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!!!
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