Crater Lake Post Run Review

It's easy after a race to fly high if you do well or take out the baseball bat if you do poorly.  It's been a week since the Crater Lake Rim Run in Oregon and I've had time to reflect.  I looked back on my times and race report for 2010 and was surprised to see my time was faster this year by 11 seconds.  I thought I was 3 minutes slower but I was mistaken.  I can't actually say I ran faster this year because last year had a "bush stop" at mile 7.

Reflections:

• It's a hard race. One of the racers (she passed me about mile 10) said it was harder than Boston and she  had just run Boston in 2011 (we were both running our Boston jackets)
• My training was better this year adding hills
• I'll have to work on going out slower for my races.
• I need to work on my self-talk. One of my entries from last year is I called myself "stupid".  This year the self talk wasn't much better but I was aware and tried to refocus. I need to practice this on my runs so on race day I can refocus easier.
• I need to read my blog from the year(s) before. 
• This is the prettiest race course I've ever run.
• It's tough to train in the summer heat and have the fitness, mental focus and confidence to run a race in August. Perhaps if I don't have expectations except to enjoy, I'll have more fun.
• It's a race and it's most likely going to be hard. If it were easy everyone would do it.
• I want to conquer this race one day.  Next year...I'll be back.

Happy Running!