I treat my 10 mile run before a half marathon like a dress rehearsal for the real thing. It’s the only time I practice fueling and I wear the outfit I’m planning on racing in.
I’ve followed this same pattern and even ran the same route for my other two pre-half marathon 10 milers to the point that I almost feel superstitious about this training run.
I remember that first time I ran 10 miles. It was the first time I ever ran double digit miles and I felt unstoppable. It was the moment I stopped telling people I was attempting to run a half marathon and finally started saying I was going to run a half marathon.
My second 10 miler before the Nike Women’s Half was the moment I realized I am so much stronger than I think I am. No, I didn’t train perfectly leading up to that race, but I was strong enough to cross that finish line.
Leading up to my run yesterday I had almost built it up to be this big “moment of truth”. How this training run goes will indicate how Saturday’s race will go. I know that’s not actually true, there’s a million and one factors that could alter how things go on race day, but in the past it’s been true– the 10 miler has been a pretty good indicator of things to come.
The plan was run 5 miles, take a break to walk, eat some apple sauce, turn around and run 2 more miles, eat some jelly beans, and not stop after that unless I needed to.
I started off feeling tired and achey. The first mile felt painfully long and made me wonder how I was going to run 9 more of them. Sure enough my body started loosening up and kicked into gear. The weather was gorgeous and perfect– warm sun yet breezy on the water.
When I reached the eastern tip of Manhattan, after dodging tourists near Battery Park, I wanted to start crying with joy. The only time I hit the east side is on 10 mile runs before I turn around at mile 5. Reaching the east side means there’s no turning back and it means I was still feeling strong enough to carry on.
On the east side I kept replaying my memories from the previous 10 mile runs since that’s the only time I run over by the South Street Seaport. Is this how I felt last time? Was I running faster then?
I wouldn’t let myself look up my finishing time of the other 10 milers until I was home and done with the training run. I wasn’t surprised to find out my run was 4 minutes slower than last April.
I don’t think I’m going to PR on Saturday. I didn’t train for this race like I had the intention of PRing. I also think I should run this race cautiously considering it’s supposed to be HOT on Saturday.
What matters, though, is how I felt after the 10 mile run
Happy, sore, proud, hungry, sunburnt and ready for a shower.
Once again I am reminded of how amazing the body is, how much stronger you are than you realize. Yeah my legs started hurting towards the end and I realized I should have bought new running shoes weeks ago, but my body kept moving.
Sure, I’ve already run two half marathons. That doesn’t mean I will be any less proud to cross the finish line of half marathon #3, with or without a PR. 13.1 miles is still a big deal, it’s not something I could do every day, and it’s not something I could have done even 2 years ago.
And now, a really short taper week because Saturday races are weird!
Monday: Rest or might try to squeeze in a class later.
Tuesday: Yoga
Wednesday: Strength at Uplift
Thursday: Run 3-ish
Friday: Maybe shakeout run
Saturday: HALF MARATHON!
Sunday: REST 🙂
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