by David Fuentes
“What is your race plan for tomorrow?”
– I just want to win.
I get asked that question on the regular, and I usually follow it up with that answer. That doesn’t mean I’m going to, but I figured it sounds easier to say I want to win instead of hashing out some pacing scheme for each mile of the race.
I went all in last month at the USA Half Marathon Championship. I came up a bit short around mile 8 during the race. That’s where I fell apart and slowly started realizing my fate. But my fate in that race turned out to be pretty positive looking back on it. 13.12 miles at 4:50 pace looks pretty easy to me on paper, and seemed like it was going to be easy, especially when I had such a big group to run with. My back had other plans for me. It slowly started getting tighter around my waist line and before I knew it, my form was going to shit, and things started locking up. The next 3-4 miles felt like a slow death and the last mile felt like a walk of shame through downtown Houston. But upon crossing that line and seeing the 1:05 time on the clock. I had this small moment of clarity.
Visit David’s personal blog for the complete story HERE.