6th Half Marathon Race of the Year, 8th in Total

At the end of January this year I set a goal for myself: I wanted to run 5 half marathon races that ended up becoming 6. When I wrote about it I thought of it as this big goal I had to accomplish, and here I am writing about my 6th and last race of the year. I did it!

Today’s race was a very interesting experience. I had set a finishing goal of two hours. I trained hard and was ready to do it. I felt really good at the beginning of the race. Oddly, I did not feel the usual discomfort that I feel during the first 5k, while my body is warming up. I was ready from the beginning and I ran my first 5k at an amazing time of 5:15 minutes per kilometer. Since I felt good I took advantage of this knowing that latter, on the second half of the race, things get harder. I ran my fastest 10k ever: 56 minutes. I was happy and confident that I was going to hit my goal.

Since I was pushing hard (when I say it felt good it does not mean it was easy), once I hit the 12th kilometer I hit a mental wall. I checked my watch and it was showing a 6 minutes pace. I was supposed to run at 5:30, and I was doing it find, and without knowing it I found myself up in 6. I tried to pick it up but I could not go faster, my legs were heavy, I felt tired and I started to lose hope. This went on for about 3-4 kilometres. I tried pushing, was able to go down to 5:50, but again it felt hard.

Once I saw the 16th k mark I said to myself, “I need to run faster so this is over faster, I can’t imagine holding up this torture for longer.” The need to finish helped me pushing harder and I picked up my 5:30 pace. It was hard to stay in there. Everything started to hurt, IT bands, hip flexors, knees, feet. I was able to pull it together and managed to handle the pain and the pace for 4 more kilometres. I kept checking my time and I saw that I could make it. I had 10 minutes to run 2 kilometres, something feasible. I knew I had to run a bit faster but that was ok, because I always manage to have extra energy to sprint at the end.

So, kilometre 19 came along. I tried running a bit faster and all those pains that I was trying to keep at bay came very strong and hit me hard. Then I hit the wall for the second time. The pain in my right IT band, hip flexor and knee was excruciating. It was so hard that I felt like crying. I could barely bend my right knee so I had to slow down dramatically. I did not want to walk so I tried running with shorter strides. I went from a 5:30 pace to a 9:00 pace (which is almost walking). I saw my watch and I had 6 minutes left to run my last k. I was not going to make it. At this time I tried to keep running and not give up to walking. I had a new goal now; I wanted to get there in less than 2 hours and 4 minutes (which was my last PB on the ScotiaBank race). Almost crying and dizzy because of the pain, I crossed the finish line in 2 hours and 3 minutes. I reached a personal best.

I was not very happy at the beginning because I had not reached my goal. I was very quiet and kept thinking about the race. I ate my banana and drank my soy milk quiet, my brain was processing.

Several hours after the race I conclude the following: after running this race I can tell I am a faster runner. At the beginning of this year’s journey I though it impossible to be able to maintain a 5:30 pace for even 10k. Today I was able to hold it for almost the whole time. I pushed harder than ever. I felt more pain than ever. I found the strength to cheer myself up and pull it together to keep going. But even though it was the hardest race ever, both physically and mentally, I still managed to PB. I am happy, proud and in a lot of pain!

My Animal Lover Note: