Lawyers Have Heart History -- In Pictures!

I thought it would be fun to take a look back on my race photos from this yearly Lawyers Have Heart tradition.

2005, wearing all cotton.

2006, looks more like the chicken dance than a race.

2007, getting into a groove

2008, my poor knee!

2009, approaching the finish, super hot!

2010, focused on the finish line!

2011, midfoot strike. The only photo they took of me.

2012, red face to match my red top! Nice background.

I shared my race report with my sports psychologist and he helped me see that I ran exactly the race that I needed to be running to advance myself as a runner. He asked me: "if you had set a ballpark goal before the race (not knowing what you know now) do you think you would have set a goal to run a course PR by over 2:30?"  I thought about it, and I probably would have set my goal to run a course PR of about 2:00, which would have been a 47:50.

Only after the fact did I start being hard on myself for not pushing. So in reality, I ran a faster race than I expected by NOT focusing on a goal time. I focused on my strategy, pacing and execution and in doing so, I ran negative splits and exceeded any goal I would have set for myself. And looking at the below photo, I do realize how hot it actually was, despite it being "good weather for this race".

He told me that if I run all of my races like this, where I accomplish everything I set out to do, then I am going to make a lot of progress as a runner. If I look for failure, of course I am going to find it. And my natural instinct is always to look for failure in myself.

So what did I learn by having some gas left in the tank at the end? Not that I need to push harder when I race, but that my capability level is higher than I expected. Which means great things for the next time I race!

Yes, 2012 was hot!