Last year, I ran my best half marathon ever at the Santa Cruz Half. Several weeks later, I ran one of my worst runs ever (since I started running, that is) at the Jungle Run. This year, I actually improved my Jungle Run finish time by 3 minutes (testament to just how crappy I did last year), but my overall performance/place (442/757) was still pretty pathetic.
Still, since I pretty much squeezed in only 2 weeks of consistent training before the event and the longest distance covered during said “training” was 7.8 miles (completed a week before the event), it was an oddly satisfying run. My training runs felt really, really difficult, so this time around, I had no time goal at all — just a goal to complete the damn thing. What a difference a lack of self-imposed pressure makes…! And seeing Tom and Thing 1 at the finish line motivated me to sprint the last 1/4 mile to get back to them sooner…!