Headed over to Philly this morning for the Rock and Roll Half Marathon Expo. Listened to John "the Penguin" Bingham speak, which was more of a group conversation between him and the few runners in the audience. While we spoke, he said two things that resonated with me.
He spoke about amateur runners like us that tend to stress more about time, whereas the elite racers are concerned with racing each other and simply running as fast as they can. This sounds pretty similar, but is the difference between racing based on how you feel, and racing based on what it says on your watch. This is pretty much how I race every 5k, but have yet to do so in longer distances.
He took the time to ask each of us what we were concerned about tomorrow, and I mentioned that while I would like to PR, I am using the race as a gauge for my training for Boston. He encouraged me to do just that and not stress over the PR. If I don't PR, or I don't do well at all, it's just one stepping stone in the path to the BQ, and simply means I need to make adjustments. This does help relieve the pressure of trying to PR, but what I didn't mention is that I really need a good race as a morale booster for the rest of my training.
The rest of the expo was the usual slew of free samples and crap for sale. And this:
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| I regret nothing. |
Say what you will about the Rock and Roll racing series, its exorbitant fees or its penchant for swallowing up beloved local races, but they sure know how to make an expo fun.
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