Back a few weeks ago I learned something while running a 5K that I now realize also applies to life in general.  This particular 5K was the day before I was going to run the ING Georgia Half Marathon.  I decided to take it easy and try and run the 5K in around a 10 minute per mile pace instead of my usual 9 minute pace.  I glanced at my watch at the end of the first mile to see 9:27… 30 seconds too fast and I felt like I was walking.  I slowed down even more and was surprised to see a 9:17 at the end of mile two.  A little frustrated, I tried to slow down even more and ran the third mile in 9:15.  I learned that I am a faster runner when I take the pressure off of myself, relax, and enjoy what I am doing.

Over the last few weeks I have applied this same concept to work.  I have found that when I don’t let the pressure get to me, I relax and just do one thing at a time, and I try to enjoy myself; that I perform so much better.  I feel like I have accomplished more by slowing down than I would have by trying to maintain a faster, more hectic pace.  It is weird to think that you can speed up by intentionally trying to slow down!

As I struggled to finish the Georgia Half Marathon a few weeks ago I told myself, “The only way I will run a marathon this year is if I win a spot in the New York City Marathon.”  It’s funny how things happen sometimes.  This past Thursday I was greeted with an email that said, “Welcome to the New York City Marathon class of 2010″.  It was one of those moments where I felt excitement and “oh crap!” at the same time.

As a quick primer.  This marathon has room for 38,000 runners and it is estimated that over 100,000 people enter for a spot.  For $11 you get to enter the lottery and try and be one of those 38,000 spots.  After 3 years, if you still have not won a spot you automatically get in.  I figured, “What the heck” and entered.

So, in mid July, training will begin.  I think I might actually be looking forward to this.

After 8 weeks of training I ran the ING Georgia Half Marathon today.  In case you didn’t know, 13.1 miles is a long way!  My goal was under 2 hours.  Here are the mile splits:

My official time was 2:00:24.  I was not happy to say the least.  To miss the goal is one thing.  To miss it by only 25 seconds after 2 hours of running is another.  It is a PR though, with my previous half marathon time being 2:06:54.  My running goals for this year were to run 600 miles, and to PR the 5k, 10k, half, and full marathon distances.  I am at nearly 300 miles so far this year and have a PR in the half marathon.  Not too shabby with 9 months to go.

This past weekend I ran my first official 5k of 2010.  (I had actually signed up for the 10k at the same event but had a bit of a cold and decided to not push things with my half marathon only a few weeks away.)  While I was not super-pleased with my time of 27:26 (9:00 pace) I had to remind myself that I was sick and that a 9:00 pace is what my target is for the half marathon.

Also running in this event was my friend Ron.  His goal was under 30:00 and I got to watch him “sprint” the finish to get a 29:52 time.  Now he is talking about the Peachtree Road Race in July here in Atlanta which is a fun race that I am also planning to do this year.

I’d really like to PR the 5k, 10k, and half marathon distances this year.  The 10k and half will be easier to achieve than that 5k where my PR is 24:55 which is good enough to place me in the top 3 in my age group for most of our local races.  There is still plenty of year left though so I still have plenty of time to pull this off.