Back in December, Nashville Running Bestie Jen convinced me to join her for The Cedars Frostbite, a trail half marathon. It didn't take much convincing, I'll be honest. As part of the Tennessee Running Tour, it was a steal at only $8 for registration, $20 if you also wanted the technical, long-sleeved tee, in pink, no less! I have never been one to say no to a cheap race and a nice long sleeve tee, so I signed up and started dreading the run... |
So, I hadn't been doing many long runs. Sure, trail runs on lazy Sundays of 6 or 7 miles, all with walking interspersed for hills. Runs of four or five miles during the week days with running clubs across the city. But not necessarily "training" for a half marathon. Jen had said it would be a "fun, lazy Sunday long slow run" and we could walk when we needed to. Just like our normal Sunday runs. So I wasn't worried. With visions of walking up the hills and eating cookies, I wasn't too worried about how I would do, although runing 13.1 miles again for the first time in almost a year was a little daunting. But no pressure. I had zero expecations.
FIRST! I was lied to. This was NOT a trail run. Gorgeous as it was, winding through the woods and fields of the Cedars of Lebanon State Park, the course was composed almost entirely of paved roads, mixed with some dirt roads in the middle.
SECOND! This was no lazy Sunday run. I was sold a false bill of goods. As we drove to the course, Jen and my fellow runners kept talking about maintaining a 9:30 pace and setting new PR's.
"EXCUSE ME?!?!" I cried from the backseat. "When are we going to be walking?!?!"
As you can see from the graph above, there were a decent amount of hills involved in this course. None were so overwhelming to force walking (much to my chagrin) but the rolling hills seemed endless, with one immediately followed by the next and no end in sight.
SECOND! This was no lazy Sunday run. I was sold a false bill of goods. As we drove to the course, Jen and my fellow runners kept talking about maintaining a 9:30 pace and setting new PR's.
"EXCUSE ME?!?!" I cried from the backseat. "When are we going to be walking?!?!"
As you can see from the graph above, there were a decent amount of hills involved in this course. None were so overwhelming to force walking (much to my chagrin) but the rolling hills seemed endless, with one immediately followed by the next and no end in sight.
As we made our lap around the park, Jen kept on me, providing encouragement and distraction to my complaints about the lack of trail running, lack of walking, and too much speed. We did however manage to get some snacks, so I held off on attacking anyone after a couple Fig Newtons.
Note to future self: Fig Newtons actually make a decent snack on a run when one has enough water to wash them down.
As the miles wore down and we finished several rounds of our new song "This is the hill that never ends..., Yes, it goes on and on my friends..." and one pathetic attempt at "Ninety nine bottles of beer in the wall" that was LESS than appreciated by those around us, we finally reached the home stretch and finished our day.
I hadn't set out to PR. I had intended to walk and enjoy a long, very slow run on some single track trails. What I got instead was a hilly road race with a PR that beat my last half marathon time by a solid 16 minutes. I guess I can't complain too much. :)
I'm glad I got the opportunity to run this race and although it was not at all what I was expecting, I'm glad I did it and will plan on running this, along with several others in the series, next year. For $8 each, I may end up doing most of them!
I guess the moral of the story here is sometimes, even when things don't go the way you anticipate, they can turn out even better.
Except for those hills. I still hate those hills.
#runlove, y'all!
Note to future self: Fig Newtons actually make a decent snack on a run when one has enough water to wash them down.
As the miles wore down and we finished several rounds of our new song "This is the hill that never ends..., Yes, it goes on and on my friends..." and one pathetic attempt at "Ninety nine bottles of beer in the wall" that was LESS than appreciated by those around us, we finally reached the home stretch and finished our day.
I hadn't set out to PR. I had intended to walk and enjoy a long, very slow run on some single track trails. What I got instead was a hilly road race with a PR that beat my last half marathon time by a solid 16 minutes. I guess I can't complain too much. :)
I'm glad I got the opportunity to run this race and although it was not at all what I was expecting, I'm glad I did it and will plan on running this, along with several others in the series, next year. For $8 each, I may end up doing most of them!
I guess the moral of the story here is sometimes, even when things don't go the way you anticipate, they can turn out even better.
Except for those hills. I still hate those hills.
#runlove, y'all!