old. But I don’t feel old. What is old these days anyway.

I was never one to put pressure on myself or allow life’s stresses to get to me and I am not at all competitive.

Unless you try to steal my dessert, I am a naturally calm person who goes with the flow on a daily basis in every area of my life.

This run though ignited some sort of fear in me for my upcoming half marathon mainly because I have applied some pressure in terms of setting a finish time PR goal for myself.

And, not only have I selected a PR time, I have announced it to everyone, including you.

I quickly pondered all of this in swirling waves of thoughts during Monday’s miles until I realized a few things which calmed me down back to my normal relaxed frame of mind.

This run felt terrific. Regardless of my pace, I was happy and feeling great, dancing to this 1980’s classic when it came on Pandora.

See, I am old.

I know that when the music I am listening to while running makes me dance, I am having a good run. So who cares what my pace was?

Next I thought about all of the positives of race day running:

*I will have the additional adrenaline of the race atmosphere which always helps me pick up my pace.

*My legs will feel even better after a taper week.

*The temperature on race morning should be nice and cool by the first week of October.

*My favorite running shoes are broken in and ready to go.

You know I love a pair of running shoes when I untie them before slipping them off.

*Rumor has it the Great South Bay half marathon course is flat and pretty, not to mention, sponsored by Entenmann’s which means goodies at the finish line.

*I am prepared and ready to do the best that I can, whatever my best is for that morning.

So long as you try your best, you must be proud of yourself. We cannot totally control what happens during any race or any run for that matter and we must accept that…and run with it.

Thanks for listening! Be sure to check out what everyone else is thinking about today!

[bctt tweet=”Putting Race Worries In Perspective #running #halfmarathontraining #athlinks #thinkingoutloud “]

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Do you use athlinks?

What songs have you been loving lately while running?

How do you talk yourself down from the tree when you have pre-race worries?