It is two weeks since when I ran my first half
marathon. I was very sore for several days and I think swore I would
never do this again. My first workout class last week was a cycle class
which was 4 days after the race and before I got back to running. My
first run was 6 days after the race and I think my legs felt like bricks but I was able
to do 5 miles that morning. Last week was our last training week for the 10-mile
program that we started 12 weeks ago and I can't believe how fast time has gone
by. The best part with our training run this past Wednesday was that it
was my birthday. Some of my friends who had sent me messages asked me if I was
going to do something different apart from running and I told them that I would
take the day off, spoil myself and yes, I would still go out running since it
was the last training night. We did our training and met as a group to celebrate my birthday with drinks and cake. Thanks band, I love you all.
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| My swings will make me go faster..vroom |
I signed up and was
selected to do the Cherry Blossom 10-miler which was my first 10-miler last
year. I remember how nervous I was last year and knew that if I had done
13.1 miles then in two weeks I would not have a problem doing 10 miles. A
few of my very experience runner friends had told me that running 10 miles
after the half would be a lot easier however, I had my own reservations based
on how I felt. As the days got closer to the race I felt like I was not
ready and I became nervous since the Cherry Blossom 10 miler has a time limit
and if you don't make by a certain time you would have to be stopped from
completing the race. I always set high expectations of myself and when I
feel that I cannot get to them I feel like I have failed. While I struggled,
and got stressed about doing the 10 miles I reached out to a very close friend
and told her how I felt and what was keeping me awake. One of the advantages of
having an amazing support system is that they reminded me about what I had
accomplished, how hard I worked and that I should stop and take it all in and
bask in my own glory.
Just like any other
person I have my own struggles where I get into my own head about what I can or
cannot do. I freak out and have doubts that make me stop believing in
myself and make me feel like giving up. A few days before the Cherry
Blossom race I decided that I would opt out of the 10 miles and do the 5k
race. I know I would have probably
finished the race however, I did not have the mental strength to hang in there
for 10 miles. I did very well during the 5k race and surpassed the goal I had
set for myself for the race. Does this
mean that I failed or quit? Obviously
not although a part of me felt that I had disappointed myself until when I was
reminded that there will be very many opportunities in the future and I did not
have anything to prove to anybody. Does
this mean that my journey ends now that I managed to do a half marathon? Of
course, not I will keep running and will continue to sign up for races to see
what I can do since this is my journey, my race and my pace.
Last year, when I
signed up for the half marathon I wanted to lose at least 20 - 25 lbs (9 - 13
kgs) before the race. I had read somewhere that when one loses about 10 lbs
they can improve their speed by about a minute and I was determined to make
sure that I lost the weight. I told
myself that with that amount of weight down I would be able to do the race without
a problem and even be a lot faster in my own opinion. By race date I
think I had only lost about 8 lbs which was less than 50% of the goal I had set.
If my only focus was on losing weight, there is no way I would have done
the race. I realize that we choose what we want to believe to get to
accomplish what we want. If you want to accomplish something in life, you will
do whatever it takes to get it done. We must learn to stop and silence the
negative voices or stories we tell ourselves and go for what we would like to
achieve.
I love your wings!
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