Getting the Lead Out | 7 Weeks to the Mini

I can’t believe it’s only seven weeks until the Mini (that’s me in the pink crossing the finish line last year).  Where has the time gone?  I have been a little concerned about my training this time around.  I’ve had very few good runs.  You know, those runs where everything just feels right? Your pace is good, your form is good, you just feel good. Those have been few and far between.

This past week I was just thinking about how my legs have been feeling like lead for a long time.  My pace has been so-so, but the runs are hard. I can barely lift my legs up, and I’m tired two miles in.  This is only my fourth half marathon, and I haven’t run a race in a year.  I thought maybe this is just how I’m supposed to feel a little over halfway through the training.  Maybe I just forgot how I usually feel as this point.

But today – today was different.  I woke up looking forward to the run.  (It still kind of amazes me how much of an impact a positive attitude has on a run.) The weather was beautiful.  Even though I already had 17 miles in for the week, I felt good.  My Saturday morning running buddy is nursing a sore Achilles right now, but my husband agreed to run the eight miles with me.  We took off and a couple of miles in I realized this could be a decent run.

It was a bit chilly in the breeze, but the sun was warm.  I mentally kicked myself for not putting on sun screen before we left.  We passed the same goose on the tow path that always hisses at us.  We made it into Broad Ripple and turned onto the Monon heading north.  There were tons of people out.  It was great.  We even passed a couple of Back on My Feet runners out training for the Carmel Marathon.  We got to our turn around point and I looked at my watch for the first time.  I was shocked.  It didn’t really feel like we were going that fast.  I thought perhaps I’d messed up starting/stopping my watch at one of the intersections.

Whether it was accurate or not, I was motivated to pick it up the rest of the way home.  We took a quick break then started off.  And something amazing happened.  My legs felt light, quick, like they wanted to run.  Finally!  I picked up the pace, feeling a little guilty about it since this was the first time my husband had run 8 miles (not to mention he’s run with me every day this week, so he’s probably at his highest mileage for a week).

We passed a man who waved at us and told us to have a safe jog.  We passed another man who waved and shouted “Hello!”.  After we passed him, I could hear him doing the same to all the other runners and walkers.  At around 2 miles left, I wasn’t sure I could keep the pace up.  There was no longer a chill in the breeze, and the sun was warming up.  I checked my watch again.  If we made it 52nd Street in another ten minutes, we might be able to make the eight miles in under 1:10:00.  We passed a man wearing a shirt that said “Running Sucks.”  I wished I was wearing my “My Sport is Your Sport’s Punishment” shirt.  And then we hit 52nd Street in under 9 minutes.

Even thought I already felt a bit like vomiting, I knew if I just pushed myself a little harder, I would have an awesome time to pair with the awesome feeling.  I looked over my shoulder and told my husband I was going to pick it up for the last mile, and I took off.  I pulled my headphones out of my ears.  It was just me, the sound of my shoes on the pavement, my breathing, and the chirping birds.

I wasn’t going to look at my watch again until I was done.  I was just going to focus on how I felt.  We came up to 49th and College and something I wasn’t expecting happened.  My husband passed me.  And I don’t mean by a little.  He blew by me!  He is faster than me, but I knew he hadn’t been feeling as good as me that morning – some aches and pains, not enough water yesterday.  I tried to keep up with him, or at least close the gap, but he finished more than half a block ahead of me.

I used that as motivation to go as fast as I possibly could.  I rounded the corner towards home, and pretended I was approaching the Mini finish line.  I stopped my watch – 1:08:24.  Success!  The need to vomit immediately went away.  I congratulated my husband and we finished the cool down together.

I really needed that run today.  I needed a mental adjustment.  Sometimes your legs feel like lead.  Sometimes you’re tired.  But you just have to keep putting in the miles.  It will pay off.  What this means is that now I need to focus on speed work.  I hate speed work.  But it too will pay off.  I really want that 1:45:00 finish.