Realizations

I realized a few things during the Jamestown half marathon this past Saturday. I will have a full recap of Jamestown up soon, but had so many important realizations that I had to share these first. By important I mean important to me, you may not find them important or you may have already realized them and during this whole post will be thinking "No kidding, Amy. Way to be late on this realization". That's cool, enjoy feeling more intelligent than me while reading.

One of the things I realized is just how much of a "run thinker" I am. I will have my music playing and enjoy it, but I spend the entire run thinking about one thing or another. My best problem solving comes during a run, and most of my "how did I never realize that before" thinking comes during runs as well.

How can you not do serious thinking about life when this is your view? Courtesy of UHC facebook page

If you don't train to PR, you will not PR. This sounds so beyond obvious. It is something I of course always knew, but actually fully realized during the race. I was around mile 6 and realized I probably wouldn't PR unless I some how started running 8min miles for the second half, and that was more than likely not going to happen. I got frustrated and then started to actually think about it. I hadn't trained to PR this race. I put very little effort into training lately, and the effort I did put in, was not PR worthy effort. It was completely half-assed. I did not PR at Jamestown and I did not PR at Fairfield because I didn't deserve to. I didn't put the time, effort, or energy into training for either of them, and that's what I got for it. If I want to PR the early morning runs and after work runs need to happen.

Doing math while running is incredibly difficult. I always try to calculate if I can PR and etc at my races. Doing math and trying to come up with "if I run this pace for the next however many miles, I can PR" is not easy. Math is not my best subject, but simple math should not be that complicated. At some point in the race I realized to PR I needed to run the last 2.5 miles in 20 minutes. I did some ridiculous calculation quickly and came up with 5 minute miles. Yes 5 minute miles. I thought to myself "that's not happening, it's not like I am...." and I thought and thought. For whatever reason I couldn't come up with a single name of someone who could run in the Olympics, and I couldn't for the life of me think of what pace that actually would be. Had I been able to do simple math I would of realized this was 8 min miles, I know plenty of people who can do 8min miles (the boyfriend included). Instead the final name that came into my head when I decided I couldn't run that pace because I wasn't...Jesus. Jesus, in my mind, is a fantastic runner. Moral of the story, don't ask me to do math or come up with names of famous runners during a race. It will not end well. 

My calf hurting is not a shoe problem. I have tried on far too many new types of shoes lately looking for "the right ones" that won't cause me any issues. I had problems with my right calf when I wore compression socks, so I stopped wearing them. Then I had problems with it again when I was trying new shoes. It happened with a few shoes and I continued to say "it's the shoes causing pain, I need new ones". While one of the shoe types did not work for me at all, the other ones hurting me more than likely had nothing to do with my shoes. It is either that I am not running enough (highly likely) or there is something wrong with my leg (far less likely). Either way, I, and by that I really mean my bank account, cannot continue to buy new shoes. If I am running more and my leg still bothers me, I go see someone. If it stops then I found my solution. The shoes I have now are staying, end of story. 

Races have hills, get over it. My Fairfield 1/2 fell apart at the first hill, which was about 1 mile into it. I hadn't trained for hills even though I knew there were plenty along the course. This goes back to not training for a PR. I knew about the hills, and I didn't train for them, so I ended up walking up the hills. You lose SO much time walking up a hill. It's one thing to be slow running up a hill, its another when you are just walking up them all together. Serious time (that I don't have cause I'm already not the fastest person in the world, which if you read above already know I consider this to be Jesus) is lost walking up hills. Jamestown also had hills, and again I thought "I'll walk up the hills, it will be fine". No it wont. Get off your ass (by your I'm referring to my own, you all can continue sitting and reading) and go run hills to get ready for the race. All the races have them, get over it. 

Running (or walking) past someone who has finished the race while you are still going is painful for everyone involved. I have been on both sides of this. I think it is a personal preference on how you want to handle it. For me, if I see someone walking by me with a medal while I am still trying to finish, I do NOT want them to acknowledge me. It's more of an "I'm so embarrassed I'm so slow" thing for me than a "I hate you for being done, don't look at me cause I'm still going" thing. On the other hand, if I have finished a race and someone is still going that I walk by, my first thoughts are to yell something encouraging. Clearly I am the person I hate during the race. The key to fixing this problem is run faster so you are not so embarrassed when someone walks by you. This goes back again to the whole training thing. Are we sensing a pattern? 

Running 9 races between March and November, may not be my best idea. I had not planned, at all, to do this many races in this span of time this year. My hope was for maybe 3 half marathons at the most and a 5k. Not 8 half marathons and a 5k. I am definitely feeling a little bit burnt out, which is causing some major slacking on training on my end. I knew going into these races it wasn't going to be easy, and need to pick the training back up for the 4 half's I have left. 

I listen to the most bizarre playlist when I run. It includes everything from Pink, to My Chemical Romance, to Pitbull, to Eminem, to DMX, to country. It's crazy and random and I love it. 

I need to eat better. I know, I know. I post far too often about the delicious cupcakes, awesome margaritas, or great fattening dinner I've had. Does this make you run faster? Nope not one bit. I'm not saying I need to cut out everything unhealthy, because lets be real, me without chocolate or margarita's is just scary. Plus I just purchased a margarita maker, I can't give it up now. I can however, eat healthier overall on a regular basis. 

Maybe having this as a random "I want dessert right now" isn't great? But so delicious!

I hate when people don't put there finish time on a race recap. I have done this before, just another example of how I really just do things to annoy myself apparently. But in reality, I hate when people do this. From what I can tell it is when someone doesn't like there time. That is why I didn't post it on one of my own recaps. Looking back though I think that's ridiculous. You will have good races and bad races, it is known all over my blog my absolute worst 1/2 marathon time ever was my first one (3 hours 27 minutes. True story). I have never had a time close to that since that race. If I'm good with broadcasting my worst time, whats wrong with telling people a time I'm not thrilled with. This is progress right here people if you didn't realize. 

I need to run with a tape recorder. I had many more realizations than these listed, and can't remember them all. Running with a tape recorder clearly would help. 

If I come up with the rest of my realizations, I'll post them at some point. The full recap for Jamestown will be up tomorrow, with hopefully some pictures if they are posted by then. 

Happy Monday Everyone!