Once you see the finish line from a distance, you know you’re about to accomplish your goal.
After running the Chevron Houston Marathon back in January, I knew I needed a break. I recovered from the soreness in my muscles and kept running just to keep in shape. However, I wanted to run another race before the end of 2018.
Which one would it be?
I searched the list and found some that were interesting to me. With Halloween coming up, I decided to choose a race that would honor the holiday and be fun to run, too. I chose the Hill Country Halloween Half-Marathon in Cedar Park, Texas.
When I prep for a race, I have a routine of eating a balanced diet of carbs, protein, and healthy types of food. I also run every day with one, and sometimes two, days of rest. I also do research on the course online and study it from a bird’s eye view.
When I showed up in the early morning to stretch and check in, I was relaxed. I went over my strategy about how to attack the course.
When the horn went off, I started out pretty strong. I usually tell myself to start out slowly, then move faster at every mile marker. But that never works! I always start out fast and then keeping a steady pace.
At Mile 8 is when I start to feel it. The muscles get tighter and, if I pushed it too hard, I feel a cramp coming. On this day, I knew I had to slow down a little.
As I passed other mile markers, my legs were getting heavier. That’s when you stop thinking about strategy and just tell yourself to keep moving forward.
At Mile 11, I began to strike up a conversation with the woman who was running next to me. We were telling each other to hang in there, that ‘We’ve got this!’ Incredibly, she told me she’d be running another half marathon the next day. I wished her good luck and told her it was amazing that she’d do back-to-back races.
Once you see the finish line from a distance, you know you’re about to accomplish your goal! I did it!
Courtesy: Hill Country Halloween Half Marathon
Then you start looking forward to the next race … and the one after that.
