Trails are better than candy

So I ran my 2nd Half Marathon of the year yesterday.  It was ok.  Like nothing super exciting.  No PR.  My foot didn't hurt.  Neither did my stomach.  I lack fitness.  Been injured for 3 months.  Should have been happy I finished.  6th woman overall out of 760 women finishers. 2nd in the young ladies age group.  Not a PR by 24 seconds.  On exact same course.  From November.  Did beat the super cute young thing with short shorts.  She always beats me. It made me smile.  Old lady for the win!

Makai won the 15-19 Age Group with a 1:24.  I got 2nd in the 29+++ Age Group with a 1:34:18. Adorable hand painted trophies.

 I'm competitive.  Like super duper competitive.  I ran my last half 1:06 faster.  Yes it was a different course.  It was also 1 week out from a marathon.  Despite being injured I thought I could still PR.  When I don't I get grouchy.  And I let another young lady like myself pass me at mile 11.  I don't remember the last time I didn't win my age group.  Her 1st was slower than all my 1st's  I'm injured.  The race is about me.  I'm not getting paid.  No one cares how I place. Except my husband.  Because I was in a funk for a couple hours after the race. It just SUCKED.  i'm sorry there is no word that better describes what I felt.  That I couldn't mentally make my legs go faster at mile 10.  That's when my lack of mileage caught up to me.  I felt out of shape.  Like really. really. really. out of shape.  It's an awful. horrible. embarrassing. put a bag over my head. kind of feeling.  Of course the husband praises my performance.  I'm injured.  Lack mileage. And proper training.  He thinks I did awesome.  That does help a little.

So today I hit the trails.  To remind myself why I love to lace up my shoes and run.  I'm lucky to have a trail running husband.  I strapped on my new Soloman Hydration Pack.  OMG.  There are no words to describe it.  I am in love.  And we hit one of our favorite trails.

Trails. In. Hawaii.  Out my backdoor.

It was also a good recovery run.  Mentally. Physically. Trails put it back into perspective.  Running is what I love.  There's the competitive part of me who likes to race.  That way I'll work on going faster.   But at some point the racing isn't fun.  And I start thinking of why I am racing.  Maybe I won't work as hard if I don't have a race on the calendar.  I don't think so.  But with the injury plagued few months.  I'm thinking. and pondering.  If I am disappointed with the results, why race?

We only focused on time.  out on the trail.  not how fast we were going.  It's super liberating.  The beauty was abundant.  Running in Hawai'i.  Lush mountains.  Ocean views.

I still want to do a 50k.  I am going to run Boston in April.  Then maybe I'll put away my credit card.  That pays for race entry fees.  And focus on just running.  And the beauty.  Will keep my Garmin.  We climbed 1400 feet today.  It felt better than crossing the finish line yesterday.  when I saw that elevation.

Some of the climbing.

Then we spent the day at the beach with friends.  I swam in the ocean.  And grilled veggie kabobs.  And forgot about my race.

Young ladies before hitting the ocean.