TInkerbell

If anyone has a desire to run a half marathon (I know you all do), I strongly suggest running the Tinkerbell half marathon (well, if you’re a female. or don’t mind being surrounded by 10,000 females in tutus). Despite having a recovering knee, a sinus infection and starting the race at 5am, I finished the race in 2:08. This is my personal worst, but all things considered I’m really happy about it. My energy level was great, it’s a flat easy course, I was able to run the whole time, & was cheered on by Disney characters, live bands and an impressive amount of people who showed up that early to watch the race. Only gripes: 2^nd half of the race was through the streets of “beautiful” Anaheim (I’d rather have the last 6 miles be in the park!) & that we missed the Expo because of LA traffic. We were FOURTEEN minutes late & got turned away… so allow for plenty of time to get there.

 

Oh, and did I mention the medal???

My friend Megan & I braved the LA traffic & stroller monsters moms to get to this race even though we were both feeling unprepared, and well… crappy. Breathing in/out of our noses was a challenge at this point, & we were joking over dinner that out of our friends, we’re definitely the minority who would put a race before our health (& all logic, honestly).  :)

We also reflected on the fact that it was basically NBD for us to not feel well & wake up at 3am to run 13.1 miles in the freezing cold dark. I ran my very first half marathon (Santa Barbara) with her as well 2 years ago, and at that point running a half was a VERY big deal. Lots of training tips, carb loading, blog reading and playlist making involved there. And now 2 years later what we considered a huge accomplishment (well ok, it still is), is now moved into the shoulder shrug “why not?” category. For us, this race was merely a training run our real marathon and/or triathlon training.

I’m now a little less than 8 weeks out until my first marathon! I will still be cross-training like crazy, but my main focus will be running. I consider this a very big deal. I know that I can follow the training plans & eat accordingly, but the mental part is what’s freaking me out the most. During a race your mind turns on you. It’s rude. The thoughts of “you can’t do this”, “whyyyy are you doing this??” “you can stop at any time” “are we done yet?” surface & it takes all of your mental strength to either battle the thoughts or get them to shut up. I know how to physical train for a race, but how do strengthen your mind? CAN you? Even Basshunter & Calvin Harris can't drown out my thoughts sometimes...

Ta-Da! err… Tu-Tu!  :)