Last Thoughts Before Colfax

Well, today was my last long run before my first half marathon. I ran 12 miles with my friend Suzanne. We took it easy but the last 2 miles were still pretty tough. I feel confident that I will accomplish my goals next week - the race course is fairly flat while all of my training runs (and all of the races I've run so far) have been relatively hilly. I don't regret any hills I've run - they are what will make me surpass my expectations of myself.

And I usually target those expectations pretty low too - because I hate being disappointed. When I signed up for the half, I was thinking that I would do it in 2:45; and I made my primary goal to 'finish without barfing or peeing on myself'. Um, yeah. I've changed that... In the 12 weeks that I've been training, I've learned a few things about myself. And one of those things is that I sadly underestimate what I am capable of. I did it when I ran the 10K, and I did it when I ran the 15K. So I set some goals for Colfax and if I don't reach them but DO manage to finish without barfing or peeing on myself - then it's still a total win.

For the longest time, I've been thinking of myself as an 11:30 min/mile girl. Usually when I train, I am around that time. But when I ran the 15K, I actually stayed around 10 min/mile pace - except when going up the stupid WTF hill of death. (You can click on the graphs below to make them bigger...)

Lap Times

Altitude 

And when I finished that run, I actually felt pretty good - like I still had some gas left in the tank. So this got me to thinking; could I FEASIBLY attempt to maintain a 10 min/mile average for the half? That would have me finishing way, way before my original goal time of 2:45.... I'm even thinking worse case scenario now would be 2:25. I'd be okay with that too!

Yeah, yeah I know; "for your first half you should just focus on finishing". But I am too damn goal oriented. Driven. If I don't have something to aim for, I get lazy. Just finishing is a noble goal for sure, it's plenty good enough - but I don't want 'good enough'. I want to push myself to see what I am truly capable of. Because I've never been one of those people who do. That's the plan, Suzanne is on board - we'll see what happens.

So now, I taper... Well, I do want to skate either tomorrow or Monday though; the weather is supposed to be too good to resist.... THEN I taper... I'll run a 5K on Tuesday, 2 miles at race pace on Wednesday; and a nice, easy 2 miles on Thursday - then nothing on Friday and Saturday. I'll have the runners expo, focusing on eating super clean all week and the traditional pre-race pasta feast on Saturday night. I'll probably barely sleep at all that night, and Sunday I'll be a nervous ball of excitement, fear, and jitters. It's going to be glorious. But no matter what happens - I will be super proud of myself; because a year ago I couldn't even run down the block.