Next In Line

Vegas is behind me!  I'll never forget that race, especially because I stuck (sort of) to my plan and I accomplished my goals.  I trained pretty hard, I never stopped running, and I got a PR for the course.  Those were my three main goals.  I've had a week to rest and celebrate my Victory in Vegas (ViV) and now I must shift my focus to Phoenix on January 15th.  That's right...it's only 5 weeks away.  I have to continue my training and getting in my long runs and complain about things and have days I just "don't wanna" and I need new excuses and I will have breakthrough's and I'll start a new job and I'll play baseball and so on and so forth.  As you can see, there's lots on my plate. 

I mentioned this yesterday, but my first ever halfer was in Phoenix in 2005.  I ran with some friends and one friend inparticular ran with me for the first 9 miles until I finally told her "you can run up ahead of me, I'll be fine".  Well, not only did she increase her pace for the last 4 miles, she finished 10 minutes before I did!  My time was 2:15:27.  The next year I ran it by myself and finished in 2:22:20.  The GF swears it's because my coworker pushed me so hard in 2005 that there was no way I could run that same time again in 2006.  I'm claiming that 2005 time regardless of how it happened because I did it and it's the fastest I've ever run a halfer.

Last year I ran Phoenix in 2:35:59!  It had been 6 years since my first half and I was 15 pounds heavier.  At about mile 8 of the race I wanted to just stop.  I passed the GF in the crowd and saw my Seester and I thought "I should just finish now and we can all go eat!"  I didn't stop and at mile 9 I was hurting so so bad.  At mile 10 I finally thought I had found my finishing pace and was really truckin along at a good speed when I looked down at my feet and I was walking!  OOps!  I somehow picked it up and finished the race with a little bit of dignity left!

So for the 2012 race, here are my goals:

• Don't stop running (or at least don't think that I've stopped running)
• Beat last years time - If I run like I did in Vegas then I'm gonna crush my 2011 time, but if I train real hard the next 5 weeks, then I may even come close to my 2006 time!
• Increase my pace per mile - this will help the previous goal.
• Stay positive for the whole race

Sounds a lot like everyone else's goals for any race that they run, but if I don't lay it out in front of me, then who knows what'll happen.  My biggest test will be the first week of January when I'm playing baseball and how I fit my training runs into my busy schedule!  We'll see how it goes...and you'll know as it happens!

Do you ever feel obligated to do things once you tell people about it? I always tell people my plans so they can hold me accountable!

Has someone ever helped you get a better time in a race that you didn't think you could accomplish on your own?

~Chix