For Rock n Roll Denver, I’ve resigned to the fact that I will have to do this race every year I live in Colorado. The course is not particularly interesting, but it’s here and it’s a nice litmus test for my health. We entertained a house full of friends for the weekend, and it was great finally settling. It was a FREEZING weekend in Denver, colder than most.
The morning of the race, I’m pretty sure it was near freezing. We used space blankets to get us from our parking spot to the start line. I had actually never felt as much dread about a race than I did that morning. As the motivation waned during the wait, I was about 99% resigned to just not doing the race. However, since I was already in the cold, there would be nothing for me to do aside from standing around in the cold waiting for everyone to finish. Our collective half marathon finish times are spread between 2- and 3.5 hours, so I wasn’t looking forward to just standing around.
Right as they started calling the half marathon corrals, I realized that I could drop down to a shorter distance. And I’d still get a medal and finish line snacks. Why hadn’t I thought of this before?! I trotted over to the solutions tent and downgraded, and never felt happier on a run!
I think it was at this moment that I knew that it was time for me to step back from the half marathon distance for awhile. I certainly don’t want to burn myself out from running completely, so if I need to go shorter for a bit to make it more interesting, I should certainly do it. I’ll just need to make sure I adjust my fueling to match my distance, versus keeping up the same level of eating.
As an aside, I also liked the 10K medal MUCH more than the half marathon medal! That was an added bonus.
Amara in Training 