“Heading to Our Finish Line” Taken by my bestie on our 9 mile run yesterday
The first week of the new year is always full of promise. I don’t think there is any other way to slice it. Somehow, hope rears it’s head through the mid-winter sludge and for a while we all believe that we can. I went for a run on New Years Day and the trails were packed with people in fresh new workout gear and unscuffed shoes. It was almost as if with one voice they were saying, “This year will be different!” I wanted to tell each of them that it COULD be different, that they CAN change their lives if only they are willing to put in the hours and log the miles and change just about everything they were doing before. I mean, so far that’s worked for me.
The runners packing the trails aren’t the only ones with goals though. I too have set out some hopes for this coming year. But, as a lesson learned, I never make goals for the ENTIRE year. I break them up into quarters so they are smaller and more achievable. This years goals are SO vastly different from last years! They are less about GETTING healthy, and more about STAYING that way. What a road it’s been. So! I’m going to share some of my goals with you throughout this week. Starting here in this post! I know, it’s almost too much excitement for one entry. 🙂
My first goal of the first quarter of 2013 is: Finish the Tinkerbell Half Marathon
I’m not giving myself a time I want to have, I’m not saying what pace I want to run it in – none of that. The only goal I have for this race is to cross the finish line before a golf cart picks me up. When I started training I was hell bent on finishing in under 3 hours and having an 11 minute pace (don’t mock the slowness) and I had visions of me racing across the finish line with not even a hair out of place… well… that was before my first long run. After my first long run and realizing I had A LOT to figure out about how my body and my mind handled long runs I decided to give myself A LOT more grace with this first race. I swept all those time and pace and looking super hot goals right out the door. My goal, plain and simple, is to finish that race.
Yesterday my best friend Jill (hereinafter refereed to as Best Friend Jill) and I ran our 9 mile training run as we approach race day in a couple weeks. I was actually incredibly excited about the run. I had my fueling ready (thank you Lara Bars for being Whole30 compliant!), my sexy new shoes and my hot pink running pants on. I was READY! And the first half of that run I KILLED IT! Amazing pace, keeping hydrated, feeling GOOD. We stopped at mile 3 for a potty break because there were no other bathrooms on the route. From there I failed to restart my running app which I didn’t realize until mile 4.5 when I completely bottomed out. There I was, running along, singing with my music, enjoying every step and then BOOM! I could not get one foot in front of the other. Best Friend Jill was about a minute behind me and by the time she caught up I had realized my app wasn’t running and that I had waited MUCH too long to fuel. The wind was knocked out of me, and out of my run. I was SO frustrated. What had started as one of my best runs ever had become my worst. I was so frustrated and angry. But Jill is amazing, and she would NOT let me give up. We started back just walking while I fueled, and then did intervals (run from one light pole to the next, walk from there to the next then run again) for the rest of the way home. We even sprinted the last eighth of a mile to the end.
Despite being bummed about not having an accurate account of the run and bottoming out like I did, I am SO proud of that run. I learned I need to fuel more often, I learned I need to start a little slower and not worry about my pace so much (for now), and I learned that my best friend has been my best friend since second grade for a REASON. She’s a total badass who pushes me to do and be my best in JUST the right way. More than all of that though, I learned about the power of finishing – no matter what happens on the route, finishing is the BEST feeling ever.
unweighable joy 
I love you.