I was pretty disappointed by my time at Yellowstone Half in
June and desperately needed something to regain my passion and confidence for
running. Run like a Girl in Columbus is a small girl theme race which is close
enough and relatively easy. And a bottle
of wine at the finishing line was quite tempting for a heavy drinker like me. 2
years ago I ran Queen Bee 4 mile and was really impressed by how well it was
organized. It is another girl only race and Cincinnati course means hilly and
much more challenging. Driven by some unreasonable impulse, Carine and I signed
up both races which were only 4 weeks apart. In order to improve our time, we
reached out to team captain Marc for his help. Marc has always encouraged us to
do a full marathon, but somehow I feel I am not ready for next step before
reaching certain goal on half.
Of course Marc the Best immediately agreed to coach us. We
were only 8 weeks away for the first race Run like a Girl and 12 weeks away
from Queen Bee. I wanted to run a half
in 2 hour despite my PR at that time was 2h17m. To achieve that in such a short
time, Marc had to draft an intense and efficient training plan; the training
included 2 hard intervals, 2 long runs and 2 technical sessions per week. Carine
and I decided to do our running sessions before sunrise to avoid summer heat,
which means we had to get up before 5am, run for over an hour, get ourselves
ready and be at work on time. That was a
hard yet very driven time for me. I felt exhausted but extremely satisfied
every day. Crossing out a task after
another, I actually saw my improvement and that was one of the best feelings in
the world. Marc is the best coach one can possibly ask for. He encouraged us,
challenged us and took care of us when we had problems and doubts. I often joked
that he was trying to kill us but inside our hearts, we truly and deeply
appreciated what he had done for us.
Carine and I are good students. We tried our best to follow
every requirement but I was still doubtful before the first race. I told myself
it would be a good self-examination to see how far I have gone. Yet it was still
quite stressful because I was so scared to let Marc down and more important, to
fail myself after all these tough trainings.
We stayed a night in Columbus
before the race and fed ourselves in nice Columbus restaurants. Right before
going to bed, we got messages from our lovely coach, team mates and friends
with their best wishes. The warm feeling eased my anxiety and recharged me again.
Often I got people asking “Why you’re doing this?” “You’re crazy!”, but friends
and families who know me know: this is the way I live. Not only I love
challenges, I need them to feel fulfilled and completed.
The weather on the race day was perfect for a run. It was a
relatively flat course and I felt really great for the first 8 miles. I could
easily achieve my 2 hour goal if I had kept that pace. Starting from mile 9, I
found myself hitting the wall. My legs were so tired and my pace dropped almost
40 seconds per mile. After race I was told that was caused by lacking of energy
intake, which Marc had been telling us all the time. Because I felt so great in
the beginning, I didn’t want to waste any second. Therefore, I learnt the lesson
in a hard way. That was a battle with your will and body and I was chasing the
time for the last whole 4 miles. Then I crossed the finishing line. 1:59:04! So
close but I made it!! Carine was there waiting for me, I asked her time and
knew she made it too: 4 minutes faster than her original goal!! Incredible!! We
hugged each other tight and couldn’t help but tear a little bit. It was the
thoughts of those hard trainings and the time we spent made us so moved and
emotional. We made it and we deserved it!! I texted Marc and expressed our
eternal gratitude and love to him. He was super happy for us too, as well as
all other friends!!
The second race was still waiting for us but we were much
relaxed this time. We finished the rest of the training schedule and stood on
the starting line of QueenBee. The first part of the course was quite hilly but
I was prepared for that. Without pressure and with well-prepared energy intake,
I finished the race in 1:55:46! Three and half minute less than last time another
new PR achieved!! Oh I do love running and the payment you get after sweats and
tears! This is not always true in real life or work in our field, sadly!
I want to thank every member of Jovent79 US for all their
suggestions and supports. My BFF Carine, I couldn’t do this without her
company. All the moments that we shared
together during the training will remain one of my best memories. And our
magnificent coach Marc, thank him for letting me join this warm family and
making my dream come true before my 25?! Birthday!
