For three straight years I’ve travelled to Arizona in February for the Mesa-Phoenix Marathon. And for three straight years the race has delivered a shiny new PR. While I’ve never lived in Arizona, I feel like this event is my hometown race.
Mesa-Phoenix Marathon is the first race I’ve run more than twice. At this point, I know each turn; even the post-race party layout is familiar.
The early-morning bus ride through the pitch black into Usery Pass. Fire pits along the road providing warmth in the cold
desert air. The melodic sound of several thousand feet churning through darkness downhill for the first several miles.
I love everything about the Mesa-Phoenix Marathon.
My favorite part, though, is ringing that post-race PR bell.
I knew going into the weekend that I could run a new PR, and I believed I was fit enough to go several minutes under 2:47, which is what I ran last year.
But still, every race is a mental challenge.
I’ve focused on purposeful positivity in my training the past few months. My natural reaction to training stress is not positive. “You’re going to blow up.” “It’s going to hurt too much.” “You aren’t ready to run that workout.” Those are the normal thoughts that flash through my brain on a daily basis. If I don’t guard my mind, I easily psych myself into taking the easy way out — ditching hard workouts for slower paces and constantly putting my most difficult runs off for another day.
My running history is my biggest challenge now. My head tells me that my goal marathon pace is suicidal. Not long ago, running sub 6:30 miles in anything longer than a seemed impossible. And not long before that, running multiple sub 7 milesseemed impossible.
So on Saturday morning, when I clicked off my first three miles in 6:06, 5:58, 6:05, I started to panic a bit. My head started telling me I was going way too fast. Several times, I had to fight off negative thoughts. I was running the fastest marathon splits of my life with my legs feeling great, and I still kept thinking about backing off and saving a PR effort for another day.
Thankfully I found someone to run with for a few miles. His name is Eric, and he was running his first marathon. I caught up to him in mile five, right as a two-mile uphill started. It’s the only section with significant elevation gain in the entire race, and we settled into a nice rhythm to the top of the hill.
As we cruised down the other side of the hill, our paces dropped back into my danger zone. Yet I was able to chat with Eric. We talked for about three and a half miles — he ran in college and is starting to do longer distance races. Being able to talk calmed my nerves. As long as I could talk, I knew I wasn’t redlining.
Unfortunately I kept my other Mesa-Phoenix Marathon tradition alive as well — stopping for a bathroom break. That happened in mile 10, where I lost more than a minute and a half off my pace.
By that point, I was comfortable with my pacing, so I was able to hop right back into a groove. I hit the halfway timing mat in 1:21:45, which is faster than my half-marathon PR.
While I ran the second half of the race faster (1:21:01) for another technical half-marathon, there was a specific point where I decided to slow down to make sure I didn’t blow up.
After my slow mile 10 with the port-o-potty stop, I had rattled off seven straight miles at 6:06 or faster. Then, in mile 18, I had a brief moment of self doubt. What if I had to walk in the final miles? What if I end up not running a new PR.
I’ve been reading a lot about how our minds limit our ability to maximize effort in training and races. After Saturday’s race, I know this is an area I need to work on. In mile 18, I slowed down slightly. I probably only lost about a minute overall, I know I left precious seconds out on that course.
I passed Eric in mile 24 (he ended up running an incredible first marathon and finished faster than 2:50 when his initial goal was just a sub 3).
My final mile was a 6:07, and I finished the race with a hard sprint that let me know I had too much left in my legs. Still, seeing that 2:42:46 on the clock gave me an incredible surge of joy and gratitude.
I’m immensely thrilled with my PR (by four minutes and 25 seconds). Just seven years ago, I struggled to run a marathon faster than four hours. Now I’m setting my sights on cracking 2:40.
Between now and April’s Boston Marathon (my next big race), I’m going to focus on mental strength.
Our bodies have limits, but too often we decided to quit far below them. We can accomplish much more than our brains think possible in the moment.
Now let’s go out and try to make 5K pace more comfortable, and eventually, turn it into marathon pace.
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