Athlete Race Recap: Coastal Delaware Running Festival

This past weekend, Leslie Smith returned to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware to run the half marathon of the Coastal Delaware Running Festival!

It rained for almost the entire weekend, which made the course conditions a bit sloppy.  Cold winds leftover from the rain storms were constant companions of the runners during the race as well.  Leslie leveraged her training and previous race experience to manage these conditions really well and stick to the run/walk intervals we had planned for her.

During one of her walk intervals, Leslie met up with another athlete who was also walking at the time. They had a nice (if brief) conversation, and Leslie learned that the other athlete was walking the entire race because he was injured and he hadn’t been able to run more than a mile in training.  He offered to walk the rest of the race with her.  Leslie told him that she was going to stick to her plan, and resume running when it was time to do so.  He cheered her on and told her to have a great rest of her race.

This interaction is incredibly significant.  All too often, we feel the pull to do as others are doing in endurance sports.  Whether it’s to support a fellow athlete, to try and keep up with another athlete, or just to emulate something we admire, it’s very easy to get distracted from where we currently are and from what is best for us to do for our own training and racing.  When we don’t stay present and do what we need to in the moment, we significantly reduce the chances of being able to successfully get where we want to go.

Leslie showed great judgment when she resisted this pull and when she remained committed to running her own race.  After she bid this other athlete farewell, she let her mind go and had fun.  She described her race experience as “feeling like she was just floating along”.  She executed her race plan well and ran over 10 minutes faster than she did last month at St. Jude Rock ‘n’ Roll Washington, D.C.‍

Well done, Leslie!

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