29 Seconds...

Have you ever had a moment where your goal was so close to you, you could almost taste it? This past Sunday morning was one of those moments for me...

It all started Saturday evening, Matt and I were enjoying a wonderful supper with some friends down in Calgary. It had been raining most of the afternoon, and felt fairly cold outside, but I was trying hard not to think about it. During our meal, I looked over to the window and noticed snow flakes the size of pancakes falling at an insane rate. At that moment, my heart sunk.

The reason this was so devastating to me was, I was registered to run a half marathon on Sunday morning at 8am. No one in their right mind wants to run 21.1 km in the wet, cold snow. All that keep going through my mind was "Please stop snowing... I will do anything, if it would just stop!" We left the restaurant , and by the time we got back to the hotel, there was nearly an inch of the white stuff grinning at me. Arrrggg!

Sunday morning arrived, and as I made my way to the window, I had no idea what to expect. To my surprise, the snow had stopped and it wasn't even raining! In all honesty, it looked like it could be a fairly great day for a run.

Standing at the start line, "Eye of The Tiger" blaring from the speakers, the race began. Who knew if it was just the adrenaline, but the first 10km seemed easy... I was well on my way to that coveted PB, all I had to do was keep up my pace. The second half proved to be interesting... A huge hill out of the river valley, a pedestrian bridge with switch backs, and the longest overpass possible at 19.5 km, were the highlights one might say. With only 2km remaining, my legs began to ache. Could I push myself hard enough to catch that personal best? Only 500 metres to go, looking down at my watch, I knew it was no longer possible. The PB had escaped me, and only by 29 seconds!

I spent the rest of the morning between two worlds... one was filled with joy because I had just cut nearly 8 minutes off my time from February's race, all this running was paying off. The other world was filled with frustration. I keep thinking about what I 'should' have done differently. No worries though, soon the joy took over, and all I could do was smile!

You better watch out PB, because on May 23 I am coming for you!!!

Moose Crossing

Runners are always working towards their next personal best (PB), and I am no different. If you were to look at my running schedule for 2010, you would notice that it is peppered with half marathons. The ultimate goal? That coveted PB.

See, my current half PB rests with my first half marathon... Red Deer, May 2007. What's amazing to me is that this has become the time to beat, a run that was completed with very little running knowledge, and 'in proper' training. I was just running to run. (Maybe there is something I could learn from this first experience.)

The past two weeks, I have been running my long runs with a good friend in Red Deer. During both of these runs, I have had the pleasure of crossing the path of at least one moose. I have lived in Alberta most of my life, and I can only recall seeing maybe four moose during this time... but to now to see three, in a matter of two weeks, in the booming metropolis of Red Deer, both times during my long run... that's pretty amazing to me. It's got to be a sign, I'm sure of it!

The way I see it, the moose must be the mystical creature of delivering running personal bests. To see a moose during a run, it's an absolute given that you will achieve a PB in the near future. And I've seen three! This is going to be a great year :)

By the way, I will be running Red Deer again this May, and I have my eye set on the prize, the first (of at least three) PB of 2010.