Surf City Race Recap

Yesterday was the Surf City half marathon....#33 for me.  This past week was a little rough on my emotions.  I found out I wasn't selected for two race ambassador positions I had applied for.  I also had the first member of my running group quit.  Although my friends used to call me Negative Nikkie, I am actually quite a positive person.  I know everything happens for a reason and I try to look on the bright side of things. But when things come all at once even the most positive person can have a moment of feeling defeated.  And of course, it was my last week of training before the LA Marathon. 

Surf City was supposed to be my focus race before LAM.  I had a time goal I needed to meet for the past 3 half marathons to ensure a sub-6 hour marathon time.  I didn't hit any of those time goals.  In fact, Surf City was a half hour SLOWER than my goal time. 

The problem was that I went into this race with the mindset that I'd had a crappy week and that I had a lot riding on this one race.  May I just say, that's the wrong way to go into anything, whether a race, a job, or any random event.  I put a lot of pressure on this one race, knowing I hadn't quite hit the mark on the previous two races.  My expectations were way too high.  The course was a lovely out and back along the Pacific Coast Highway, so there was a pleasant ocean view for the majority of it.  But my split times just weren't where they should have been.  By the time I got to mile 7 I knew I wasn't going to hit my goal so I slowed down.  A lot.  By mile 10 I was doing a run/walk and really milking the water stop breaks.  I just couldn't get my head in a positive frame of mind.  By mile 11.5 I had snapped out of it enough to force myself to run the rest of the way in.  It was tough.

I woke up to an email from my coach telling me what a great job I did on the run and letting me know my plan for this week.  I told her my split times (although pretty sure she had already stalked my finishing time) and explained how I felt.  Her response? "Just now focusing on mentally saying you are ready for the day on Sunday.  It will be challenging but you are stronger."  I said at the end of yesterday's race that the mantra of the day was "Run the race you're in" and by the end I finally believed it.  So this week, my mantra is "I am stronger and I am ready."  I have an amazing group of family and friends who support my running adventures.  They're not expecting me to be the fastest one out there.  They'll wake up on Sunday and see my posts along the route and congratulate me and ask how I'm feeling on Monday.  They'll love me and support me no matter what happens on the course.  So although it was a rough week, its over now.  Time to regain focus and stop being so hard on myself.  A bad training week doesn't diminish all the hours I've put into it before or after.  Sunday will be great.  <3