The Ogden Half

Today I ran a half marathon. My goal was two hours or less.

The first half marathon I ran in 2:26. My goal then was to run without stopping. My second half marathon was 2:09. I’d only trained a couple of months, and was very pleased with my time. But it was so close to 2 hours, I had to set that as my next goal.

I’ve trained pretty hard for this race. Not as hard as I could have, but a good faith effort. I felt hopeful about my chances.

I ran what I thought was a goood pace the first half of the race. I was starting to feel tired, but thought if I’d made good time in the first half, I could slow down and still meet my goal. Checking my watch, I realized that I was running much slower than anticipated. If I wanted to finish this in two hours, I’d have to run faster in the second half than I had in the first. Faster. When I was already tired.

So I picked up the pace. I started feeling dizzy. I’d reach out for the water and powerade and my hands were shaking. My legs felt weak and I wondered if I would stumble. Still, I ran on, hoping to make up for lost time.

I finished the race. I didn’t know what my time was because I’d started my watch late. I couldn’t find where they posted the results, so I came home. A few minutes ago, I saw my time.

2:01:15

I missed my goal by 75 seconds. :)

The first five miles I ran a very slow 10:22. That’s just not pretty. I was saving up my energy, but had no idea I was going that slow. The second half of the race I ran a 9:11. I shaved a full 70 second off of every mile. If I’d been able to run 10 minute miles the first five miles, I would have met my goal. If I had not held anything back, I am sure I would have done it.

Am I disappointed? Yes. Am I discouraged? No.

I’m a writer. Writers deal with frustration, discouragement, and rejection all the time. You either learn to look past it, or you quit. I missed my goal by 75 seconds. I was close, but not close enough.

The Top of Utah Half Marathon is in August. That gives me three months.

On Monday I get back to work.