Happy Anniversary!

Distance running and I celebrated our 10th anniversary when I ran the BAA Half Marathon this morning.  In the summer of 2001, a coworker told me about this new half marathon in Boston that would take place Columbus Day weekend.  I had been running a bit and decided training for this would be a good goal.  Mind you, I had never run more than 7 or 8 miles before.  But, why not?

Since then, my relationship with running has been one of the most consistent things in my life.  We've had some rough patches - a stress fracture in my foot in 2007 and the torn labrum in my hip that had us together and apart for over a year and a half.  But we have survived.

And there have been plenty of good times too - now 3 fantastic Reach the Beach relays, the 2008 Boston Marathon PR and last year's return to racing at the 2010 BAA Half Marathon to name a few.  Running has also introduced me to many great friends and has shaped many important memories from the last 10 years for me.  We spend more time together every week than I do with just about anyone else on a regular basis, except maybe my office mate, Maya, who gets to see me for the better part of 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.

Recalling this anniversary has also helped me get over a bit of a disappointing race today.  I had trained and felt pretty well prepared to run what I hoped would be a PR today.  I started off feeling good, running my goal pace comfortably for the first 6 miles.  I'm not sure what happened at mile 7, but I started to slip and slowly lost a bit of time with each subsequent mile.  I hung in there but just could not pick it up enough, for a long enough stretch of time, to get me closer to my goal.  I finished 3 seconds slower than last year, and over 3 minutes slower than I had been hoping for this year's race.

I'm still frustrated and need to think over a bit more what I could have done differently and what I need to work on going forward.  But, I did realize as I sat down to write tonight that in my first 1/2 marathon, 10 years ago, my goal was to finish, and secondly to try to finish in 2 hours.  I ran that race in 2:01.

This afternoon, I sat on the couch and questioned myself and whether or not I was meant to run any faster than I had this morning...maybe today's race was a accurate reflection of all I have.  Ten years ago I never could have imagined I would run a half marathon at a sub-8 minute/mile pace.  While I couldn't do it today, I did accomplish this earlier this year.  It was a reminder that with motivation and preparation, I have made it this far.  I'm not ready to be satisfied with my time today as the best I can do.  I'm pretty sure I have some motivation and preparation left in me to show myself I don't have to be.