On March 31st, I ran the Encinitas half marathon for the third year in a row. I have a strong connection to Encinitas, so when they started doing half marathons three years ago, I couldn’t resist. My first two races were euphoric but this year was a bear!!! I struggled with the training, but also failed to get that race day “adrenaline” runners love so much. In hindsight, I knew I broke a cardinal rule of running races. I started out too fast and lost steam around mile 8. By mile 10, my mental energy plummeted and I feared my body would collapse. I was really struggling!!! What happened??? These races were always the high point of my year.
