A comfortable pace. That is what I thought about on Saturday when I went for my run. Lately I’ve been able to find and settle into a comfortable pace. And I found that once I was in that pace, that I didn’t need to stop and walk after a mile, that I could just keep going.

Sunday was the day of the race. When I’m in a race, I have noticed that it helps me if I can focus inward rather than outward. If I focus outward, and look at the path ahead and the people ahead of me, I feel like I have such a long way to go, and it makes me tired. Instead, I focus inward. On Sunday, as I started running, I appreciated the beautiful sunlight and the cloudless day. I listened to some friendly conversation of people around me. And then I retreated inward to my thoughts.

I thought of how I had made sure to wake up early and eat something, in this case a piece of fresh focaccia bread from the farmer’s market the day before. I also made sure I was hydrated. I thought about the energy and strength that the carbs had given me, and how I felt great and not tired, not out of breath. I ran along happily thinking about how strong and filled with energy my body was.

I reached the 1st mile point and didn’t feel that I needed to stop. And so I kept on running. I started to feel a bit tired and then reminded myself that the second mile is always the hardest. I remembered how I had broken down the run in my mind into three manageable pieces. And I kept running. I didn’t want to stop. I felt comforted that even though I wasn’t familiar with the course, I could keep track of my progress using my watch. I was like the pilot flying by gages.

I reached the second mile point and didn’t stop. I hadn’t stopped so far, so why not keep going. Finally I heard someone say that there was just a half mile to go. And I knew that I wasn’t going to stop with such a short distance left. I heard a few parents around me telling their kids that came with them on the race that we were almost there, just a little bit more and we would finish. Hearing those words helped me to keep going as well – it felt like we were all in this together, even though I didn’t know anyone around me. We were all in it together, and all looking forward to getting to the finish line.

I heard the glorious sound of a plane taking off near by. The screaming engines sounded like a bear or tiger growling, marking its territory and showing its power with the sound of its growl. It made me feel like I was part of something bigger than just me. I felt comforted and enveloped by the majesty of the powerful jet taking off.

The finish line was in sight, and pretty soon I had crossed it. I had run the entire race without stopping. It was the first time ever that I had done this. It was my best race ever.  Correction – my best race so far.   : )