A gift from PLull

I came home to this today:

TCM

This weekend I did something that I haven't done in a very long time - actually, ever. I ran a marathon without anyone to schlepp for me. In fact, I had no one to even travel with or meet up for the weekend. I don't know that I'll ever do that again. I know some runners can do that, but it didn't work for me. While I don't need someone riding alongside of me throughout the race, having someone to run TO makes a big difference.

Anyway, the weekend started rough. Mike was shingling the shop, so he couldn't come along. I forgot my race packet which I discovered when I was just past the Minnesota border, so I had to turn back. That threw me off. My room was still good, and I had my normal hotel, but I wasn't feeling all that confident.

So I went and picked up my packet. I at least had a good race number - all of my favorites: 3, 7, 11. That should have been a good omen. But again, I was just feeling nervous.

I went downstairs to TGIFriday's for my standard pre-race meal. I ate at the bar because I didn't want to take up a table. The bartender was very nice and introduced himself, shook my hand and then brought me a cup of hot water so I could put my hands around it and warm up. He was very nice. I ate half my meal so I'd have something Sunday for after the race.

The meal was good and the hot water did help my hands. I went back upstairs and laid out my clothes. Of course I brought several options and would determine in the morning what I was going to wear. The weather was iffy. It was cool, which is normally nice to run in, but also possibly a little damp. And since I haven't been training I wasn't really ready for any of it. 

The next morning I got up, more nervous than I have ever been for a race - even my first marathon. This one I just wasn't sure what to expect. I got my standards together, checked the weather, checked for extra essentials since I was on my own, and got ready to go. I took my obligatory picture, too.

I decided to go with the black t-shirt over top of my standard green top, just because it seemed a bit cool. I also had my headband for my ears. I figured if I had to lose either one, that would be okay. I ended up keeping both.

I rode the train and got to the Dome with plenty of time to get ready, and to be more nervous. TMI moment - I think I pooped more this morning than I ever have before a race. Actually I know that to be true.

I called Mike around 7:30, before I headed to the corral and I was a mess. I probably should have just turned around and went back home at that point, but my Scandinavian stubbornness won out. As I cried into the phone to Mike, he did his best to motivate me and tell me how awesome I am. If only I had believed it.

I stood in the corral and despite the sun, I was cold. I was tense and shivering for the 20 minutes prior to getting to start. I took off slow, not in a hurry at all - just wanting to keep steady. I did really well until mile 5 when I tripped and fell, doing an awesome drop and roll. I got back up and started running again while a race guy came up and asked if I was okay. I said, yes, though my hands, leg and pride were stinging. He encouraged me to keep going and I did...for 100 feet before I had to stop and walk. That fall did not do well for my left side. I'm thankful I didn't take anyone else out in the midst of it all.

That started the downhill slide. Once I start walking, I'm screwed, and I know it. I kept up my momentum, mostly using the sweep bus as my motivation to keep ahead of it - and I did well until mile 23. The van ahead of the bus came up and kept me company for awhile. I tried to encourage them to just stay with me so I could finish on time, but they said they couldn't. I tried to tell them they could, they were just choosing not to. But by this time I knew the inevitable. My right knee was screaming at me, my left thigh was throbbing from my fall  my back was sore from all the time I spent tensing up while shivering, and my heart just wasn't into it anymore. I did my best to run a bit as I could until my knee screamed out in pain, then I'd walk. It was kind of a lost battle and I had no one to help me through, but me.

I did finish about 20 minutes over and didn't get a medal, but I did talk the guy on the bus back to the train into letting me take a picture of his so I could at least pretend I earned one.

The bad thing with that is that another guy heard and offered to give me his because he thought it was my first marathon. When I said it was my fifth, then he retracted, which I don't blame him. I didn't earn the medal - but I have a picture which will work for me.

Once I got back to my room I fell apart in tears. I took an ice bath for my knees, checked out my awesome bruise on my thigh, and then took a shower. I felt like a failure and the big thing is it's my own fault. I know I didn't train but I thought I could still get by. Stupid me.

I'm seriously reconsidering running this one next year. I think, for one thing, I need a break. I love my marathons, but maybe I need to just focus on half's for awhile. I need to get into better training patterns, especially running more and to do that I have to get over the whole "I live in the country and there's no where to run" mentality. While this is true and it was much easier to train in the city when I lived downtown, I still can train. I can drive into town and run the paths. I could park downtown and run my hills. I just need to make that a priority and make the time to do it. Until I get my mind set to do just that, I have to realize that my results aren't going to be great.

SF Half Marathon

As is my custom, I run the SF Half each year. I really hadn't been training for this one, so I wasn't sure how it was going to go. Part of me told myself that if I could make it through the half without injury I should still be fine for TCM in 3 weeks. Mike doesn't think I'll be running TCM. He doesn't realize my stubbornness.

I posted this picture of me on Facebook with the comment that I don't know why I stress myself out with what I'm going to wear each race when I always end up wearing the same thing anyway.

Here I am, once again, with my green Skirt Sports shirt, black tights, Gracie's Gear sports bra and Garmin. It's the same every time. My running scrapbook is all lime green. It's almost funny, if it wasn't so sad.

I met up with Sara and Tom - Tom was running, Sara was not. That was okay though. She was the smart one of the two of us. I also ran into Lance, Reggie and Chelsea from FXB, and got to see Kent - a friend from college.

Overall the race was okay. I walked more than I should, but that's typical of me when I don't train. At one point I got in my head doing math and I almost missed my turn. I kept forgetting that they changed the route a couple years ago because of construction and haven't changed it back. So I missed the turn, but eventually caught up.

My time wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. It was better than last years, or 2010's (I can't remember which when I ran against Dawn). So by that count I'm going to run TCM even if it kills me.

New Races

Over the past few years, I've had pretty much the same runs, over and over again. This year I finally got to do a new one. First was the Firecracker run, which I haven't posted about here yet.

I won entry into the Lennox Firecracker 5K via the Runner's Block fun0run. I hadn't been running a lot, but since I also signed up for 5K in a week after this, I thought maybe it'd be good to get a practice run in.

So Wednesday morning, July 4, I got up and traveled to Lennox to get signed up. I was a little nervous - for one, I've never been to Lennox and two, I had no idea where I was going. Plus, I only knew of one person who was for-sure going to be there, and I wasn't sure how I'd meet up with her (that ended up not being a problem).

Anyway, I got there early, which was good because there are a lot of people who don't pre-register so the line got long in a hurry. It was a decent run - not super well marked at the start, but people seemed to know where they were going. There wasn't official time, but I don't think I did too bad. It was a beautiful morning for a run, for sure.

Well, then today FXB decided to host a Farrells to Farrell's run. It ended up being about a 10K, which was awesome. People could either bike, blade, walk, or run it. I opted to run it and I'm happy to announce I ran almost all of it without stopping. I had one 1/4 block where I had to so I could avoid traffic, but for the most part I kept a steady (albeit slow) pace.

I decided to try my compression socks today since I've been having problems with my knees. And of course, I had to wear my standard race shirt - my lime green runner's dream shirt from Skirt Sports (who refuse to make more). And then I tried out my new shorts that are a little bright. Normally I wear black, but since this was a new run, I thought it good to try something new. 

The route was good, I will say. It was a good training run for TCM. The first mile was fairly flat (a couple hills, but nothing bad), but then right at mile 2 (like TCM) there's a steep hill over a bridge. That was perfect. And I ran up and over it without stopping. YAY! I have not been training like I should for TCM so this was a very important run.

It was kind of rainy and dreary, but it was fun to be out with so many folks who understand fitness, even if they don't all understand running. :)  And Farrell's was great in having water stops set up at appropriate places. The only bad thing was we had to fight traffic a few times, so that threw times off, but I tried not to focus on that.

Coming in at the end. I look fat. I have a lot of work to do. But it was fun to have so many people there that I work out with to cheer me on as I came in. And I wasn't the last one, which was also good. :) Our "prize" was a keychain with a little Farrell's boxing glove. :) Very nice.

Another fun aspect of this one is that I got to reconnect with my friend Sarah whom I used to run with . She and I became friends because we were stalking the same blog writer (how funny is that). She only lived a couple blocks away so she went and got her car and took me back to Southside. A bunch of my 5AMers biked the route so they just headed to the nearest bar for a drink to celebrate instead. :) Being the big drinker I am, it took all I had to bow out of that one. haha

The fun thing about both of these was the thrill of a new race and a new route. It's nerve-wracking but kind of exciting at the same time. TCM, St. Patty's, Avera's...those are all routine for me and I know the rhythm which make them easy to participate in, but trying something new was a lot of fun.