I am back racing and it feels great! Here’s a recap of my most recent race, the Rock N Roll Arizona Half Marathon on Jan 18th:
Arizona was awesome- ran me a fresh new personal best- 1:12:23 (a new British Colombia record!) What a pleasant surprise! I knew I was pretty fit going in, and was hoping to run about 1:13-1:14. The conditions were ideal (about 10C during the race, no wind, and a pretty flat course). US Olympian Amy Hastings was racing- I had heard that she was going to be aiming to run her marathon pace- about 1:13-1:13:30. This was perfect for me- so the plan was just to run with her for as long as I could and hope I was fit enough to run that pace.
The race started and I immediately tucked in behind Amy. The first mile felt fast….and it was – 5:19. I tried to settle in, but the second mile felt fast too- it was 5:21ish. I was thinking, “Oh god, this is going to end very badly for me- I cannot run this pace the whole time!”
Finally after 5k (16:35), the pace eased up a bit and I was able to get into a comfortable rhythm. We split through 10km in 33:29. At this point I had 2 thoughts: 1) Wow, this is fast! I’m going to run a big PB today- just keep pushing! 2) Wow, this is too fast- I am going to crash and burn around 17k and its not going to be pretty. I tried to keep thought number 2 out of my head– stay positive Tash! You can do this!
Just after half way I decided to take my Gel. I was very out of practice at taking a Gel during a race…..I could not get the damn thing open. Then I finally did and got it all over my hands- great, sticky hands for the rest of the race. Attempting to swallow the gel was not very successful either, I choked a bit. Could not swallow, could not breath, uh oh! Finally I got it down, and realized I had totally dropped off the pace. Amy was at least 5 seconds ahead of me now.
The next 2 km I lost focus and was suffering a bit….I thought it was the beginning of the end. Amy was now about 50 meters ahead of me. Around 14km we started the climb up a pretty significant hill (about 1k in length). I got a second wind and powered up the hill, starting to close the gap on Amy. At this point I had stopped looking at my watch so I have no idea what any of my mile splits were. We got to the top of the hill and turned around and went right back down. Amy is good at down hills it seems and she started dropping me again even though I felt like I was rolling along pretty well.
I started running with a guy and we worked together over the last 5km. It was great having someone there for that last few kms to help push me! I was waiting to hit the wall, but it just did not happen and I had a strong last few miles- much to my surprise. I was super happy at the finish line, and it was especially great having my aunt and uncle there to share the moment with me.
This was a big breakthrough for me. It was a really tough year for me in 2014 and even before I got the plantar fasciitis in March I had not felt great running since the marathon in the fall of 2013. I wondered if I would ever be back to running fast again. Was I done with competitive running? I was losing my faith.
Thankfully- I am finally feeling like myself again- it’s such a relief! Now I have to be smart and do everything in my power to stay healthy; if I can stay healthy and get in some consistent training, I think that 2015 is going to be a pretty awesome year!
Like Jess O’Connell (one of Canada’s fastest female distance runners) once said: “whoever stays the healthiest the longest will run the fastest!”
Natasha Wodak
Canadian XC Runner
IF Sponsored Athlete
Innovative Fitness Kitsilano
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