Did I run hard enough?

In the hours immediately after a long race, I start second-guessing my effort. My mind reels with questions of:

Did I run hard enough? Could I have pushed harder? Did I really do my best?

I don't know why this happens. I was elated after Sunday's half marathon, but halfway home, I started to wonder if I could have run harder/better/faster/stronger?*

I see the clock as I cross the finish line. I start out proud, but then I begin mentally lining up this race against those I've run before. I get back home and do the math... 4 minutes faster than this one (good!)... but 15 minutes slower than that other race...

No one wants to be slower today than they were yesterday/last week/last year. And while I know I could not have run a minute per mile faster, I wonder... Could I have shaved off another minute from my finish time? Two? I had enough kick for the last half mile. Could I have started my final sprint sooner? I didn't hurl at the end. Shouldn't I have been dry heaving at least?

I tried to distract my nagging brain. I made popcorn and sat down for an afternoon of football. I napped through part of the Pats / Ravens game, but was wide awake for the fourth quarter nail-biter finish. I got up and walked around. Stretched. I made dinner and mostly ignored the Giants / 49ers. (You can take the girl out of New England...) I went to sleep.

...And woke up so sore it hurt to get out of bed.

Today stairs are my enemy.

And I have my answer: I may not have puked at the finish line, but I really did run as hard as I could yesterday.

How do you evaluate your performance after a race? Comparing stats against prior races or pre-race goals? By how your body feels? By whether or not you enjoyed the ride?

*PS - I gave up hating Kanye when Watch the Throne was released. It is too good to ignore... But running playlists will have to be another discussion for another time. Anyone else have a love/hate relationship with K. West?

Running with my husband - good for my pace, bad for my ego

This morning I went out for a 4 mile run with my husband. Just before the 2-mile mark, I commented "wow, we've got some speed this morning" as it was the fastest not-on-a-treadmill run I've done in weeks. As I've mentioned before, the heat and humidity are killing my outdoor run pace (and my hair...) but I am keeping up with speedwork at the gym.

I felt like I was pushing myself, and was enjoying my 8:45ish pace.

My husband's response was "I'm just warming up." About 200 yards later he sped off.

So much for feeling speedy.

I used to get frustrated by my hubby's tendency to leave me in the dust. A couple of years ago, in our early dating days, there was one run which we agreed to "run together." A mile into the run, he took off. 30 minutes later I tripped on a tree root sticking out of the trail and tumbled ass over teakettle. When I finally caught up with him at our breakfast place, I was covered in gravel and had a twig stuck in my hair. Furious doesn't begin to describe my state of mind that day... mad because he took off, mad because I couldn't keep up, mad because I was scraped and filthy, and my pride was bruised to boot.

But when I did finally catch up with him, he was waiting patiently for me and was holding a cold glass of water because he knew I'd need one. He took me home and cooked me breakfast while I showered, because I couldn't sit in the restaurant covered in dirt.

Over the years I've learned to accept that he's way faster than me, and probably way faster than I'll ever be. But trying to keep up has made me a better runner. Knowing that he's watching the clock between when he wraps up a run and I when I do means that my ego won't let me take walk breaks. My race times improved, literally, by 2 minutes per mile (even more for the half-marathon) since we started running together.

And he's always waiting for me at the finish line with a cold glass of water...

Running like a girl...

This is one of my all-time favorite running slogans.

I am rarely sucked into buying things at race expos, but after seeing this car magnet several races in a row, I decided I had to have one.

You can get your very own magnet or sticker from the clever people at One More Mile Running. (And no, they are not paying me to write this. I just found their products too amusing to keep them all to myself.)