Before I get into describing the rest of my 1/2 marathon run this morning, it is important to make a note about this particular course. This course has got to be the easiest 1/2 marathon out there in the Twin Cities area. Why? Elevation. Take a look at this graph:
That's elevation on the y-axis, distance on the x-axis. As you can see, you basically start at the top of this huge hill that you never have to go back up. (until you walk back to your car, which sucks). So from that perspective, I take my time with a grain of salt. I'm very happy with what I got, but at the same time, I'll have to "do it again" to prove it to myself.
My time was around 1:38:20, which is a solid 7:30 pace, the same as my 10k pace. I had not planned on going that hard, but it's funny how the mind and body can sometimes work together to trick each other. Here is what happened:
About a week ago, I felt like my pacing watch was off. It was recording shorter distances for locations I've run many times and knew the exact distances of, and it was saying my pace was much lower than it felt like. I figured I should calibrate it soon, especially before the race this morning, but just never got around to it.
The race starts out, and I'm constantly checking my watch, running an 8 minute pace. (my original goal). Around mile 2.5, I asked fellow runners what their paces were. I got everything from 7:00 to 7:30. Obviously I was running faster than an 8 minute pace, but I just went with it. Every time I got slower then 8 minute pace on MY watch, my brain said "go faster, you need 8 minute pace", and my body responded. I guess my decision to not calibrate my watch helped me run faster. Weird?
The moral of this story? Setting goals can be tricky. On the one hand, a goal is needed in order to strive for something. On the other hand, set a goal too low or too high and you might miss the opportunity to achieve more than you intended...
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