This is more like it! Freezing temperatures, snow, this is racing weather! Last year Superman showed up and pushed me to my fastest half marathon time. Would he show again this year? I felt it would only help my case if I wore something to honor him. Yeah, I'm sure that will work.
The winter has been brutal and I haven't been putting anywhere near the miles I should. It's been a combination of things, the weather makes a nice excuse, but we all know I actually enjoy running in the worst, so that's not it. CT being injured, work, or maybe it's as easy as me being lazy. Whatever the case, the total number of miles per week I've been putting in are far fewer and I'm sure it's not going to help my case when it comes to race time.
Walking to the starting line of the race, it actually started. Boy, I am getting lazy. Long gone are the days of nervously waiting at the starting line with butterflies. Is this the new way, just come strolling up whenever, without a care in the world? This may be the new way, but I still have expectations and today I want some redemption for the slower time I posted in Florida. My goal is hidden just like my Superman shirt, nobody knows, but I don't want a 1:4x:00 on the clock, it should be a 1:3x:00. I may have been slacking, but I still should be able to pull off this time.
By now, I'm used to the ribbing and teasing both before and after races. Two miles in, I get greeted to "Oh, great, now we are going to have to listen to did you see the guy wearing shorts for the next few miles". It's now common place to give me grief during the races. As if running isn't hard enough, then attempting to be fast, now the added difficulty to getting razzed while do it, this keeps getting worse and worse. Why do I keep doing this?
The conditions weren't great, the roads and trails were full of soft mush and hard packed icy spots. I'm glad I used my trail shoes for the extra traction, I thought it would be overkill, but even with them I found myself being very cautious as I lost footing numerous times. At around mile five or six I caught up to my teammate. While not feeling like any doors were getting blown off, things felt fast, until the 1:40:00 pace group went charging by. Up until this point, I let my body pick the pace and told myself that I wasn't going to be concerned with my watch. The shock of the pace group practically trampling me, had me checking my watch, they HAD to be running faster than they were suppose to be. Uggh, nope.
This is about the same spot in the course where last year I had to decide how badly I wanted my PR. While I already knew today didn't have that as a possibility, as I watched the 1:40:00 pace group disappear in the distance, it was decision time. Could Superman save me? Three miles to go, lots of slacking in the training, but not ready to give up.
Each mile, the distance shrunk, ever closer. It wasn't easy and Superman sure as hell didn't make it obvious that he was helping me, but with about a half mile to go I had them reeled back in. In the home stretch, I was finally able to surge past them. Whether Superman helped me or not (I'm siding on he didn't), I still felt obligated to unveil my surprise, unzipped my jacket and let the "S" show crossing the line. The clock still read 1:40:08, technically missing my goal, but because I showboated down the stretch I'm giving myself a little extra grace. Not a great time, we'll say Super-average, but then again the "S" on my chest doesn't stand for Superman, but Superstar and we run with a different set of standards.
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