You know something? I spend a lot of time comparing myself to other people, and then worrying about how I’m not doing well or progressing. Clearly, that’s not a healthy outlook on life or competitive sports. Only one person can be the best at any given time, and that glory of being Number One is just for a brief time. So then what about all the folks who train and don’t win? Success can’t only be measured by who takes home the gold! I learned something post-race today in an inspirational video about Ryan Hall: “Success is being faithful with what I have been entrusted.”

So with respect to athletics with what have I been entrusted?

• A lean body
  • I’ll never abuse my body with food again.
• Ability to quickly learn and adapt
  • I’ll continue to challenge myself to improve my swimming, cycling, and running.
• Perseverance and determination
  • I’ll continue testing my limits because no cost or sacrifice can compare with One who has made an ultimate sacrifice.
• Small measure of athletic talent
  • To whatever my potential is, I intend to pursue it and be satisfied with my best.

Today, I beat my previous half marathon PR by almost two full minutes. I’m stoked with my time of 1:41:37. Official results are in, and I placed 31 out of 184 in my age group, and finished 246 out of 2631 in the entire race. I think that’s fantastic compared to how I did in my first half marathon last January.

For a little more than half of the race, I kept up a 7:24 pace as I strived to finish the race in under 1:40:00. So while I did not reach my desired goal of breaking the 1:40 time barrier today, I rejoice in my efforts for about 7.5 miles at sustaining that pace.

When I examine my lap data, I saw that I spent most of the race in Zone 4, near my maximum heart rate. So it’s no surprise now that I could not sustain that sub-1:40 pace. However, I am confident that with time and more training, I’ll be able to keep that pace for a longer duration. It really hurt at mile 10 when we entered that Navy radar base. But I’m pleased with my sprint during the last half-mile of the race. I credit that last-minute effort to keeping my time in the very low 1:40s.

Next up on Thanksgiving Day is my next attempt at breaking the 20-minute barrier in a 5K.

P.S. When I looked at the results for the 5K in my age group, my previous time at Shelter Island would have been good for first place at the Silver Strand. That’s cool.