Finding my day...

I've been thinking lately about why I felt good about the half marathon, and didn't feel good about the full marathon.

Let's ignore the fact that the full had a completely blown finish time, and the half had a missed "lark" goal, but not missed main goal.

What it comes down to is control.

More and more, I read about friends who have a race plan, and stay in control, and execute their race plan. They don't let birds, wind, weather, whiny friends, freaky spectators, or..... whatever, get in the way. They maintain control.

They hurt, sure.
They work hard, definitely.
They are in control.

And, ultimately, what set these two races apart from each other is the amount of control I felt. In the full, I never felt as if I was fully under control of my running, my HR, my breathing (to some extent). In the half, though.... I worked VERY hard for a longer period of total time than I did in the full. But, I was in control. I made decisions and they worked.

The struggle in the coming year will be learning how to stay in control in new situations, when the work level is high and the desire to lose control is high.