Surf City 10K
In the past I mostly race in the fall and have done maybe a 5K in the spring/late winter. This year my first race was the Surf City 10K on September 17th. I was a mess the week leading to this race. I was very hard on myself and pretty short-tempered if I’m going to be honest. I know that it was because it was my first race of the year and I had put so much time and dedication on running. This was the first race that was going to prove my fitness, fueling and overall mental strength. In short, this race went very well and it was also my very first 10K race ever! I beat my mock-race time at 1:01 hr/min! I was elated and felt happy after this race.
Long Beach Half Marathon
On October 15th, the big race arrived, the Long Beach half marathon I had been training all summer for. Learning from my disaster race week leading up the 10K, I journaled for two weeks straight as this race approached. This was something that I will now use when the nerves hit for a big race. Reading back on my journal pages, I see how the first entry is so panicky and I slowly gain confidence and reach a more positive outlook on the race. I can actually see how slowing down to write in my running journal helped calm my race day nerves. This race taught me the most this year.
I learned how to be kinder to myself and actually give myself permission to slow down, to take it all in and to embrace my snail pace running. All summer I struggled accepting that I am a slow runner. I also learned that I didn’t properly fuel before the race nor during. I didn’t drink much water (we’re talking about half a glass—yikes) before the race fearing that I would have to use the bathroom. Guess what? I never had to use the bathroom during the race because you guessed it, I was dehydrated. I didn’t have much training with gels so my race day fueling was a disaster. With the sun blazing relentlessly, dry mouth, and gels sloshing in my stomach, I finished the last 3 miles of the half marathon with severe nausea.
There was a moment in the race when I looked at my watch and realized that I wasn’t going to PR or beat my time from last year. I was already in the pain cave, fighting nausea, thirst I couldn’t seem to quench and thoughts about stopping and walking instead. I don’t have a problem walking because I know how to listen to my body but the strangest thing happened simultaneously, my legs felt fresh again! They weren’t fighting against me like the rest of my body was. They were urging me to keep running and get to the finish line. So I ran, and remembered to smile like Kipchoge does, with full awareness that I was not going to PR. This was better than a PR — I was going to finish strong. I had finally learned how to conserve energy during a race. All those heart-rate training/base building runs from the summer were showing up during those last three miles of the race where I passed so many runners as I said my mantras aloud and told myself, “I can and I will.”
You have to have tough races to become a better athlete. Last half marathon in 2022 was actually what ignited my training for this year. And although fueling has always been a tough department for me, I am learning so much with every race and every run. That 2022 half marathon crushed me. I felt like an actual failure. Looking back, I see how I needed to have that race in order to grow not only as an athlete but also as a person. This 2023 half marathon was even slower and experienced new challenges during the race, yet I felt so proud of myself. This half marathon is a PR for so many reasons beyond time goals. My mental strength has reached new levels which will greatly help as I train for the marathon. I learned to slow down and take it all in and also to document the journey :) It helps in so many ways.
Vin 110 Freeway 10K
This race day is documented in a blog here already so I won’t go too much into detail. In short, I PR’d at 57:51!!
Turkey Trot 5K
Another race that has been blogged and another PR at 27:28!!
