1/2 Marathon High

So it's been over a week since I finished my first half marathon.  I'm not sure what has held me back from writing about the experience because it was awesome.  I think maybe I have just been trying to come up with the right things to say to explain how happy I was and am and maybe I just need to start writing and stop thinking.

So here is the story of my first 1/2 marathon:

We attended a wedding the night before the half which was also in Syracuse.  We spent the evening socializing, carb loading, and drinking pitchers of water.  Fun!  I danced, which I was not sure would be a good idea.  I had some pain in my right TFL (top of the IT band) again and I didn't want to aggravate it.  When we got back to the hotel I rolled out my legs really well and especially the pain in my hip.  When I went to bed my hip felt pretty great actually, so maybe the dancing and foam roller was a beneficial pre-race activity!

Here I am in the hotel before leaving for the race (in reverse b/c I took the photo in the mirror).  The weather was MUCH cooler than I had anticipated.  Mid-40s at the beginning and Windy!  I had not packed a long sleeve shirt so I wore the race shirt.  Thankfully it fit and was very comfortable.  

We arrived at the race with no problems and in time to sit in the car and enjoy the heat on high for a few minutes and then stand in line for 20 minutes for a last minute bathroom break.  Below is a photo Tom snapped of me right before we started running.  I'm so cold but excited!

After the gun, Tom quickly faded into the crowd (he's so fast!) and I focused on finding people to try and keep up with.  We ran down city streets and to highways that led us to the Onondaga Lake Park trails.  While the view was very pretty along the water, here we began our encounter with one of those mysteries of nature where you are somehow able to run into the wind in both directions of an out-and-back race course.  The miles passed away quite well.  I carried pretzel sticks, honey stinger chews, and two bottles of orange flavored Nuun on my person and munched on pretzels every so often.  I stopped frequently to get sips of water and drank my Nuun.  

After the first few miles my splits got slower.  I started with a 10 min/mile pace (mistake) and slowed to 10:30 and couldn't keep that up so I slowed to 11:00.  My plan was to try and turn it on when I had 4.5 miles left to go.  So with anticipation and trepidation I put in my time waiting for the 8-9 mile point of the race. 

The male leader returned when I was at mile marker 4 (phew, so fast!)  

I watched and watched for the return of Tom.  Eventually I saw him, screamed his name and we slapped a solid high five.  I kept dreaming that the turn around must be right around the next bend, but of course 6.55 miles is pretty far.  I was ever so glad that I did not have to turn off onto the full course when I passed the fork in the road that led me to the left and marathoners to the right (they had a 30 minute earlier gun time than the half peeps).  

At mile marker 8, I decided to try one of the Accel chocolate gels they were handing out.  I was feeling pretty beat.  I would not normally feel so ready to try something new on a long run, but I had taken Imodium after breakfast to try and quell any "issues".  The gel went down really well.  It was very much like taking a swig of Hershey's Chocolate Syrup.  

Somewhere around here the male marathon leader passed me!  He was thin with long hair and man was he booking!  He looked happy and focused.  Everyone cheered and you could hear the cheering move down the runners he passed like a "wave" in a football stadium.  

Back to me.  I felt pretty great after the gel at least until after mile 10, where I really felt OUT OF GAS.  This is the point where the race became grueling.  This is where my mind kicked in and kept me putting one foot in front of the other.  I just kept telling myself that the fastest way back to the car was to keep running -as quickly as physically possible!  The great running quote that this came from is:

"The best way out is always through" -Robert Frost

This is also where the dark thoughts and inner pleading dialog started.   A sampling of my thoughts follow:

"What was I thinking signing up for a 1/2 marathon?"

"I will NEVER be able to run a full marathon"

"I'm going to have to end my blog because I'm NEVER running EVER again!"

"Dear God, please, please, please, help me have the strength to keep running"

"I HAVE to beat my goal of 2:30 -Keep running!!!"

I trudged and trudged those last few miles.  I even found deep strength to pick up my pace for the last mile and to pick it up even faster for the last quarter.  I passed the finish at 2:26!  YAY I beat my goal of 2:30!  My average pace was 11:05!  WOW  That's 30 seconds faster than I used to run 1 mile!  When I stopped running I found that I was completely physically exhausted.  I had poor mental focus and getting my finisher medal and picking up post-race food and finding Tom are a pretty big blur.  Once we found each other we decided to go right back to the car and head home.  I could barely walk.  It was a pretty good hobble to the car.  We drove to Watertown and got some Wendy's.  I felt pretty weird and exhausted for the rest of the day.  It was great to see the kids again.  It was my first night away from baby Darren.  We had a huge pizza dinner at 4 :)

Props to my amazing husband who took running by the reins when I asked him to do the half with me.  My dreams of beating him in a race may never come true.  He finished in 1:50!!!!! Over 35 minutes faster than me.  I'm amazed and proud.  

That's it for now.  We're already formulating plans for a Spring marathon and I'm starting Insanity today... I'll let you know how that is going soon!  Thank you all for reading!  Happy Monday!

The tapering has begun!

I guess it has been a while since I updated you all on my progress.

Lets see:  Oct. 3 was another 5 mile run.  I had another run that felt much harder than the numbers appeared.  I'm getting faster and faster on "short" (snort) runs.  That weekend we went to an indoor water park with the kiddos and their cousin in Lake George, so no cross train on Sat.  We got back at around 3 on Sunday and decided to postpone our 9-mile runs for Monday (Tom took a long weekend).

Monday the 7th I set out to run my 9 right after Tom.  It was sunny and beautiful in the morning and almost right as I was about to go out the door a cold front and rain moved in.  I sat for 5 minutes completely ready to go looking out the window trying to decide what to do.  I ended up just going out into the rain.  I did a large 9 mile loop that took me out into the country before looping back into town.  This run was miserable.  I was exhausted after 4.5 miles.  I was soaked to the bone and jogging into driven cold rain.  I completely misjudged what I should wear.  I should also mention there were wind gusts up to 30mph and the general wind was at least 15mph.  I ran into the wind for 5 miles straight and up what felt like endless hills.  I was exhausted from trying to avoid puddles and eventually just slopped through them, my feet were soaked anyway.  I was barely jogging the last 1.5 miles back through town.  I didn't breath correctly and could barely open my lungs and abdomen to breath -maybe because I was so cold.  I had pain radiating down my left hip, buttock, and leg.  I can think of few times previously in my life I have been so thankful for a hot shower.  Despite all of this I made it! I am satisfied.

I shifted my mid-week 5 mile runs to Weds. and Fri. I killed my run on Wed. with a 10:03 min/mile average.  Friday I thought I was going to die but still pulled in a 10:16 min/mile average.  These numbers are amazing to me.

Saturday I finally got back to Zumba.  I can honestly feel my irritation creeping up when I have not gone to this class in a while.  There is something freeing about dancing that brings happiness to my soul.

Back to another grueling long run on Sunday.  10 miles.  The longest training run in my program for a half marathon.  I decided to switch it up and take salted pretzels out for fuel.  I carried Nuun in my water bottles on my belt.  I really liked the pretzels.  I ran the loop I ran for my 9 mile run in reverse and it wasn't as bad to run not in the rain.  I had to add an extra loop at the end to get 10 miles.  I was barely moving at the end.  This was the first run where I seriously doubted my ability to run the actual race.  I felt sad.  That's not fun.  Once it was done I was ok.  I was pretty stiff for the rest of the day and I ate lots of food and drank tons of water.

Since my run on Sunday I've been eating more than I usually do and drinking as much water as I can stand.  It's taper week and the race is Sunday in Syracuse.  I think I'm just hungry and have a hard time running that way.  I've been trying to lose baby weight and at least for this week I'm just going to eat :)  I tested my theory this morning with my first taper run of 4 miles.  After eating a lot and drinking lots of water I was SO fast!  I think my body and mind also exulted at the idea of not running 10 miles -and loved the extra carbs and hydration.  HA!  I finished in 35:26 with an average pace of 8:51!!!  That's AMAZING!!!  I can say one thing for sure about the LONG slow runs: they sure have made my short runs FAST.

Next up on the agenda is a 2 miler on Thursday.

Thanks for reading!!!!! Have a great week!

5 mile bleh/ I caught a leaf!

I should have known my regular Tuesday run would be more difficult after such an effort on Sunday, but the fatigue was still surprising when it roared it's ugly head after mile 2 of my 5 miler.

I left the house with a disquieted mind.  Jer was having a fit because I turned off all visual devices.  In the last month he has learned how to get almost every appliance in the house to play him a kids TV show... I didn't mean to drop the hammer on TV watching right before my Aunt arrived so that I could go run, it just happened.  To say he was upset about it is an extreme understatement.  There was that "mom doubt" in the back of my mind that I should not leave Jer with my Aunt while he is having a fit. Thank heaven my Aunt is a Saint and takes very good care of both of the boys despite their moods (when I got home Jer was fine and Darren was already down for his nap -woot woot).  The clamor in my head made me run a very fast first and second mile, which I should not have done.  I was to the point of wanting to stop -which hasn't happened in a while, after only those 2 miles.  I hunkered down and just kept it going.  My splits got slower and slower but the crazy thing is that my average pace was actually better than my "miraculous" run last Tuesday.  Go figure.

Other things of note for this run (which all happened within .25 of a mile from one another):

I had to stop for a car.  Strangely that hasn't happened before either.  I was seriously worried I wouldn't be able to get my legs to move again. But they did!

I got a rock in my shoe right behind my heel.  I had to stop and pull that out.  Once again I surprised myself with being able to get moving again.

I caught a leaf!!!  Right after pulling the rock out of my shoe and having dark-funky-fatigue-i-should-just-stop thoughts I reached out for a leaf and it fell right into my open hand.  Mood lifted!

The rest of the day went swimmingly.  I'm very glad I stuck it out. The weather has been so beautiful lately!

Happy Hump Day and Happy Reading!