Race Day in Retrospect

I ran a half marathon yesterday morning. IT was the first of the year and one of many races I will compete in. The weather was great and I put up the worst time since last year. In fact, last year when I ran this race I did better- in a blizzard without training. Why would that be?

Last year I ran over ninety race miles (actual miles during an event, not training), and some days it feels good to run. Some days, it's a struggle. I have gone through ten mile runs feeling light and good, and I have gone through little three mile races where I was a leaden bear. Of course I have spent a considerable amount of time thinking about what causes this.

It isn't as simple as training. In fact, I have little correlation between training and running. Obviously it is better to train than not, but it has no effect on how I feel on race day. Race day is it's own entity. There are routines and rituals which every racer has- a way of prepping with diet and hydration, but also putting our minds in the right place. But it is also something of a mystery when it comes to how I feel.

Yesterday I was affected by a rash- some allergic reaction to some mystery. It happens some times. All my skin kind of breaks out and it is really uncomfortable since it makes anything except water or air feel like sandpaper. I take Benadryl for it and it relieves the discomfort. But it also puts my mind into a fog. Yesterday I was running in that fog and I couldn't get my mind into the right place. I wanted to think through some personal problems which would have been resolved after two hours of running, but I couldn't get there. It came down to feeling bad. And then frustrated at how slow I was. And then mad because I was frustrated and couldn't fix the problem.

Something to think about.