Dreams & Such

Do you ever have dreams that pertain to happenings in your life?  I had a dream on Friday night last week about running a half marathon.  Coincidentally my half marathon is coming up in 2 weeks.  Clearly I have been thinking a lot about the race, as my mind was still thinking about it while I was sleeping. 

In the dream, I was running my “normal” pace, or what I thought was my normal pace.   I don’t remember a whole lot about the dream other than it was towards the end of the race and I really had to use the restroom.  Seems I had had too much water or didn’t take the time to go before the race.  I passed a restroom and considered stopping to use it, but decided to keep running.  I ran through a door (yeah, have no idea what that was about) and all of a sudden I was at the finish line, only there was no one else there.  No crowds, no officials, only me.  As I glanced around, I saw a race official coming towards me just as I saw another woman & a man approaching (they were also running).  The official calls out “All you have to do to ‘finish’ is tag or high-five me”.  I scrambled over to the official as I had not gotten as far as I had to let this quickly approaching woman & man beat me.  I high-fived the official and he says “YOU WON!”  What?  I won? 

Then I woke up.  Yep, that was it.  How frustrating is that?!  LOL!  Of course I start to think about the dream since I remembered it right as I awoke.  I couldn’t figure out how I could have possibly won the half marathon as I couldn’t have been running faster than a 9:30 or 9:00/mile pace.  I had to settle with the fact that I would never know how that dream was supposed to end. 


This brings me to the topic that I have been thinking about a lot lately.   How I am going to run this upcoming race.  Some days I think that I am more than prepared given I had gotten through my 20 mile training run of my full marathon training.  Other days I think that I should just run this race to run it and to have fun.  No time goals, nothing.  I only wish that my competitive self could be content with that.   While I secretly would love to break my PR from when I ran my first half in October 2009, I realize that due to my recent injuries, that may not be possible.  A good friend from high school told me last year when I was preparing for my first marathon that she often sets 3 goals when racing.  I think that is the perfect way for me to keep from being disappointed in my performance and keep from being too critical of myself. 

I have been through the VO2 Max testing and know my heart rate zones and what zones I should be in for which miles of the race.  I will evaluate how I feel at several different points during the race.  Based on how I feel will determine how I proceed.  Of course there are other factors that will play a part, too.  Weather plays a huge part – temperature and humidity can really wreck havoc on your body if they are too high. 

So, ultimately I would love to run a sub 2 hour half.  My previous PR is 2:01:22.  However, I will be thrilled to just be able to enjoy this race, the experience that I have had over the past 5 months with my friends in MIT and cross the finish line uninjured. 


How does one get to the starting line of a race ready to go?  Lots of training & preparation, that is how.  I have learned over the past 3 years that I have been running that doing anything different on race day than what you have practiced on your long runs is the worst move that you can make.  I made this mistake last year by taking my Gu/Clif Shots way too close together and suffering some pretty nasty intestinal side effects (sorry, TMI) during the latter part of my marathon.  I will not make that mistake again.  I have been practicing exactly what food will go into my body the day of (and even the day before) my race.  It started out that I began eating the same breakfast – 1 serving of Kix cereal (gluten-free) before each long run on Saturdays.  It didn’t matter whether I was running 9 miles or 15 miles, 1 serving worked for me and that is what I stuck with despite wanting to refill my bowl again on some days.  I began to add in Gu when my runs got longer than 12 miles, taking the Gu around mile 8.  I started to pay attention to what I was eating on Friday, the day before my long run.  Without really even thinking much about it, I found I was eating pretty much the same thing on that day as well and it worked, so that would now become a part of my routine as well.  I was cutting back on my large salads and adding in more carbs, in small amounts.

In addition to nutrition, I have been working diligently on my physical therapy to rehab my injuries.  Things are feeling pretty good, but I won’t lie, PT, stretching, foam rolling & icing is a lot like a part-time job.  It all comes down to this:  How bad do you really want it?  For me, running is what I do.  It is my therapy, my outlet, my place.  I don’t want that taken away from me.  Ever.  That is why I do what I do. 

I know that it will all pay off.  Smile

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