Really just relieved to be done that race!

I’m always talking about my splits and mile times. There is just something about seeing the graphs and charts of runs laid over the elevation charts that gets me excited. I’m also at that point in my running that all the advice the experts give makes sense to me now – start off a race slower than how you’ll finish, complete your long training runs at a slower than race pace, make sure that pace training runs are actually run at pace and so on and so on. All of it is correct!
Practically every race I’ve done, when I start off slower than race pace, I finish faster and stronger. And, those races where I go out way too fast at first, I seem to hit a wall and finish slower than when I started. There is something to be said for negative splits. It is so hard to resist going out too fast! The first few miles of a long race after tapering are all happy and my legs feel amazing. Yipee! Let’s go! This happened most spectacularly for me in October 2016 – I’d run an amazing full marathon in Maine at the beginning of the month. I hit my goal pace and held it for four and a half hours. I felt so good I signed up for a half locally here at the end of the month. A hilly race which had been my first half marathon. I’d had a few weeks off and my legs felt great. The first seven miles were way too fast. (PS – I didn’t actually run a 7:49 mile at mile 9 – it was near water and GPS wasn’t strong – it was more like the other miles around it). 
The thing is – I knew I was going way to fast. I had forgotten all of the advice and knowledge that I’d soaked up to that point about running. But it FELT SO GOOD! I kept pushing and going – too fast – knowing I’d pay later in the race. Which made me wonder – why do we do that? Why do we not take the expert advice we know is good advice and apply it? For me, it was discipline. It is hard to be disciplined about approaching a race – when you see EVERYONE else (or who you assume is everyone) maybe running faster or ahead of you. Look back at my smile and wave post – when I start to compare myself to someone else I have unrealistic expectations. 
Back to splits and mile times. I now have enough data about my running career to be able to pretty accurately tell someone what I expect to finish a particular race in. I ran into a friend the other day and I was telling her my upcoming half marathon goal of a 2:05 or under might be unrealistic. She laughed a bit and said I was crazy and she had confidence that I’d hit that. Maybe I will – but more than likely I won’t – I’ve seen my numbers lately and though pretty good and not my slowest – I’m running another hilly course coming back from an injury. I want to finish strong and to do that I need to start slower than when I’ll finish. So – my new goal is a negative split. Whatever time I finish in – I want to hit that goal and feel strong and disciplined.