It's done and now it's been a week. My half marathon. After describing the preparation in so much detail here, I would of course also like to tell you something about the race.
My original goal was 01:45:00, but during my preparation I threw this goal overboard and just wanted to do better the last time I ran it three years ago. When I ran the distance in training, it always took me over two hours in the last few weeks and I even briefly thought about whether it made sense at all. Of course, in retrospect I'm glad I didn't give up. But where did the big difference come from? Why was I suddenly so good?
Through the preparation, of course. I had a precisely planned training plan for 14 weeks, which I followed through exactly. It got me to the finish line in 2019, and this time it will again. I also started drinking a glass of beetroot juice every day 6 days before the race. I don't know if that really helps, but if not, at least the placebo effect helps. That's something too. What definitely helps is the adrenaline in the competition. And you don't even have to do anything for that. It just comes. Especially just before and during the start. It helped me to start in a very good time. I had worked out my pace range in my head and wanted to check it at every kilometre. But after the first kilometres I realised that I was hardly reaching the range. So I was faster than planned. On the one hand I was happy about this, but on the other hand I was afraid that I would then get the receipt in the form of muscle failure or lack of air. I decided to turn off my head again and keep running as long as it felt good. On the way, I was surprised again and again by my supporters who called out to me and took photos. The crowning glory was the occasional short run with a friend who briefly checked my condition and gave me tips on how to continue. Like this: "How is your time? How are you?" "I'm too fast, but I'm fine." "Do you have people to follow?" "I've already passed all of them." "Ok, but make sure you don't overdo it now." (Memory log) A big thank you also goes to my boyfriend for welcoming me, drying my tears and providing me with water and chocolate when I crossed the finish line.
Thanks to all this, I finished my run in 01:43:54. Better than my originally planned goal and overjoyed. I'm happy that it was all worth it in the end. And I'm happy to be able to train in a more relaxed way again. And hopefully the hurting foot is happy about that too. He was the only one who thought he could spoil my half marathon, but he didn't count on me. However, I hope I won't get the bill for it now.