After running 2:01:20 two weeks ago, breaking two hours has been on my mind. I felt like I could have given more in that race (the Rock 'n' Roll Chicago 1/2 Marathon) in the beginning when I wasn't sure what I would need to conserve in order to finish. This time around I had experience (although only a little) on my side...at least I knew what I could expect from myself.
I didn't really worry the day before the race as much as consider what it would be like if the 2:01 time was a fluke and I ended up running slower. What if I had so much enthusiasm the first time around and the second time was just more of a long, hard run? I decided not to get into a head trip and just do my best.
I'm capable of running better than 9:00 miles but at least that sustained for a long distance. I could break 2 hours running that way, and that gave me confidence. And then Chris told me that I was capable of so much more than I realized and that I should just get out there and do it...really run it hard...make sure I have nothing left when I cross the finish line.
So that's what I did.
I didn't look at the time for the first several miles, I put my Nike+ on "pace" and kept myself below a 9:00 pace. Most of the time I tried to run around 8:45, and if I crept up to 8:55 I just ran faster. A lot of the time I was running around 8:30, and that made me really happy. I ran up all of the hills with my arms and ran them 8:30...that made me feel strong--that I could do that without as much effort as those around me.
I felt great when I ran past the 2:15 pacesetter. I felt incredible when I ran past the 2:00 pacesetter. At mile 7 I remember thinking "Oh my God, I'm only halfway," but that feeling went away pretty quickly. I remembered something my wife quoted some time ago, "The only person that can tell you 'you can't do it' is yourself...and you don't have to listen to yourself." I told myself I can do it. I thought about all of my training.
I started listening to the times that they were calling out at the mile markers around mile 9 and doing the math. I figured I would finish around 1:57, which would average out to 9:00 miles. But I was really tired and sore, too, and my pace kept creeping back up to 9:00. Oh how awesome a sponge soaked in ice cold water feels when they hand you one at this point in the race!
Slowing to 9:00 miles wasn't the way I wanted to run the rest of the race. This is not who I want to be. So I just decided to run faster. I remember thinking that 36 minutes of pain would be a lot shorter than days, weeks and months of regret. So by mile 10, I decided I needed to run 8:30 or better the rest of the race...and I did.
You truly do not know what you're capable of until you try.
After mile 11 I knew I could do it if I just kept up my current pace. I kept thinking in my head how far a mile feels when I run in the neighborhood and I imagined that much distance going by me until I got to mile marker 12 and then to marker 13. At mile marker 13 they called out "1:56 flat", and I since had started the race near the back of the crowd I knew I was going to break 2 hours. I was not going to glide across the finish line...I did what Belle always yells at us to do: I sprinted. My Nike+ said I was running a 7:00 pace when I finished.
I had no idea what my time was because I started the Nike+ about 30 seconds late and I didn't even want to look at it...I wanted my official time. I looked up on the lists and they only went to 1:56:00. They had a network problem and it was 10 minutes before they started putting up the rest of the sheets. I finally squeezed in to take a look, and I couldn't find my name anywhere. Maybe in my excitement I had done the math wrong in my head and I ran over 2:00...arggh!
So I looked and couldn't find my name and time. And then I looked back around 1:56 because maybe I had actually screwed up the math in my favor! Nope...not there. Could I be in the 1:55's? Nope. And then I saw it.
1:54:20
And I didn't know whether to be excited or cry. A full 7 minutes (on the nose) faster than my first 1/2 marathon. How the hell did I pull that off? And then I remembered...
This is who I am. This is what I do.
And she knows what I'm capable of. And I'm a really lucky guy.
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