2015: My Journey, My Goals

Last October I ran my final marathon of 2014 in Chicago with a PR of 2:50:56. WOO HOO! A PR, YAY! That's at least how you would think I would have reacted. Don't get me wrong, I was excited to have run a PR - especially after that train wreck of a marathon in Boston. (If you missed that story CLICK HERE.) I should have been walking out of the Athlete Village with a huge smile on my face and my head held high - I wasn't. I wasn't crying or dragging my feet either but I wasn't completely happy, and to be honest I was a little bummed out. I went into the race really feeling that I had a 2:48 in me. I was 100% confident that  a sub-2:50 was what I was going to run. But I didn't; I can't blame it on my training or my race plan or on anything else. It just simply wasn't in the cards that day and the fact that  it is something as simple as that made it so hard to be excited about what I DID accomplish - I still ran a 2:50 for goodness sakes!

I took the rest of October easy, only running every other day or so. At the end of the month when it was time to meet with Coach Dad to plan out 2015, I walked out of there anxious and not excited. I did a lot of thinking and decided that I needed a break. A break from the road and the grind and the endless feeling of fatigue. I needed to do something for me. For two years I sat quietly obsessing over the trail scene. Constantly checking the race feeds and entrant lists to all the big races. I envied anyone I saw running and racing ultras and I longed to be part of it. Any chance I had to do my long run on the trails, I took advantage of it. I was longing for the dirt, the trees, to be on a single track hearing nothing but the sound of my feet and the air in my chest.  After some heavy thinking, I decided it was time that I followed my heart and I run an ultra. The trails are where I feel happy. Where I catch myself smiling while running - not because somebody told a good joke, but because I am exactly where I want to be.

It took me three separate phone calls to Coach Dad to finally get out that I wanted to run an ultra instead of a marathon in the spring. We both have been so single tracked (pun intended!) on me qualifying for the Olympic Trials that I was afraid he was going to see it as me abandoning my goal and be disappointed. But he wasn't, and it didn't take any convincing at all for him to be 100% on board with it. He wants me to feel enjoyment in running just as much as I want to. It  is something that is totally refreshing and I am lucky to have a coach that wants to help me achieve me goals, no matter what they are.

So consider this my announcement that I will be running the Way Too Cool 50K this March! I know I made the right decision because I feel happier, healthier and stronger than I have in the last year. I have already received some amazing support and encouragement from my family and my friends and it makes me even more excited to make all of you proud! I really do have the best support system a runner girl could ask for.

THANK YOU!

I have an amazing 2015 ahead of me. How amazing? In a little over a month I will be spending a week in the Dominican Republic only to come home and race my heart out right in my own backyard and then do some awesome trail running and beach cruising on a trip to Hawaii in May. I haven't given up on my quest to qualify for the OTs and I will be racing my guts out in Berlin this September! Yes, I am aware that it will require me to run a 7 minute PR -but go big or go home right!? But home only after we go to the country and then to Paris! :) I am beyond excited to have the chance to do some traveling this year, but I am more excited about the people I get to travel with.

It truly is a Runderful Life!

DA Race

It has been a week since the marathon and I have had time to settle into post marathon life - which I must say is always a little weird. I suddenly have this free time, and energy, that I don't know what to do with! So now, I will try to expel some of that energy on a blog post about my race! ;)

The days leading up to, and the morning of, the race were all pretty normal and mellow so I will fast-forward to about mile 10. I had started the race right about the pace I wanted and had settled in with a nice pack. We were clipping along just a few seconds slower than goal pace. I was fine with it being a little slow since we were running into a decent head wind and the second half was supposedly going to be a tail wind so I could make up time there. I went through the half at 1:25:28. A little slow, but still not in the danger zone just yet. At mile 16 a few of the girls and I threw down a 6:17 mile. OOPS! We all looked at each other and simultaneously said "Too soon!" Most people (normally that would include me) panic a little having run too fast, too early. I took it as a good sign. Since I started conservative and at this stage in the race I could run a 6:17 mile, I clearly had something left in the tank and that was encouraging and motivating. We backed the pace down slightly, so we thought. We went through mile 17 at 6:35. SERIOUSLY!? I honestly thought we were right around 6:25! By mile 18 I had to make a choice. Go now or for sure miss your goal. So I took a chance and I went.

One of the other girls in the group had  made a move, too, so I used her to pull me. The next couple of miles were 6:19-6:25 ish. Then, around mile 22.5 I went through an aid station and came out with lead for legs. CRAP! I still had 3.5 miles and ZERO room for error. I went through mile 23 & 24 in 6:41 and 6:44. The easy thing to do would have been to tell myself that I fell off pace, that I had no chance of running my goal and to just make it through the last 2.2 miles. But when I hit mile 24, I got mad. I got angry and I got moving.

Earlier in the race I had seen a sign that said 'Do Something Epic,' For whatever reason, that popped in my head and I said "Erin, GET THE F**K MOVING!" I had 2 miles to go. 2 miles, piece of cake! (HA! Right.) I pushed and I pushed and kept telling myself to catch the next guy, and the next guy, and then that ponytail, and then the next guy....
As I brought my pace back down, the crowd was telling me to keep going and keep moving and push harder. The crowd was so loud I could hardly hear my own thoughts - which, let's be honest, the last few miles you don't really want to hear them anyway!

Finally, I turned the corner to head up "Mt, Roosevelt" and I knew I was only a minute and a half from being done. I had stopped checking my watch because time and pace didn't matter anymore; what mattered is that I wasn't giving up. I finished in 2:50:56 - my second half being exactly the same as the first, 1:25:28! I took another 1:40 off my time and I am that much closer to the OT Standard.

After I finished I ripped off my shoe and sock because I had such a bad blister on my left foot the last few miles I couldn't stand to keep my shoe on anymore. I found a friend who was working the finish line and immediately asked how Allison had done. For those of you who don't know, Allison is a teammate I have been training with and who ran a 2:39! When I heard her time I swear I could have screamed as if I had run that fast myself! She was shooting for an OT standard and she got that and then some!

The marathon is full of trials and tribulations and no matter how fast you run it, you are constantly tested. What makes the marathon so great is that the people who finish have overcome those tests. They pushed, they struggled, they hurt, but they finished. They may not have hit their goals, but they didn't use that as a reason to quit.

Going into Chicago I was feeling my strongest and my healthiest. I had excellent coaching from Coach Dad (who ran a 2:59:16 at the age of 51!) and killer strength workouts from The Ranch Athletics. Thanks for making my PR possible!

As Always It's a Runderful Life!