I ran another half marathon on Sunday. It wasn't planned. The CHaD HERO Half Marathon was my goal race for the fall and I had no intentions of racing anything "big" after that. But I walked away from the CHaD Half Marathon knowing I did not run my best. Granted I ran as hard and fast as I possibly could that day, but it was not my best. I run my best when my body and my MIND are both in the right place, and on October 20th my mind was no where near where it needed to be. I was too focused on the outcome and never really present in the moment. The day after the CHaD Half I knew I wanted another chance to see if I could do the hard training I put in this summer justice. I felt like I squandered it during the CHaD Half Marathon. Having another chance wasn't so much about the time (yes, the time was important to me I won't deny that) but it was more about getting it right "mentally." I searched for a couple local races and the one that I most wanted to run, the Seacoast Half Marathon in Portsmouth, NH this weekend was sold out, so I opted for the All Women and One Lucky Guy Half Marathon in Newburyport, MA. I originally wanted the Seacoast Half because it was three weeks out from the CHaD vs. two weeks out with the All Women Half. I knew two weeks would be cutting it close in terms of recovery. But I'm really glad that I was forced into the All Women and One Lucky Guy Half. It ended up being a fantastic race, not just for me personally, but the race itself was very well organized and the course was beautiful.

The Race/Course: The race is put on by one of our local running companies Loco Races and has a really neat concept: it is an all women's race and then one "Lucky Guy" get's chosen to run with all the women. The guys can enter the lottery early on in the year and are picked at random. This was my first all women's race and I have to say I loved it. The organizers know they are organizing for women, there were more than enough porta-potties at the start and I counted four port-poties along the course--some half marathons don't have any! I love that at the start I was surrounded by women of all ages, shapes and sizes. And what was even better were all the dad's and kids hanging around in the gym during registration, out along the course and then at the finish line: Iears so many "Go Mommy!" cheers along the course.

The course itself was beautiful. It started at the High School in downtown Newburyport and quickly headed out of town for a loop down single lane roads, around the reservoir and past horse farm after horse farm. A section of the race was run on a dirt road. It honestly felt like the back roads that I run on around my house. I love every minute of the race even all the little rolling hills (though no hill was over 200ft there was a total elevation gain of 799ft). The weather that day was forecasted to be chilly and damp: a high of 43 degrees and a chance of snow. It ended up being about 44 and the rain stopped right before the start. Once I got going I warmed up and the combo of tank top and arm warmers proved to be perfect.

Mindset Going into the Race: In the week leading up to the race I spent very little time thinking about the race, not nearly the way I anticipated and obsessed about the CHaD Half. On my runs the week after my legs still felt tired and was a little worried that I might not be recovered in time. When that thought entered my head I replaced it with, "My legs are strong and recovered." [I plan on writing a separate post on running two half marathons two weeks apart. I'll talk more in detail then about what I did to make sure my legs were actually strong and recovered and it wasn't just a mantra I was repeating to myself.] On several other occasions I thought about the finish time I wanted, I'm not gonna lie I really wanted 1:35. But every time I thought about my finish time I would replaced it with the thought, "I acknowledge that the outcome is important to me, but the only thing I can control is the moment. I'm going to run in the moment."For me this race was about getting the mental game right and seeing what my body could do if my head was in the right place. I knew that my performance would be affected by racing hard two weeks before, but I didn't want that to limit my goals either. So I went into the race with no time goals, but the goal to focus on one mile at a time.

The Start and Miles 1-3: The start was interesting. In most races people mill around and then pack towards the start line just before the gun goes off. It was not the case in this race. There were a few ladies up right on the start line…maybe three and then everyone else was pretty spread out, almost hesitant to step up an own where they wanted to be. I kind of wanted to be up there on the start line, but knew I'd get pulled out to fast. So I hung back. My goal for the first mile was to run in the 7:30's, comfortable and smooth. And then I'd tackle the next two miles. I made a concerted effort to not think past the first three miles. I had looked at the course map and elevation once and that was it. This helped me to focus on the moment and just run where I was vs. anticipating turns or hills that I had yet to run. The first three miles felt really good, I was relaxed and running in the moment and felt great. 7:33, 7:25, 7:19.

Miles 4 -7: For the rest of the race I kept my mind in check. I didn't let myself think ahead, I simply ran how I felt. I enjoyed the beautiful course. After finishing the first three miles feeling good I shifted my focus to just staying relaxed, I was still racing and pushing the pace to the limits of what feels comfortably hard. There's no mistaking that it was easy, I was working hard, but it felt good to be running relaxed and strong. At the beginning of mile five I took my first GU. This was a change for me. I've always taken one GU at the halfway point, but this time my plan was to take GU at five miles and then again at 10miles. The GU went down fine and I felt strong into miles 6 and 7, where we talked a few more rolling hills. 7:24, 7:25, 7:16, 7:32.

Mile 8 and 9: Right around the end of mile 7 a woman who I'd heard behind me for the last couple of miles pulled past me. I could feel myself falling back and then told myself to stay with her. Run with her. You can. I knew that running with her would help me. The same thing has happened in track: I run better when there's someone on my shoulder. Iron sharpens iron. We stayed together for nearly two miles. She kept me going. At one point we passed her family and her girls called out: "Go Mommy!" Cutest thing ever. We headed up the biggest hill at mile 8 and I knew that from 8 into the finish it was a gradual down hill until the final mile, which was a slight incline to the finish. I knew if I could stay strong up the hill that I could ride the rolling down hill to the finish. We pushed put he big hill together and at one point I wanted to say to her that she was helping me run my best, I wish I had but I didn't. I had a chance to congratulate her on a good race at the finish. I hit the top of the hill and tried to lean forward into the down hill through mile nine. 7:49, 7:05

Mile 10 and 11: As mile 9 came to a close I knew I wanted to run the last three miles in like a tempo. I came off that 7:05 mile feeling like I could maintain it through to the end. I felt strong, my head was in the game and I was ready to race. Passing the 10 mile marker I debated on the second GU, I didn't really want to take it but thought I'd just take a bit, I did and had a little reflux right after. Wasn't the most pleasant but didn't seem to affect me too much. I took a couple mouthfuls of GU and didn't want any more. I didn't look at my Garmin much through the whole race, sometimes at the end of each mile and sometimes not. As I approached mile 11 I glanced down, I felt like I was putting in a 7:00 min/mi effort but the pace on my Garmin showed 7:30. I knew that at this point it was gonna be a fight into the finish. Mile 11 clicked past and I told myself two more miles. 7:42, 7;30

Miles 12 and 13: About halfway into mile 12 it started to hurt. A ladies who I'd passed back in mile 9 started to pass me, my 15th place began to slip. I kept reminding myself to let go of the outcome and focus on my effort in the moment. I did my best to keep my pace steady, but the further into mile 11 and then mile 12 I got the heavier my legs got. At that point I knew that I was just experiencing the deep fatigue of racing two half marathons hard so close together. Stay relaxed. Was my self-talk. It hurts now, but not giving it your best to the end hurts more. With a half mile left we crossed a road where a police officer had stopped traffic. I wanted to walk or fall down, either one. I felt like I looked like I was dragging my legs behind me. I felt like I was staggering and might trip and fall face first at any moment. Not gonna lie, I was a little dizzy. I headed up the road and could see the orange cones into the finish line and the clock ticking towards 1:40. I was determined to get in under 1:40 once I saw that clock. I did my best to pick up the pace: I think my arms pumped faster but that may have been about it. I crossed the line with an official time of 1:39:56. 8:01, 8:27 and (.1) with a 8:23 avg.

Feeling a little better after some water, hot minestrone and some Stonyfield!

I felt so satisfied after the race. I'd run each mile one at a time, moment by moment, step by step, breath by breath. Maybe the time on the clock wasn't the one I'd been shooting for all summer, but my effort that day was far better than it was at the CHaD Half Marathon. In a perfect world, had I combine my mindset from Sunday with the freshness of my legs and readiness from the CHaD Half Marathon, who knows what could have happened? But I learned so much from the CHaD Half, valuable lessons about running and life. I'm so glad that I took the chance and put that knew knowledge into practice last Sunday.