Maybe you can, but not me......................

I tried to write a post, and then upload a picture to it. Every time I tried, it pulled up a new post. It is not that important to me, I guess because I only tried twice. I also tried to export it, but they wanted a file to export it to, and having no clue what file my blog it, I let that one go too. And just in case you were wondering, I didn't have a specific picture I wanted to post, I just wanted to see if I could do it. Maybe next try.

On to more exciting news.....................

I LOST A TOENAIL from running. What? You're not that impressed? I would not have been either, except that I have been told (and read) that when this happens, one can consider themselves a true runner. My youngest is holding out for the time I throw up either during or after a race to give me this honor, but I am thinking she is going to be holding out a while for that one. I have not quite got to that plane of self-torture as of yet.

One race down, the big one next weekend. I ran the six miles in one hour and three minutes. Only a minute faster than last year, and yet the race was much better for me. Everything I have learned over the past year went with me, and I felt very strong!

I had been doing visualizations for the course (It was the first race I did last year after starting my running in January.) especially for the one big hill. As I said, I felt really strong during the race, and about a half mile in, I picked a guy that had passed me and told myself I would stick with him for at the next four miles. It worked, and I actually kept up or was slightly ahead (for a few seconds at a time) through mile five. The hill was somewhere between miles four and five, and after I had reached the top, I was flying for about a quarter mile. Then I started to get this nagging feeling about this long stretch of horror. Instead of keeping my focus on the race, I was racking my brain trying to figure out if it were this race or a different one that this stretch was in. This was just enough distraction to slow me down, and my pacer began to take a slight lead. And then it happen............ There is was right in front of me.................. The dreaded part of the race that I hadn't even remembered (which should give you some idea of how bad I felt at that point last year if I had totally blocked it out of my mind post last year's race.) Logically it should have been no problem because I had lots of power left to take me home, and it was flat and smooth. The problem was, I had to waste energy to mentally talk myself through that last quarter mile, and this slowed down even more.

Maybe I should be disapointed, but I am not. I ran a much improved race over last year, and my body felt really good being out there. The other reason I am not disapointed, was because I learned so much from the experience. It was one more lesson in how powerful our thoughts are. I am totally convinced that had I rehearsed the last quarter mile of the course as well as I did the hill, I would have kept my pace up and soared to the finish line. I can take this information, and apply it to my next race. How can I be disapointed at that? More importantly, I can apply my discovery to everything I encounter on a day to day basis to tackle all the things that I currently let get the better of me. How cool is that?!