When I dropped to the half in Kiawah, I knew I needed to get another
full on the calendar to bounce back to.
Tobacco Road was perfect, I’d run it before and knew the course. There was also a discount good until
December 31st so I jumped on it and signed up!
Early January I was finally able to get back into running, almost pain
free. I found running on the
treadmill on a slight incline to be my new favorite (ie painless) workout. Austin came and went and I was suddenly
a month away from Tobacco Road. As
the race grew closer I realized I might have bitten off more than I could chew,
not having known how long it would take to get my mileage back and not
entirely comfortable with the long runs I got in.
Race morning I was not expecting anything big. After traveling to many
races, it was nice to sleep in my own bed and be familiar with the race start
in the morning. This was
comforting knowing I wasn’t as comfortable in knowing what to expect from my legs in terms of the race. After a prerace nap in the car I lined
up at the start as relaxed as I have ever been before 26.2. I decided to start out easy with my goal being to finish. If I hit a wall and needed to walk, I would. Twelve miles in I felt great, I was
running a little faster than I expected, but I didn’t think it would last for
long. I continued waiting to hit a
wall for the next 10 miles before I realized in might not happen. Before I knew it I was turning off the
trail to run the last few miles back to the finish, without hitting the long
awaited wall or slowing down significantly.
Somehow I finished within a minute of my marathon PR. As many of my races have been, this one
was a lesson. I learned the
importance of being relaxed on race morning and how well things can turn out
when I just sit back and listen to what my body tells me.
