It's All In Your Head!

Anyone who has ever stepped up to the starting line of a race will tell you that it is sometimes as much a test of your mental strength as your physical strength.  When I ran my first marathon in San Francisco, (I know, probably not the best choice for a first marathon when you live in IL)  I got to the 20 mile mark and realized I had absolutely no I idea how much race I had left.  26.2 - 20 = 6.2.   Well it isn't quite that simple when you have been out there for a while and you are unfamiliar with the town and really trusting the race officials knew what they were doing and will get you to the finish line.  I had no real feeling for what 6 miles would look like. 

I did things a little different the next time around.   I was trainging by myself this time so all my long runs were pretty close to my house.  I picked out a 6 mile route and ran it many times.  I got to know every inch of that route.  All the mailboxes, trees, and corn fields on that route were keenly etched in my memory.  It worked well for me.  At the 20 mile mark at the Green Bay Marathon the following spring I was in a much better place.  I was still really tired and wondering when the next water stop was coming up, but I knew exactly what was still left to go.  As the miles dwindled, I imagined being on my 6 mile loop at home and I could overlay the industrial wasteland that lies at the end of that race with the fields and houses in my neighborhood.  My head was in the gaame.

Haley and I have been running together for a couple months.   It is fun to have that alone time together and she usually has alot to tell me.  We run the same route almost every time and she has no problem making the 3 mile distance.  I knew she was physically ready for her first 5K race.  I also knew she would be tempted to keep pace with the crowd so we talked about running our own race.   The excitement of the race was powerful though and our first mile was fast.  A pace I knew she couldn't sustain to the finish.  I coaxed her back to our pace, but by 1.75 miles she was struggling a bit.  I knew she was strong enough to do it, she just needed to get her mental game going. 

So that's when I started painting pictures for her.   Laying out all the landmarks of our route as we passed by them.  I could see the expression on her face change and she was able to figure out where she was and how close we were getting to the end.  The finish line was inside the baseball stadium and as we turned the corner and she saw the gates open into the field, she knew exactly where she was.  We often end our runs with a sprint to the finish.  End strong, you know!  So she looked at me, I told her to go and she made the final sprint to the finish line.  Just like she might run across the playground with her friends at recess.  Not like she had just run 3 miles.