Monkey on my Back

Ever since seeing my run split of 2 hours at Duke 1/2, I’ve had this monkey on my back.  Based on the times that my friends, Scottie and Jennifer, yelled out to me, I think I ran the first lap in 1:04. That means I had to do the 2nd lap in 55 minutes. I wasn’t even sure if that was physically possible for me.  I began to wonder if maybe I missed a turn or something.  I guess my mentor, Jon Farber, is right, that I still have insecurities about my athletic abilities.

So, today, I plotted out a 6.5 mile run course which is hillier than Duke.   Not too hard to find hills here in Chapel Hill!  And I nailed it in 55 minutes!   Zone 3.   That 55 minute time even includes stopping to eat a Gu and taking my time to drink some water – to simulate what I did at the aid station around mile 7.   And my legs weren’t exactly fresh this morning, either 🙂   And I feel great right now, like I could go out and run some more.

So, that monkey on my back is gone.  I guess I really did have a  breakthrough race.   And truly I have had a breakthrough in my running.    I have waited so long for this moment and worked so hard for it.   I’ve finally learned how to dial in a pace and hold onto it.  My friend Rebecca calls this a ‘sweet spot’.  I like that!

For the first half of the Duke run, I was shooting for my long run pace of 9:45, which is top of Zone 2, moderately hard.   After mile 7 – after I got past my ‘Suffer Section‘ – I started going ‘all out balls to the wall’ giving it everything I had left.   And it worked.    A huge thank you to Stacey Richardson for helping me find fast running legs.  I can’t wait until B2B.   I am going for Locker #1.

And a huge shout out to Scottie and Jennifer for coming out to cheer me on. It DID help-ALOT!

It was probably kind of stupid of me to go out for a hard run just two days after doing a hard race.     I should be recovering and stretching and going easy.  But I had to get this monkey off my back.  I haven’t yet written a complete race report because I was in such a funk about this.    I can do that now that the monkey is gone

Comparison:
Duke 1/2 run course
13.1 miles
1.7% Average Grade
Total Elevation Gain: 1,178.00 feet

“Monkey on my Back” route
6.51 miles
2.0% Average Grade
Total Elevation Gain: 692.00 feet