Santa to the sea holds a special place in my heart and always will. It was my first half marathon four years ago. And it will be one that I plan on running every year until I can't run anymore.
My original goal last year was to run "Santa to Santa" or 13 half marathons in 13 months starting with Santa to the sea in 2013 and ending with Santa to the sea in 2014. The addiction grew though and I ended up signing up for a total of 14 half marathons in 2014.
Santa was number 13 on the list, leaving one more for this year.
The morning started early, and quite cold. It seems as though winter has finally found its way to Southern California. I guess maybe I shouldn't say cold because I really don't know what cold is having always lived in California my whole
life but it was cold for this California girl.
We made our way onto the bus and were shuttle to the start line where we dropped off our donation for toys for tots and took a picture with Santa Claus.
I was social for maybe the third time in my entire life and introduced myself to a friend I had met online through #megsmiles. A tragic event has led to a community coming together, most never having met the person who passed away and most knowing each other only through social media. It is quite possible that the running community is what makes me feel almost like a runner. It's a feeling I have never known before.
I ran this race with my friend Lorien, her second half marathon in two months. Well, her second half marathon overall. Her first half last month was a great introduction to the racing environment. We finish that race in three hours five minutes and some odd seconds. So our goal for this race was to try to beat that. But really our goal was to just finish like my goal is for every other race.
We stayed pretty consistent strong until about mile nine when it just got too hard. We adjusted our intervals and then decided to walk from mile 10 to 13 because there's really no point in pushing it when you feel like you can't go any further.
I had just completed my 23 mile training run the weekend before and it was Lorien's second race and the elements were completely different than the first. Again, adjusting to your surroundings to the day to the race is what matters most, not pushing it when you shouldn't be.
We finished in three hours and 11 minutes flat, pretty impressive to me considering we walked a lot more than we had last month at the race in Vegas.
I do want to say how proud I am of my friend. She set a goal for herself and accomplished that. She trained and races two beautiful races. I know that running may not be her thing, the way that it is mine, but I'm glad to have found a running partner for the time being.
And now it is time to focus on the last remaining race of 2014, the San Diego holiday half marathon. I am a little nervous about this race. It has a shorter time limit that I'm used to. I know that I'll be able to reach that time limit, but it does make me worry in case something happens. The original training schedule called for a 23 mile training run the weekend before this race coming up. But I changed it to the weekend before Santa because I had a longer time limit at Santa so I could go slower. I cannot explain the level of anxiety that went away when I change the training schedule. However, I didn't leave myself much time between race day and the end of the year in case something happens, but I'm not focusing on that. I'm focusing on the fact that I am going to reach my goal this year. And that makes me start thinking about the goals I want to set for next year.
I'm done wishing I had the motivation to keep going when it comes to running, strength training, crosstraining and eating well. I'm not going to get anywhere by wishing I was there, I'm only going to get there by doing the hard work. Which means I need to track accurately and for the whole day. I need to wake up early and get in my strength training workout. I need to not just bring my shoes to work but I actually have to go for the walk. And I need to run what I have planned. I've been pretty good about my running training schedule. More so than I've ever been. But, I can tell that after the 23 mile run last week I felt burnt out and I didn't want to go for a walk that week, so I didn't.
I can't let that continue to happen. Next year is going to be full of long mile training runs and getting burnt out isn't an option. I scheduled a lot of full marathons and half marathons for a reason. Getting burnt out isn't really an option when you have another race to train for.
To be honest, I wish I could bottle up this motivation I feel right now. I know that it's not going to last the whole year even though the whole year is already scheduled. But, I have to remind myself that I'm done starting over. I'm done feeling this way. I'm ready to see the results and put in the hard work to get there.
Meaning, I have to go on a walk after I get off of work to add up those miles. Even though I also plan on riding the stationary bike for at least 30 minutes tonight. Even though I also plan on waking up early tomorrow for strength training. Even though I'll have to go on at least one but most likely two walks tomorrow at work and hopefully can fit in a walk after work tomorrow as well.
These miles are going to walk themselves. And although my goal was to walk and or run 1250 miles for the year I've already surpassed that and have extended it to 1400 miles. I know I can reach that goal. I will reach that goal. No matter what it takes.
And the best thing about these walks? Is that I get to reflect back on this past year and all that I have accomplished, and look forward to next year and all that I will be able to do.
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