Mental Toughness Can Get You Through - My Laughlin Half Marathon Race Experience

It had been six years since I last raced a half marathon, the Laughlin Half Marathon in 2008 where I set my half marathon PR. Life, work, and other race distances kept me from returning to focusing on 13.1 miles again until now.

After my 70.3 distance triathlon in November 2013 I took almost three entire months off of running and cycling, maintaining some sort of fitness by swimming two to three times a week. I believe I had (and still have) a slight torn meniscus and was hoping it would heal on its own.

I still get sharp pains in my knee if tweaked just a certain way but I’m able to maintain it now and running doesn’t seem to bother it at all. So the start of February began my 16 week marathon training for the Mountain’s 2 Beach Marathon in May. Right in the middle of training was a scheduled 13 mile training run the same day as the Laughlin Half Marathon. I thought this would be the perfect way to test where I’m at in my fitness level and make whatever necessary adjustments from there.

What I did not plan on was coming down with some terrible virus that was going around work a week before marathon training began and would linger in my lungs and chest for the next eight weeks. Trying to get your fitness level back, increase speed and find the motivation to train when you’re coughing your guts out and feeling like crud is really difficult!

Kerrie Anne and I before the race

I was getting my long runs in so I knew I could cover the distance, I just didn’t have any speed – every run I did was a least a minute or more slower than my marathon goal race pace (which is an 8:35 or 3:45 finish) and was a struggle at that. So the thought of racing 13.1 just seemed ridiculous. Because I told friends I was running this half marathon weeks earlier I didn’t want to back out and decided I’d just run it as a regular training run and not try to set a PR. Then my training buddy, Donna, text one evening what I had been considering but didn’t want to do. She said I SHOULD race it just to see where I’m at in my fitness and if I didn’t set a PR big deal, at least I’ll know what I can do right now. So that decided it – two days before the race I set a goal of an 8:30 pace or a 1:51:26 finish, which would beat my six year record by 29 seconds (1:51:55 in 2008).

This was a tough decision for me to make. I’m a much stronger athlete today than I was back in 2008. When I originally had planned on running this half marathon I thought I’d be as fit as I was back in November when I was half distance triathlon fit and thought I’d be able to run a 1:45 half. That’s what I had initially wanted to achieve so to settle on a 1:51 goal and not even sure I could make that was kind of a bummer and made me nervous. So you see why copping out and making it just a training run would have been the easy thing for me to do.

Kerrie Anne and I after the race!

The Laughlin Half Marathon is a small event; about 250 total runners for both the 5k and half. There were 89 female finishers for the half. I came in 7^th overall, third in my age group. But that was not my goal. In 2008 my goal was to be in the top 10 female finishers. My only goal this year was to beat 1:51:55.

The race is an out and back course along the Colorado River on a flat maintained dirt road the entire distance. There are no spectators, no bands, no music and even a couple of the aid stations were self-serve. So I decided to wear my old Oakley Thumps that I hadn’t worn in a couple years. I don’t normally run with music but thought it would help distract and motivate me through the race.

I messed with the settings on my Garmin 910XT on the ride to the race thinking I was setting it to alert me if I was going faster than an 8:00 minute pace or slower than an 8:30. I wore a fuel belt because I always bring my own water (after volunteering at an event and seeing their water buckets but that’s another story for another post) and had my energy gel safety pinned to it along with my bib number.

The race got under way and I was pumped up on caffeine and music and feeling pretty dang good the first mile, thinking I was running an easy effort that I would be able to maintain the full 13 miles. The first mile marker came up but my watch didn’t alert me. I look and 8:02 showed as the time that had elapsed but no distance, no pace and no average pace…OH NO! I thought maybe I didn’t hit start so I hit the start button again but then the Timer Stopped button came on so I immediately hit it again and Timer Started but still no distance or pace. Crap! That meant calculating in my head from here on out.

Next the music died! No, I wasn’t listening to Bye Bye American Pie, my Thumps had no thump left in the battery. Although fully charged the night before, I guess them being almost ten years old there was just no more life left in them.

Then my fuel belt was not cooperating at all. I wore my tri suit which I don’t normally train in. It’s much slicker and sucks me in a bit so I couldn’t get my belt tight enough and it kept sliding all around and wanting to come undone. All these things are just minor distractions but take energy and focus away from the race.

The second mile came and I saw 16:11 and still felt good despite the distractions. Third mile was 24 something and now I’m thinking I might be able to finish in 1:48! I past a couple guys the first early miles and no one had past me…yet. Then came mile five and the first of three girls that passed me before the turn-around. Damn, I was slowing and I still had 7 miles to go.

After the turn-around only one other girl passed me and she shouted not to worry that she was in an older age bracket than me. I chuckled, thought that was nice of her and then thought how cool it was that I wasn’t even worried about that. All I wanted to do was finish in less than 1:51:55 which I was still on track to do as long as I didn’t slow down anymore.

I was able to maintain an 8:20 pace for a couple more miles. I know this because a guy behind me was coaching someone and kept giving him the pep talk, telling him their splits. Between miles 9 and 10 however, they slowly passed me. I tried to hang on to them and made it another half mile but when I hit that 10 mile marker it was all I could do to push through. I saw 1:22 something on my watch and knew I could not let myself slow to my comfortable training pace of 9:30 – I HAD to push through if I wanted to reach my goal. It hurt now, I’ll admit. I so wanted to slow down, even take a walk break but the goal was at the forefront of my mind. It was now 100% mental.

The final three miles seemed to take forever. When I could finally see the finish line I showed 1:48 on my watch and I started to worry. It looked a lot farther than three minutes away (I’m thinking two laps around the track) and so I did what I could to pick up the pace as much as I thought I could. A guy ran by me and said “Lets finish strong” which helped motivate me and I was able to pick it up a little more. I love that!

Coming in for the finish!

When I saw the finish line clock it read 1:51:07 and I was still what seemed a quarter mile away. Now I’m hearing someone coming up fast behind me. That combined with the time, I hunkered down with all my might and thought “I didn’t hurt this bad to not make my goal” and found a last kick in me and crossed the finish line in 1:51:43 – setting a new personal best by 12 seconds…and beating the guy coming in fast behind me!

Granted, it’s not at all close to the PR time I had hoped to be able to log in my records when I first made the commitment to run this half marathon. However, considering that training hadn’t been up to par and I hadn’t run any distance at close to that pace since my return to running, I am stoked I was able to dig deep and push through. It gave me the confidence and motivation to continue with marathon training and to focus and fine tune the rest of my training.

The following week after the race, nine weeks into marathon training, was my best training week to date. I made all my planned work-outs; hit my speed work goals; could actually breathe on the bike; ran an 18 mile long run; and a 3 mile tempo at 7:49 pace. This week has started out just as well and I know I’ll only get stronger in the coming weeks. Boston Qualifier here I come… with fingers crossed and the mental fortitude to get me through the final six miles!

When has your mental toughness gotten you through a race? Share your story in the comment section below.