Today's outing was a recon mission of the Still Hollow. I've done most of it the last couple of weeks but today was going to be the first time running the actual course from start to finish. Although, initially I had planned on just a slow, easy jog, I changed my mind, deciding to add some quicker running to better gauge my overall fitness and speed. So the new plan was this: run a fast first mile (because the first 4/10 of the race is on the road, it is by far the fastest mile), use miles 2 and 3 to recover, even stopping to rest after mile one if I wanted to. Run a fast fourth mile (the toughest, for me anyway, due to rolling hills), use mile 5 to recover and then a fast finishing 8/10. I wrote last year's race times for these 3 segments on my arm. Although, not imperative that I beat these times, with the rest, I really felt mentally I needed to be close. Simple enough plan, right? Oh, and I was going to stop my Enterprise after meeting Natalie (she had a tennis match in Chattanooga) to take the boys to Jump Park. I figured about 2:00.
But with every well designed plan, there are obstacles. And in this case, they ended up being self-imposed, mental obstacles. When I reached Jump Park, Natalie informed me that she had signed up the boys for a 2 hour jump slot. Ok, no big deal I supposed. But at the end of the time, which we didn't get started until 1:00, I was starving. So we ordered some food at the Jump Park café. I didn't order anything and opted to munch on some of the boys so I wouldn't get full before running. And although, that worked out to a degree, I still ate more than I should have. And now it is after 4:00. I've already started to get angry about the whole time/food thing at this point. As we are loading up to come home, Nat says something about me stopping to run and I reply "I'm not sure I'm going to." Luckily, it takes about 20 minutes to get to the Enterprise exit, and I decide to pull off, still unsure if I'm going to run. I'm feeling a bit full, but it's more about me being angry that my plans were thrown off kilter.
After sitting in the car for about 5 minutes deciding on whether or not to run, I get out. It's a go. A quick jog to warm up, then off on my first fast mile. Last year's time was 7:48, so that was the goal. Again, the first 4/10 is down the road and I was going about 7:30 pace. I figured that wasn't fast enough once I hit the trail, but any faster seemed really not attainable. I hit the trail and slowed some. I continued to watch the pace. At about 7/10 mile my pace reached 7:48 and I stopped. Just stopped. I wasn't really mad at this point but I wasn't really sure what I was going to do. After just a few moments, I decided to keep going and back off a bit. Seven-tenths is close. With race adrenaline, maybe that first 4/10 is considerably faster and gets me through the remaining 3/10. I jog on. Sometimes walking, even some of the flats. About 2.5 miles in a pass a runner that I had given directions to before I got started (he was running in the opposite direction from what I had told him). I stopped my Garmin while I chatted for a moment then continued on. After a couple of minutes I began to gear up mentally for the fast 4th mile, the toughest) and glanced down at my watch to see where I was and realized I hadn't restarted it. Crap! I'm not sure when the 4th mile starts. I estimate that I had gone about 1/4 mile. As I get closer to the 4th mile, negative thoughts really start to creep in. This is not shaping up to be what I want my last run on the course to be before the race. I'm regretting even starting the run. Wishing I had just driven home at this point.
My mind eventually starts going through what will happen when I get home. Natalie will ask me how the run went. As I plan on what I'm going to say, it comes to me to respond with "great". When she pushes for me to explain, as I know she will, my response will be "Oh, the run sucked. But it was great to be on the trail. I'm healthy, relatively, at least I'm able to be on trails running. What do I really have to feel bad about? Anyway, about this time what I had estimated being mile 4 comes up and I'm off. Picking up the pace as much as I can. Last year's 4th mile was a 11:06. I figured with the trail being equal the entire mile (it's not) I needed to go through 1/2 mile about 5:30ish. The first two tenths went by in right at 2 minutes, ahead of pace. I hit a short hill in the 3rd I walked, so slowed a bit. But as the mile progressed, the hills didn't really become a problem. Right at the end of the mile I hit what is probably the steepest grade in the course, but very short. I ran it and pushed to the end of the mile. 10:37!
After a few moments rest, I pushed on, feeling rejuvenated. Easy jog through the 5th mile and then upped the pace for the last 8/10 finish. Last year's pace on the finish was an 8:59, today about 9:30. But I knew I hadn't pushed like I would on race day, just a solid finishing effort. As it turned out even with the blah first half of the course, I finished just about a minute off my race time from two year's ago and with the fastest time at Enterprise this summer. Crazy what the mental game can do. I'm convinced just that slight change in attitude propelled me to a good second half.
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