Chasing the Ghosts of Cowtown Past

Saturday brings the Cowtown Half Marathon, which will be my 3rd half marathon in 28 days. I ran the Cowtown last year, but it has haunted me ever since. I had started to have some pain in my hip a few weeks before the race and the pain had really increased in the week or so leading up to the Cowtown. The morning for February 28 dawned bitterly cold and with a very strong north wind. It was one of those famous North Texas cold fronts, it was warm the day before--the temperatures were approaching the 60s and then the bottom fell out that night. Erik and I shivered with all of the other runners while we waiting for the start to arrive. It was the coldest race that I had ever run (until the Texas Half this year...brrr!). The start was very inspiring, as many are, watching the large group of runners spread out into the street before me. The pain began before we even made it to the 1st mile marker. I was so discouraged because I knew that there were so many more miles to come. I began to tell myself that merely finishing would be fine today, even if I had to walk it at times. I soon caught up with the 2:20 pace group and made it a goal to stay in front of them. Somehow I made it and ended up finishing in 2:17, which was my 2nd fastest half marathon at that time, only 4 minutes off of my personal record. That was my 3rd half marathon and I was really just pleased to come out ahead of 2:20.

I learned so much about myself that day, I had no idea that I could really dig in and work through something that challenging. Everything was stacked against me that day: the weather, the strong winds, and the pain. Who knew that a half marathon could be that hard? Months later, after much frustration and nashing of teeth, I found out that all that pain was caused by my shoes. When I started running I got fitted for shoes at a running store; however, I was fitted for the wrong shoes. All of the muscles in my hips and legs were having to work hard to correct my gait and stride. Once I got the correct shoes and a massage therapist helped me work out the kinks, I was stronger than ever.

I am looking forward to Cowtown this year. I plan to chase away the ghosts of last year and to really enjoy the journey that the race will bring. Do I smell another personal record? Time will tell...only 2 more days to go....