This race was a total wake up call!
I’m technically quite possibly in the best shape I’ve ever been in. And yet, I struggled with this half marathon. I’ve been spending a lot of time in Bar Method because it’s downstairs from my work, so it’s easy to make time for. (Blah, blah, blah excuses, right?)
(I even hassled my dad about how exercising in general does not make you a long distance runner. So you’d think I’d know to keep focusing on my running!)
And yet, I have not been doing that.
In addition to spending more hours at work, I had this lovely stress in my life back in November-ish to March, and it was oh so helpful in training for the L.A. Marathon. Alas, that stress is no longer in my life. So, I have to try to find different ways to motivate great running – which I actually find sort of difficult.
There’s a particular type of stress – when it’s just enough to make you driven, but not enough to weigh you down – I rock under that kind of stress. I started running because I was under some interesting stress when I moved to New York for a job, then quit said job, and wondered if I’d ever work in entertainment again.
Of course that was way back in 2009, so let’s get back up to present day.
I did this race before, during my 52 half marathons in 52 weeks. Going into it, I didn’t read my old blog posts, but I was amazed at how much I’d retained (and how much came back to me on the course).
The one part I didn’t remember was going to the expo. When I arrived with my friend Jaime (with whom I was staying, as she lives in San Francisco now), I thought, “why doesn’t this look familiar?” It’s because I hadn’t gone to the expo my first year.
The expo was small and quick. We got to paint part of a little tile mural thing, which was fun. I always love random little creative things when they pop up.
I got my super sweet shirt, which I adore. The San Fran shirt was one of my absolute favorites from my 52 half marathons. This race is almost worth doing just for the shirt.
Though, the real reason I decided to do it again is because they give you so many reasons to come back! There are all sorts of challenges if you do a race two years in a row (which I lamely skipped a year so I gotta start over wah wah), or if you do this in conjunction with other races. Plus, I love any excuse to go see Jaime. So, I have a feeling I’ll be doing this race for a least the next couple of years.
And I’ll pick up here next time.