Runaway Girl: Disappointment and a Wake Up Call

I ran the Canyonlands Half Marathon in Moab for the second time. The unfortunate part is that I did not train as well as I had in the past. I don't know what was going on in my mind.

March 15th, 2014

It was one of the most fun weekends though. A lot of my friends and my parents came to enjoy the weekend and watch me finish the race. Originally my dad and my friend Katherine were going to run the race, but both got injured and were not able to have the proper training in time. So I ran alone.

When I started, I was fine. How can you be sad running in one of the most beautiful places. I struggled after a little while though. It would get hot at times and the wind was intense during some of the race. I had to put my head down so it wouldn't be hitting my face.

Once I got out of the Canyon I'll admit, I was not happy. I had two more miles to go and those two miles were brutal. I also saw the 2:00 pacer pass by me and I almost cried. I hate being slow and I hate when I don't reach my personal goals. One thing I told myself is that I would never let my time get over 2 hours. I set that when I ran my first half marathon and was 51 seconds over. When I saw that pacer though, my motivation was shot.

I just wanted to finish.

I did finish. And I was not happy. I knew all my friends were there. And I knew I had disappointed myself. I was embarrassed. I could hear my friend say "oh she's pissed" as I ran through the finish. It's true though. I didn't really want to look at any of them and just kept moving.

Not so happy haha

My time? 2:01

I hated seeing that on the clock. My chip time wasn't much faster.

I was disappointed, but this race taught me a lot.

1. Make sure that you eat well and that you actually eat.

I didn't have the best diet while training and often that was due to not eating balanced meals.

2. Don't make excuses

I used to never do this. But I think during training I would not go for a run, but justify that I was okay because I did some sort of other activity that day.

3. You're never too busy to be active

This goes along with no excuses. Sure I was tired some days and needed a nap, but really I needed a run.

4. You are how you train

If you push yourself, you'll get better. If you take it easy, you'll hit a plateau.

5. You're going to fail once in awhile

And that's okay.

My amazing support group

So the race wasn't a complete failure. You can always learn something from every experience.

To make up for my slow time though, my friends and I hiked through Arches National Park. It was actually the best thing to do. I ended up being less sore the next day. And I felt a little more bad A because I didn't stop after the half marathon. Haha. But there were other runners also hiking that day. Apparently we all just couldn't stop.