From the beginning, it was a bit of an adjustment for me. This trip marked only my 2nd time EVER on a plane (not that I'm afraid of flying...we just tend to do road trips for vacations...) and my first "destination" race so even simple things like getting used to the 3 hour time difference made me glad that we got to LV on Friday night, giving us some time to adjust to everything.
All in all...it was a fun race albeit I have some mixed emotions about it.
I was VERY nervous and while I'd be the first to admit I'm not generally a morning runner or a even a morning person (ask my hubby and he'll tell you! ha ha!), I realized that the pitfalls of running an evening race is...lots and lots of time for nerves to build up. Yep, nervous as HECK!
Perhaps due to poor planning on my part, I didn't really think about what / how / when I would fuel for this race. Typically when I run my long runs on the weekend, I stick to coffee, plain cereal, water...then I'm out the door (with gels and water for the road)...but a run later on threw me for a loop. I essentially ate breakfast for lunch...but then questioned whether I should have something a bit closer to my run (I realized later, because I didn't actually start running until 5:00, that I should have had something mid-afternoon).
The half started at 4:30 but participants were to be in their corrals for 4:00. Hubby and I walked down to the start area around 3:30 to be sure we knew where we were going. He left once I got to my corral around 4:00 and I quickly realized that I would be standing there. A. Long. Time.
I'm a pretty patient person and I honestly find it so interesting and fun to be around so many runners. Sometimes, I still don't consider myself a "runner" so I almost feel like I don't belong but on the flip side of that, it's always inspiring to me to see all the different shapes, sizes, ages, etc out there and just running. Still, there's only so much inspiration one can take prior to a race...I was in Corral 19 (corrals were based on predicted finish time) so by the time I got to the start gate, it was a little after 5:00 pm. This is not surprising, given the thousands of participants who were there...but for some reason, I felt like it threw me...I felt a bit deflated after waiting and waiting and once I got going, my legs felt heavy and the sheer closeness of the other runners....well, for lack of better term...annoyed me! LOL Again, nothing to fault the organizers of the race...but perhaps my own mental preparation...and even physical preparation.
The run itself was fun and a bit surreal. Definitely the busiest run I've ever taken part in. The wind was insane, so many of the mile markers were no longer up (which I didn't think would throw me since I had my Garmin, but I missed having that visual reminder). At about 5km, I was just over 32:00, but knew this would not be my best race. I took less walk breaks than I typically do and I know now that this was a mistake. I was feeling pretty good early on and feeling like I needed to make up for lost time. Not a smart move. My pacing felt all over the place and I also made the mistake of looking at my watch A LOT ...I think because the mile markers weren't there...and also because I noticed that the satellite signals would come and go and that annoyed me! LOL Then, as I headed into the last 7 km or so of the run, I realized any annoyances I previously had really didn't matter because the damn wind was just going to suck the life out of me anyway!!! Running against the wind is always something that I find very disheartening...I think mostly because it feels like maximum effort gets you nowhere. I pushed...and felt at the time that I was giving it my all...but alas, the clock would tell a different story.
When it's all said and done, I finished with a time of 2:22:26. The time itself initially disappointed me because I had hoped to match (or slightly better) my time of 2:14 at the Army run in Sept. After a bit of time and some reflection...and a super fun week in Vegas after the race...I think I realized that those races that are less than stellar are just as important as the ones that set PR's, etc. I learned a lot from this run--the factors that are out of my control and the ones that I do control. I totally can control my attititude and positivity level. My inital reaction was disappointment with the time, but you know what? It is what it is, and what an experience it was. I did enjoy it (despite what this post might read like...trust me, it was FUN!) and I learned so much. I also realized that one of the things I need to work on in running (and life, in general) -- is to just stop being so hard on myself. Sometimes it's okay to enjoy, without having expectations attached.
