Reflections of a First Timer

So here is what I gleaned from my first half marathon experience:

1. You can do "everything right" and sometimes things just "go wrong". I paid attention to my nutrition and hydration all week. I followed the training program. I didn't have any physical ailments. I was ready. But I could not control the weather (it was really warm--62 degrees at the start and 75 at the finish), and unfortunately, I could not control my negative thoughts. Those 2 things really did me in.

2. Every burden is lighter when shared with family and friends. It was so nice to be a nervous wreck with a friend, to stand around the start together, to know that they would be running 13.1, too, to talk about being sore together...I loved the camaraderie of being at the race with a group. It was nice to talk about my fears (and be calmed) and talk about my disappointment (and be encouraged). Family and friends are the best.


3. Even though you can share the burden, ultimately, it's still you who has to carry the load. Even though it's so helpful to share the experience, in the end it was me who had to put one foot in front of the other for over 2.5 hours. There's no way around it. No one else can cross the finish line for you. In the end, it's just you and the pavement.

4. "Flat" doesn't mean the same thing in Dallas that it does in Amarillo. Enough said. It was really hilly compared to where I train.

5. If you're losing the physical battle, you can still win so long as you're winning the mental battle. The opposite is not true. There have been times my body hurt so badly I couldn't believe I was moving in a forward motion, but my mind was stronger than my physical pain so I pushed on. Relatively speaking, my body felt good on Sunday. No major aches and pains; I just lost a mental battle plain and simple. I mean, I actually verbalized at one point, "I cannot do this." I learned that I'm not as mentally tough as I thought I was. I love this quote:

"Now if you are going to win any battle, you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired in the morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired." George S. Patton, U.S. Army General, 1912 Olympian

6. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Jonathan really wanted to support me by "running with me". In fact, I know he thought he was doing so. This man is a kind, well intentioned man. In fact, sometimes I can hardly believe my good fortune. But him "running with me" turned into a complete disaster--we just can't be running buddies on race day. As I looked around during the race, there were plenty of couples running together. They were talking. They were pointing things out along the path. They would stop and walk, then start running again. They really seemed to enjoy themselves. While I had hoped that for us, it just wasn't and won't be, and that's okay. One man's good intentions + one man's superior athleticism + one woman's struggle to run + one woman's negative attitude = one hellacious race day. He's got to run his own race, and I've got to run mine.


7. Even when you lose, you win if you learn something. My official chip time was 2:41:23. Over 11 minutes off my goal time and slower than I run even my training runs. But I learned a lot on Sunday...more than I would have learned just sitting on the couch.

8. Sometimes the only thing left to do is get...


Which is exactly what I'm going to do. Next up: White Rock, December 14! I'm out for redemption...