The Night Before the Race Thoughts
9/30/23 8:07PM
Well it is here. The night before the race.
My nerves are big and I am anxious but I feel that is expected. I think I would be worried if I wasn’t. I will say that I am in a much better place now than when I signed up for the race. When I signed up for the race I was questioning if I could or would be able to complete the race. I am more than confident in my ability to not only complete the race but crush it.
Tonight, I will get a good nights rest and leave the house tomorrow at 6am. I should arrive to downtown St. Charles in the morning before 6:30a and be able to change into my shoes and relax near the start/finish line of the race. I will do my morning journal entries and take a moment enjoy God’s hug at 6:58a (sunrise). The temp is expected to be in the low 60’s and will warm up to the upper 70’s by the completion of the half marathon. I will do some stretching and calming breathing exercises in anticipation of the race. I will head to the coral around 7:15a in preparation of the national anthem. I am sure the tears will well up as they always do during the national anthem in any sports event that I attend.
Once the national anthem is played the realization of everything that I have worked and trained for will finally hit me for the first time of many this morning.
Here it is…… I am at the starting line of my first half marathon. This is it. My first race of I am sure, many to come. There is nothing left to do but to relax and enjoy the journey as I have up to this point. The journey of the runs I have had up to this point, the visualization of being at the starting line and being in the crowds of people and the crack of the gun to start the race….. is here.
I have to stay with my plan throughout the race and not allow the excitement of the crowd, the other runners overtake my thought out plan to crush this race. This is MY race. I am only racing against myself.
My goal is to keep a 13:00 pace throughout the race with the exception of 5 miles. Miles 1, 2 and 11 I will carry a 14:00 pace while the two hill miles of 9 & 10 I will carry a 15:00 and 16:00 mile pace respectively. With finishing the last tenth of the race in 2 minutes. This will give me a time of 2:59:00. Under 3 hours. I will focus on keeping my heart rate at or below 160 and make sure to get gatorade and water at the water stations.
My race will start with a goal pace of 14:00 for the first two miles as I come down Riverside Drive leaving the starting line. My first mile is at Olive on 2nd Street. I will make the turn on Tecumseh and left near the park where I will hit the first water station. This is where I will increase my pace to 13:00 per mile until leaving New Town.
The second water station will before just before entering New Town just before the 5 mile mark. Up until this point it has just been like my normal medium runs and I should be feeling great. I will make the turn into New Town where I expect to see the crowds and people cheering me on. This is where I want to hit cruise control and really allow things to “sink in”. I want to see the crowds and hear the music. Enjoy the community and find a group to settle into. There will be a third water station just after the 7 mile mark and before leaving New Town.
I will make a right onto Boschertown Road. This is where I tackle the biggest challenge of the race. The coming hill around 9.5 miles which is where the 4th water station is. This is where my body has hurt the most during my training, but I know in less than an hour I will be crossing the finish line to my first completed half marathon and to see my wife and kids and all the other support there at the finish line. This is simply just part of the course and nothing to make bigger than what it is, one mile of telling myself to “keep on standing” when things get tough I keep going knowing of what is to come.
After climbing the hill on Little Hills Expressway I will make the right to turn onto North 5th Street and take the jaunt down the hill and to Olive Street where the fifth and final water station is where I will recharge and head for home. I will make the right onto Riverside to see the finish line in the distance. Everything I have been waiting for is right there right at the finish line. My hard work, dedication and training will all come together with the crossing of the finish line.
I know I am a man that gets emotional but I am not sure what I will expect when I cross the finish line. Part of me thinks I will hold back because “I have to hold it all together’. The other part of me thinks I will be excited for the accomplishment. That is for tomorrow. I feel visualization of doing big things is an important part of getting through big things but as for the ending, as for the “end of the story”, that will have to wait for tomorrow. It will happen exactly the way it is meat to be, however that is. The whole point of this has been to enjoy the journey. So that is all, until tomorrow, until I am on and in the midst of my journey.
I’ve got this!