I don't think this quote has it quite right, at least not for me. I'm starting to wonder, at the nudging of my husband, if I am spending too much time underestimating myself and thus ALWAYS exceeding my expectations. Is it really a challenge if I keep marking everything off the list the first time I try? Yesterday was just another example where I succeeded and exceeded beyond expectation, making me wonder if I am sometimes aiming too low. (Alternatively, it could just be that I have the phenomenal ability to over-perform...but that seems far-fetched.)
N.B. - you would be able to see the crazy list of "DONE" accomplishments this year over in my 2013 Races section, except that Blogger's text feature is apparently messed up. I couldn't update it and then I managed to make it disappear. :( Hopefully Blogger will fix the issue so you can see how successful I've been this season.
Anyway, back to the point: Yesterday I ran a half mary with the goal of breaking 2:30. I set this as my goal because I had not broken 2:30 since I got hurt training for the marathon a few years ago. My first half mary was 2:15; my personal best is 2:05; but I've been running in the 2:45-3:00 range for over a year. I got the inkling that I might be able to break 2:30 because I did so well with the run leg of the HIM last month - 2:41 AFTER a long morning of swimming and biking.
It was a great day for racing - clear (unlike the same race last year where it poured all race) and sunny. If anything, it was surprisingly warm for October. And the course was a great course to shoot for my goals, because it is relatively flat, except for a few overpasses. I went out a little fast, but overall, I was able to maintain a fairly consistent pace. Check out the data from my Garmin below.
The low dips are water stations (the one right after 8 was actually skittles & pretzels...mmmm), except for the wider dip right after mile 11. I was getting tired and there was a hill for an overpass, so I allowed myself to walk up it. It made my 12th mile a bit slow, but otherwise, I'm happy with the good, basically even pace - and I even had a little left in the tank to sprint into the finish.
I also met my goal and then some. 2:23! Yeah me! On top of that, I got the overall results and I have moved squarely back into the middle-of-the-pack for all runners at this race, women my age, and even better than MOP if you look at women overall. This is exciting, because in a number of my races, I have been back-of-the-pack, dragging up the rear, etc. It's a lot more fun when you finish among a big group of people, are passing runners the whole way, etc. But of course, it's really about beating myself - and I did. I set a goal of 2:30, I met that goal, and I'm on my way back to the half mary times I am proud of. The blurry pic below is me celebrating post-race with a giant crab and a cup of beer.
As excited as I am that I met another challenge - smashed it really - I am wondering if I need to reevaluate some of my new goals. Am I being too easy on myself? I guess that is one nice thing about using the SMARTER plan - I'm supposed to regularly evaluate and re-evaluate my goals. Maybe I'll need to reassess my time goal for the marathon in March if my running keeps going strong. But for now, I'm just going to be happy about my performance and move onto working on that goals/checklist system I wrote up last week. HereWeGo!
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