After running this race I have had the weirdest feelings. I have been preparing for this race for so long, and running so many miles, yet at the end of things I probably did no better than last year and my time was worse. Despite everything that happened I find myself thinking, 'oh well, better luck next time'. I am not depressed or super disappointed at how poorly I finished. I just know that I need to keep training and that hopefully with some more experience I will do better the next time around. This is all in stark contrast to what I was feeling after the Autumn Classic just a month ago, when I was so disappointed that I skipped the rest of my run that day, and got somewhat emotional. Maybe the fact that I had 6 miles during the race when I already knew my fate took away the disappointment to a degree, and helped me to see the brighter picture at the end. Maybe just trying to finish the race, when my vision was somewhat blurry and I felt like I could barely run because of the pain tempered me. I really do not know. What I do know is that I gave my all, and I did my best. The mistakes I made resulted in me hitting a giant brick wall 20 miles in and dropped me from 3rd place to 15th by the end, but I finished. I'll do better next time.
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