freeze yer gizzard

Because it isn't cold enough in Minneapolis, some running pals and I decided to venture to International Falls, a stone's throw from Canada, for their annual Icebox Days. We ran a 10k, the Freeze Yer Gizzard Blizzard 10k, and had some beer. And margaritas. We watched smoosh racing and hung out in the hot tub. And it was captured by Nightline, which aired earlier this week (you can see me at 1:03 at the start of the race. Red top, black hat with a red/black trim). All in all, a fun winter weekend. Oh, and I came in 3rd in the run! Clearly, there wasn't much competition. But hey, third is third. Our top guy, Brian, won the whole thing, and another runner, Pam, placed second in her age group. A fun race, made better by the bragging rights of frigid temps.

every cloud

I haven't quite identified the silver lining of the whole Boston thing. I think that it might take some time, and perhaps it will not happen until I get the official word I'm not running it. But regardless, I am feeling 100% better about it. I am not sure how that happened, but after my pathetic pity-party on Tuesday, I woke up on Wed with a new perspective on the whole thing. Would I still love to run Boston? Absolutely! But it just isn't worth feeling bad about any more. I just can't think about it every day, the way I have for the last 3 years as I've worked to get faster. I just don't want to have this be how I determine my success as a runner any more.

Feeling zen about whatever happens next week. Maybe the BAA will have a shocking announcement. But if not, I'll settle on a new goal and everything will be great.

Sioux Falls race report

I'm having a bit of a hard time knowing what to think of this race. It seems silly to debate - I PRed and got a Boston qualifying time. But as registration is way ahead of normal for next April's race this week, it's looking really really unlikely I'll get to be in Boston on Patriot's Day. A BQ doesn't mean a whole lot unless you get to run. And the blue and yellow jacket.

The day before the race, every "good luck" text I got was something about how awful the weather was looking and whether I was going to just run it easy and to be careful and run safe and be smart. I appreciate the reminders to be careful, but mostly these texts did nothing but mess with my confidence. It was good to meet coach and his wife along with the only other team member still running the race (several decided not to run due to injuries or the weather). Steph (coach's wife) in particular helped me set that all aside and refocus. She told me about watching a story about Diana Nyad, who kept thinking throughout her swim and things would go wrong, "Find a way." I decided this would be a perfect mantra for me for this race.

And the weather lived up to what a September marathon in South Dakota promises - hot, humid, and windy. Of course I hoped for an anomaly, but knew when I signed up it would likely be less than favorable conditions. It was 70 degrees and 93% humidity at the start of the race, which is about 30 degrees warmer than I'd choose for marathon race start. The course included rolling hills for the first 8 miles and no shade until mile 16. The wind was strong - up to 15 mi/hr - but the heat and humidity is what did me in.

By mile 7, I knew my A goal (3:29) was not realistic and even thought by B goal (3:35) wasn't going to be attained. By 14, I knew for sure that my new A goal was anything under 3:40. The guy I'm dating jumped into the race with me at about 14.5 and though I didn't articulate my new plan, he could tell I was struggling. He's a 2:50 marathoner, so my pace was a walk in the park for him. He helped me navigate the water stops and generally be positive. I kinda thought I'd get annoyed at some point having someone run with me, but it was really helpful the whole time.

I had to gut out those last 7 miles. At one point, around mile 21, I moaned out loud. I kept recalculating what I needed to make sure I didn't miss 3:40 by seconds. Again. I knew it was going to be close, and had to fight hard. Find a way. Prove you want it. Dig deep. These were the phrases cycling through my head.

And I did (mostly) find a way. I did (kind of) prove it. And I really did dig deep. I missed my goal by 10 minutes, but many other runners on Sunday missed theirs by much more. Coach missed his goal by over 15 minutes, and my teammate missed hers by 45.

So a bittersweet result. I guess there's still a chance for a miracle that there are spots left after this week. I'm not holding my breath. I guess I need to figure out a new goal and find something to do next spring.

race report: Raleigh 70.3

What an incredible day I had yesterday! Definitely one of my highest moments as an athlete.

I got to NC on Thursday evening, and spent Friday at the expo and swimming in the lake for the race course. The expo was smaller than I expected, but that just meant less for me to spend money on. But don't worry, I still bought more Raleigh Ironman 70.3 gear than I need. The bummer was that there wasn't an athlete briefing that day, so I had to go back on Saturday. So on Saturday I heard all the rules and found out that since the water was 80 degrees, it wasn't going to be wetsuit legal. Which was fine because I only had the one open water swim in a wetsuit from Friday in my training. After the briefing, I went out to T1 to leave my bike.

The course was a point-to-point, which meant there were two transitions. This made an already nerve-wracking experience even more so. We had to check in our bikes the night before and then leave them there. It was good, though, because then I saw the swim course laid out (the lake was really big, and we weren't allowed to swim in the spot where the course was, so I had done my swim on Friday in another area of the lake). The swim seemed tough but do-able. There were a lot of really, really nice bikes out there alongside my 25 year old hand-me-down.

Sunday morning I got up at 3:15 am and got ready to go. I got down to T2 around 4:45, laid out my run gear, and hopped a bus to take me out to T1. I closed my eyes and tried to tune out how long and hilly the ride was, knowing I'd be biking some of that in a few hours. We made it to T1 and I laid out my bike stuff. T1 closed at 6:45 and then the waiting began. My wave didn't hit the water until 8:10, so I had some time to kill. There were not enough portapotties, so waiting in that line ate up about 40 minutes. I sat on the grass for a while, but couldn't bring myself to watch the earlier waves. I was really nervous and kept yawning like crazy and was afraid if I watched how long the swim was, I would psych myself out. Finally it was time to get in line.

The swim start was in the water, so we waited until the wave was off and then took to the water. For most people, they could stand in the starting area but I was too short and had to tread water. Oh, and turned out they decided to make it wetsuit legal, but I had already gotten my head around not using a wetsuit, so I opted to swim without it.
 

The first 500 yards were crowded, but the water was fine and breathing went well. When we turned the corner for the long part of the course, the water was super choppy and I hydrated well swallowing mouthfuls when I meant to take a breath. Near the second turn it got crowded again, as I caught up to some slower swimmers from earlier waves, and I took a kick to the chin that cause me to bite my tongue. I would have benefited from some more open-water training, but I finished in 49:18, which was right about the time I thought it would take me.

I decided to take my time in bike transition to make sure I had everything set before I left. I ate a little, somehow got my calf sleeves on my wet legs, and headed out. Some of my nerves were settled, but I was still pretty nervous for this bike course.

The first 5 miles were tough, a set of uphills with a few flat places. I hit my stride from 6-11, and from 11-12.5 was one, long, steep uphill that was pretty awful.  It was rolling through 40 with some good flat sections, and then the last 15 were grueling - a series of constant rolling hills so you couldn't get settled in a pace.  The bike course was beautiful, though, despite the hills and wind (16 mph, with gusts up to 25 mph) and loneliness - there were not a lot of spectators. My cousins were at mile 39, exactly where I needed a boost. It was great fun to see them out there.

I averaged about 15.5 mph on the bike, which was my fastest long ride to date on the toughest course I've ridden. And I really had to hold back, so I know I had more in me. I wanted to save my legs for the run, especially since it was heating up fast and I knew the run would be tough. Overall, a 3:35:18 ride.

I took my time again in transition, used the bathroom and drank a little extra water. I found out that bodyglide melts into a hot greasy mess in the sun, and it exploded all over me when I opened it up. I'm glad I didn't get burned! So I had to run without any and prayed for no bad chaffing.

The run course started uphill, low and slow, for the first 5 or so miles. But since it was an out-and-back, I knew I'd get to finish on those hills running downhill. The course was through downtown Raleigh and then onto a paved trail through a college campus and by some museums. It was really lovely. The downtown was really hot and I felt like I was baking on the blacktop, but some of the trail section was shaded. It was 85 by this time.

The thing about this run, though, was that I felt really good and passed a couple hundred people. I couldn't believe how many people walked most of the race. I think I was passed twice early on when I walked through an aid station, but I think I ended up passing them both later on. I stopped counting people around mile 5 with 100 passed. I saw my cousins again on a loop section in the middle so I passed them twice. It was great to give the boys high-fives and get a boost heading into the finish.

I felt so good, and was really glad I had been conservative on the bike and in the first half of the run. I walked through the aid stations and part of two of the hills in the middle. But otherwise, I was steady the whole run, keeping around 9:30 pace which averaged out to around 10:20 with the walking through aid stations. At mile 10 with a 5k left, I decided to see what I had left and hit the gas. I was flying down the last few miles, and felt so awesome. My last mile was 7:15 pace! I was fast enough that my cousins missed me at the finish, which they were bummed about, but I was flying so high it didn't make a difference to me.

All in all, I am really proud of my training and feel lucky that I had a good day. My nutrition plan worked flawlessly for me which was one of the things I was most nervous about. Staying fueled and hydrated is essential when active for 6:44:53. I finished in almost the top half (52%) and was thrilled to cross the finish line.

My goal was to finish, but if I was honest, I wanted to finish in under 7 and still be running at the finish. I did it!

one for the books

I had ambitious, anxiety-causing workouts planned this weekend. I'm 5 weeks (to the day) from the HIM, and I made the mistake of trolling forums and blogs about triathlon training last week. See, I got my Athlete Guide and there are so many rules, and I started to flip out once again that I am not ready to be fast enough to make the cut-off times.

Anyway, I had planned a tough set of workouts before the freak-out, so I didn't change course. I just felt that there was more riding on them to go well.

The week was tiring, with work and a couple tough swim and run workouts. So I headed into Saturday a little fatigued. But I rode one of my fastest 20 mile rides followed by my longest brick run of 10 miles to date. And I finished feeling ok. Worried about Sunday, but that was two meals and a sleep away.

Sunday I woke up a little tired, but ready to get the party started. Ran 10.75 miles with a running team buddy, inhaled some eggs and toast at Longfellow, and set off for a 48.5 mile ride. Had company for about 28 of it, which was awesome. Headed out to hillier Wayzata and Hopkins, as I need to get some practice on hills. And when I got home, ran another 1.5 miles to see how my nutrition plan worked. I've had some not-so-good runs post-ride because of nutrition issues, so it was great to have a successful run post-ride. I finished feeling ok. Not even too fatigued. I'll for sure be sore tomorrow, and I'll be ready for bed at 6:45 prolly. But have a post-workout high that only comes from working hard.

After this weekend, I have 2 more tough weeks of workouts before I start my taper. Feeling more and more ready as the date approaches. I'll still be scared out of my mind when I toe up to the starting line. But excited to be scared of this race!

#runforboston

There isn't anything I can say that hasn't been said already.

It seems so crazy and trivial now that I spent the weekend feeling sorry for myself that I didn't make it to Boston this year. But like thousands of runners out there, my resolve to run that hallowed race is even stronger now (which probably means it will be even harder to get into, but I'll keep at it until I do).

It's times like this that I've even more thankful for my running team. We joined together with other runners at the Edina track last night at 9 pm for a short run in honor of those lost and injured on Monday. It was a start to healing to hug friends, especially those back from running Boston.

Boston, we run for you.

Virginia Beach Half

A seaside race should be nicer than this was. Cold, cold, cold, and windy, windy, windy.

The trip to VB was a disaster from the get-go. On the mile walk to the lightrail in the sleet Friday morning, I slipped on some ice into a huge puddle, leaving my jeans, coat, shoes, and socks a sopping wet mess. When I got to the airport, the security lady gave me a hard time because my pants were wet. What exactly did she think the threat was there? That I had soaked myself in some sort of poison and I was going to wring it out on someone in the plane? Anyway, after I showed her my skinned knee and sprained finger she let me go.

On the layover in Detroit, I somehow lost my phone between flights. Looked everywhere. One of my running buds on the flight with me kept calling the phone, with no luck. As we were leaving Detroit, he got a call from airport police that my phone had been found, they got his number off my phone since he kept calling it, and to come pick it up. Unfortunately, we were already seated on the plane, and my friends still in Detroit on a later flight couldn't get it because they didn't have my password. But at least the phone was found. (I ended up changing my flight on the way back so I could layover in Detroit. Took a cab from the airport to the police station, got the phone back, and made it back to the airport in plenty of time before my next flight. Worked out ok, but what a dumb waste of time and money that was!)

When we arrived in Norfolk, I went to pick up my rental. I was so proud of myself for securing an $8 a day deal and paying up front. Unfortunately, Enterprise had "no record" of my payment, and then proceeded to charge me quadruple what I had booked at. I was so crabby by this point, I just paid.

Bad luck followed me all weekend, but luckily come race morning, things looked up. But not at first.

When we woke up, it was 35 with 15-20 mph winds, which sucks. And even though the entire half I was jealous of those running the full, I was also glad that Sunday was not my marathon race day. The wind was mostly from the side, but it was still exhausting to run through and made it hard to breathe. I was fine, but I felt for the marathoners.

The race started 15 minutes late, which is a long time to wait when it is that cold. I am very glad I had run out to buy garbage bags the day before so we had at least a little something extra on to protect us.

My race plan was to do a mini-marathon strategy. Start out around 8:30 pace and gradually get faster. I wanted to end at around 7:30 pace for the last miles. I know I can run faster than this for a half marathon, but I wanted to be conservative because of the hip pain I've had lately. In all, I dropped pace every two miles, and my last mile and a half was around 7:05 pace. At the end, I was running 6:45 pace, which is faster than my 5k time, so I feel good about that. What it really means is that I didn't run fast enough, but I keep reminding myself that my goal was to test out a marathon day plan. So all I have to do is what I did on Sunday for twice as long and I'll run a 3:30 marathon. Easy peasy.

Most folks had races they felt satisfied with. A few PRs, some not-quite-PRs-but-awesome-for-the-conditions, and only a few disappointments. A good race day for the team.

Here are some of us:

* I am not in this pic. I don't have any pics of me from this trip.

a new plan

I am having a really hard time dealing with my current leg pain and the impact it is having on my running training. I was supposed to run the Virginia Beach full marathon, but it took me 5 months to get up to running 30 mile weeks, so that wasn't going to happen. I switched to the half and soon developed hip pain. It is bad enough that I limp after running. It's not good, whatever it is. I've seen a chiropractor/pt doc and it hasn't gotten better so she thinks I should either see another kind of doc or just go ahead for an MRI. I have an MRI scheduled for March 4. I am certain they are going to find something terrible like bone cancer and a broken hip. Probably a labral tear too. And maybe bursitis to top it off. In the mean time, doc Jenna said to just keep running unless it got worse, which it hasn't, so I keep running.

All this, though, has made training difficult. My May marathon is now out the window, and I'll just hope I can hang in there to complete the half iron. My running buds think I should bag the year, and maybe set a goal race at a shorter distance, focus on getting and staying healthy and maybe get faster at a shorter distance. This is not what I want to do, but they are right. So instead of signing up for the Chicago marathon today, I decided to make the TC 10 mile my fall goal race. And plan to kill a spring 2014 marathon.

This doesn't make me happy, but it is the right thing to do. I hate doing the right thing.

tYoS act #2: Ragnar Florida Keys

                                                                    *** this is what happens when my hair meets Florida humidity

I have some pretty amazing opportunities. I like to think that I make these happen, but some of it is just dumb luck. Like choosing to join the running club. Which leads to The Year of Stupid Act #2: Ragnar Florida Keys edition.

I think most of my dear reader friends know about Ragnar, having run one or knowing someone who has. It is probably something that should be done while 21, when no sleep is just an average night during finals and being stuck in a van with other smelly people on long road trips was just an average Saturday home from a tennis meet. But here I am, at 36, choosing to run a 197 mile relay over 28 hours in 8000% humidity halfway across the country. And loved every damn minute of it.

My sister and I flew into Miami on Thursday, and after getting to the hotel went on a shakeout run with a couple running buds. We knew we'd feel better having a chance to get the lead out and try to acclimate to the oppressive heat and humidity. It was a tough run, but I was glad to have it done. We grabbed some drinks pre-dinner, ate out (all 24 of us!) at a greek restaurant, and headed back for out last sleep for a while.

We had a 1 pm start time, and it was so hot that the Ragnar people were sending texts all morning and afternoon warning of the heat index. We were nervous (me especially, this being my first Ragnar), but were really ready to get the party started.

 

I love the palm trees in this pic behind the Ragnar start line.

I was in Van 1, and our 6 team members had the longer legs of the team. My sister was dumb (IMO) and chose Runner #3 with runs of 2.7, 8.5, and 9.8 miles. Those that have run a Ragnar know that a 9.8 mile 3rd leg is killer. She had no shade, and most of it was over two bridges - gorgeous, but no escape from the sun. My legs were 3.5, 7.1, and 3.9. With me still in recovery, I didn't want to overdo it and end up re-injured.

My first leg was around 3 pm. It was 80+ with a heat index of 95. Really gross. It was only 3.5 miles, but it was along a fairly busy street in Miami with lots of cars pulling in and out of driveways. Between the sun, the heat from the passing traffic, and the fear I'd be hit by one of these Floridians not really paying attention to the random runners along 40th, it was not my best. Going into Ragnar, my goal pace had been around 8:00, but with the heat I adjusted to 8:30s. I hit that goal, which felt good. Didn't overdo it, as I knew I still had 2 runs to get in. Here I am getting the slap bracelet for my first run from my teammate Brian.

 

My next leg was around 1:30 am on Saturday morning, a 7.1 miler. It was still really humid, but at least the sun was down. I had a pretty good run, speeding up every two miles so that by the end I was at my original goal race pace. And I had 13 roadkill!

Roadkills, in Ragnar at least, refer to the people you pass while running. I had 27, my teammate Brian had 44(!) on his own. He did have a 12 mile leg but it's more because he's one of the fastest guys I know. We had 144 total as a team. Pretty awesome for the awful heat and humidity.

Anyway, I finished that leg feeling jazzed and sore. I couldn't believe I'd have to run another leg. After leg 2 was done for everyone in the van, we drove to a major exchange to take a quick shower and try to grab some Zs. I was last back into the van, so I had the choice of sleeping on the gym floor or the floor of the van. If you'd seen the port-a-potties we'd had to use along the way, you'd never have slept on the floor of that van, in all that was tracked in. I didn't really want to sleep on the gym floor, so I moved the suitcases around from the trunk of the van and "slept" back there. I was so cramped and it was so stuffy from no circulation that I didn't sleep a wink. But I hadn't really planned on it anyway, so that was ok.

By this point in the race, we'd been awake for most of the last 24 hours, and had almost all finished our runs of between 18-30 miles with warm ups and cool downs. We were pretty punchy.

My leg 3 started around 1 pm, a lot later than originally planned, but most of us were a lot slower than originally planned. It was crazy hot and humid, but my third leg was pretty solid. 4 miles at 8:30 pace along the coast. Gorgeous. Finishing in Key West was incredible.

Ragnar has been on my list of things to do for a long time. I wish I could have done it this August, but I'm just thankful I got to do it at all, and in such an amazing place. I don't think I'd ever do this Ragnar again - the heat was wicked and one of my teammates had to run a 7 mile bridge in full sun and 95% humidity. He said it was the most dangerous thing he's ever done, and he's finished multiple Ironmans. But it was definitely a chance of a lifetime, and I'll cherish the memories.

By the way, something has changed with Blogger photo uploads and I can't figure out how to insert the pics normally. I can't drag them and center them. It's all very annoying. Anyway, the pics are all here at least.

2013: the year of stupid. Act #1: New Year's Ice Dive

Sure started 2013 off with a bang with a jump into Lake Minnetonka. Waking up to -5 temps made me really, really, really want to climb back into bed. Actually, I had spent the night on the couch at the house of friends after a crew from the run club celebrated NYE there, knowing that if I drove home at 3 am after the party, I'd never have the nerve to make it out to Lake Minnetonka 4 hours later on my own. So, I stayed and had no excuse not to go. It's pretty hard to believe that it's been less than a year since I met these crazies. We left the house around 8:15 and carpooled out to the Lake.







I was terrified. As the following pics indicate. See me in the pink robe? Yeah, terrified.

The worst part is actually the wait. We spent about an hour waiting for our whole crew to arrive (22 jumpers!) and then another half hour in line to head out. Once we were death marched out to the platform, I was in a real tizzy. I was sure I would be the one person whose heart stops and has to be rescued from the water. Then all of a sudden, it was my turn. My friend Angie and I step up and the announcer says, "Oh, two guppies. Who talked you into this?" We pointed at Coach Ron. I look a little angry at this point. But actually, once we stepped up to the hole, I was calm and ready.

And then he counted down and we were in!

  

You have to jump in and go under the rope (to make sure you get the full experience of going all the way under). The water was take-your-breath-away cold, but it wasn't until I came out of the water and my wet head hit the -5 air that I thought I was going to die. Thank god for the firemen with the poles. When I came up out of the water, my brain was so frozen I could not think of what to do to get out of there. I could not have figured out how to swim at that point to (literally) save my life.

Before the jump, I said this was a one-and-done kind of thing. I'm still pretty sure that'll be the case, but I kinda easily succumb to peer pressure. It might seem like a good idea in another 365 days. But even if I never do it again, I have bragging rights for the rest of my life!

ho ho ho

I have been a bit obsessive with the running team, I admit. But it's just been so much fun. Take last weekend, we had the 2nd annual Ugly Sweater Egg Nog Schlogg around Lake Calhoun. 

At every stop, we were required to do a shot of egg nog.

Stop 1: Holiday trivia 

We were asked a holiday themed trivia question. If you got it right, continue running.  If you got it wrong, you had to complete a loop back on the course as a penalty. My question: what kind of pajamas does Ralphie get for Christmas? Answer: pink footie bunny pajamas - I got it right.

Stop 2: Advent calendar of death 

We picked a number from the basket that corresponds to one on the Advent calendar, and had to do whatever fun activity was assigned to the number.  Activities included jumping jacks, burpees, additional shots of egg nog, etc.  I had to do burpees.

Stop 3: Mystery Xmas Song.  

From a hat, we picked a Christmas song, and were required to sing the song the remainder of the run...the louder the better!

It was raining and kinda miserable, but who wouldn't have fun doing this?

 

one reason I run

I certainly didn't "earn" this breakfast with my slow 3 miles around Lake of the Isles this morning. And frankly, it is near impossible to run enough miles to actually balance out this caloric bomb. But it was certainly worth it this freezing Friday morning to meet up with friends and enjoy some puppy dog tails.

Frosting. Yum.

winter running

After it took me 1.5 hours to shovel myself out this morning and twice as long as normal to get to work, I'm probably already sick of the snow. But I wasn't yesterday on the first real snowy run of the season.

up and down, around and around

The running team had out first hill workout of the season today. There some new snow on the ground and the sidewalks were slick. It was hard, but it felt great. I'm still slower than I want to be, though I'm trying to be patient about that, but it was super fun to be doing a real workout this morning. Just in time, too, because 4 weeks from right now, I'll be toasting completing my first Ragnar. After a tough summer and fall, I'm starting to feel like myself again.

tri and tri again

I finished my very first triathlon yesterday. It was maybe the most fun I've ever had at a race, maybe save for the 25k I did last April that was so hard but felt so great. Oh, and the first time I ran the TC 10 mile. Well, my first marathon would have to be up there. Ok, so I've had a few super fun races, but this one is right up there. I had zero expectations, since I could only run/walk the 5k, and had no idea what to expect with transitions and the swim. I didn't know anything about the bike course, so I wasn't worried about the hills (which there were plenty of, btw). A few other folks from the run club were also competing, and it was great to see some of them in transitions and in the out-and-back run.

I'm glad I liked it, because a few weeks ago after a second glass of wine, I made the ill-advised, likely stupid decision to give a Half Ironman a go next June. I figure I'll have 10 weeks to train between the Virginia Beach marathon I'm running in March and the 70.3, so if I keep up some swimming and biking all winter, I'll be in ok shape. My goal will be to finish, that's it. I might do a few more shorter distance tris later in the summer next year, or be training for another marathon if I fail to BQ in Virginia. Time will tell. And, of course, this is all under the assumption my leg will heal up and stay strong. Most people would do more than one triathlon before signing up for a 70.3. Oh well.

As I was chatting with a new friend met at the tri, we decided that tris might be awesome or awful for the reason that it gives you the opportunity to buy lots more gear - you need three sport's worth of stuff instead of just running. And bike gear can add up fast. Just what I need - something else to spend money on.

And how funny is this: woman in front of me at packet pick-up was named Megan. When I went up to give my last name, she leaned over and said, "Kelly was my maiden name." I replied, "So your name was Megan Kelly?" To which she replied, "Yes, are you Megan Kelly?" I said that no, I wasn't but my sister is. She said, "Is she Megan Jean Kelly, the fast runner from Northfield?" Small world. I remembered my sister telling me stories about the other Megan Jean Kelly, and here she was, a new friend. She got into tris this summer and loved them. I can see why. Anyway, after I give myself a few days to recover, I'm going to try to get my winter training schedule going - planning runs, bikes, and swims each week. Here's to winter fitness!

There is no I in Team!

There were some really amazing moments from yesterday's marathon. And some pretty crappy ones too. Here's a recap.

We all know that I had a pretty nutzo taper. The hellacious shin pain drove me bat-shit crazy. I saw a sports masseuse for the first time ever a week before the race. And then again 4 days before. It helped tremendously with the pain, but I think it contributed to the heaviness that plagued my legs the entire race. And then on Monday, the woman who does gait analysis for the team watched me run and said my shoes were part of the problem. They were the right shoes for me 4 months ago, but I'm a stronger runner now and they were overcorrecting for a problem I no longer had. So she fit me in new shoes on Tuesday. So I had a whopping 2.13 miles run on them before the race. But I only have 3 small blisters! Still, I wouldn't recommend getting completely new styled shoes 5 days before a marathon. If for nothing else, the havoc it wreaks in your head.

But, the shoes were great and, will wonders never cease, I didn't have any trouble with my leg. I ran about a quarter mile to warm it up before the start (man, did I get a LOT of crazy looks), and it was tight at the start, but that was it. I felt a twinge at 15 and another around 21, but a twinge was it. It hurts like crazy now, but it made it through. Good job, leg.

When Wendi, the show whisperer, saw me run and determined my shoes were part of the problem, she also gave me some pointers on form.  New shoes and new form the week of a race. Not advisable.

The bus ride to the starting line was interminable. Seriously, I thought they were taking us to Canada. And all I kept thinking was, "And I have to RUN this whole freaking way?" I've never taken a bus to the start line. Now I know to bring headphones and tune out.

One of the highlights of the race was when the F-16s blew over us at the end of The Star Spangled Banner. I got choked up, enough I had to wipe a tear. I don't even know why, since planes/military etc. are not my thing at all, but those jets, man, they are so impressive! Plus, I'm always so hyped up and nervous at that point before a race, just about anything could make me cry. They followed it up with, what else, the Top Gun theme song. Cheesy, but it worked.

I knew I was in trouble when I was comfortable, hot even, in my singlet before we even started. The humidity, a balmy 90%, made even the 66 degree temp tough to get going. All week the weather looked bad, which actually didn't stress me out as much as it normally does, I think because of the leg issues. There was a nice breeze in the morning, when it blew, but the first 13 were really tough in that heat. I never felt like I was holding back the pace; I felt like I was working hard from the first mile. After 17 the sky became overcast and the temp became much more manageable. If the race had started at 9:30, it would have been a completely different result.

My garmin lost signal at the start. So it took a bit to get it going again. And then because I wanted to beep at the mile markers, I hit lap at mile 1. Except I didn't hit lap, I hit stop. I lost about .4 mile and so I never really knew what my overall time was. I tried to figure out the math adding the missing time and subtracting how long it took to get to the start when we passed time clocks. Since I didn't know how close I really was, it may have been different if my watch had worked properly and I could have... Nope. I couldn't have run faster.

The first time you see the lake through the trees is stunning. I'm glad I looked at it because for most of the rest of the race, it hurt too much to turn my head to look at it again.

No matter what anyone says, this is not a flat course. It wouldn't classify as hilly, as there are no huge inclines, but the first 10 miles there are constant rolling hills. The first time I thought about quitting was mile 6. Keeping it together for 20 more miles, I'm considering that a win.

There were some amazing, amazing points of people cheering, and lots of dead space.

I did, though, have a personal race guide the first 13. A pal from the running group was a back-up for the 3:40 and 4:30 pacer guys in case either bonked. So he led me through the first half. He was outstanding - got me water and/or powerade at some of the stops so I could just blow through the center. Talked me through the tangents. Kept pumping me up. He would check in with the pacers and then come back to check on me. When I screwed up my garmin at the start he told me to take a deep breath and let it go. No big deal. As hard as those first 13 were, I don't think I could have run them that well without George. How lucky was I?!?

I had a hard time keeping my mantra going in my head. I was busy trying to do math and it was hard enough just to focus on my new form and my breathing. I looked at my homemade pace chart and tried to concentrate on the person or event I wanted to focus on at each mile past 10. But it was really hard to concentrate today. My goal had been to start out at 8:25-8:30 for the first 5, then drop down to 8:15 through 10-13 depending on how I felt, and then run 8 flats into the finish. I never could drop below 8:15s. Which would have been ok except for mile 20-21, when I ran a 9 and an 8:42. Screwed the BQ plan all up.

After 13, I ran the next 4 or so on my own and then had another amazing pit crew jump in with me. Elaina, Carrie, and Beth all ran with me through most of the last 10. They asked me when I needed water or gatorade or ice or sponges. Incredible!! And since Carrie and Elaina were wearing the same pink team singlet as me, we got SO many awesome cheers from the crowd. "Go Team Pink (or Team Purple!)" [it's hard to tell the color] "Girl Power!" "You ladies look so strong!" In the last 6 miles, I don't think we went more than 2 minutes without someone cheering for us. I have amazing teammates.

I miscalculated my math at 20 and thought I had more time than I did to still make it. Mile 20 was a tough one. I kept telling myself, "Calhoun and Harriet. Calhoun and Harriet." But I couldn't keep my legs turning over fast enough. I think I moaned at one point. I started to get the chills. At this point, I was sopping wet and the sky had become overcast. So I was in this weird hot but also cold state.

Lemon Drop was not awful, but the fact that you can see it for almost a mile makes it seem worse than it is. I told my running crew I might have to walk up it. Carrie told me at lunch that she wanted to tell me, "Like hell you are." But she told me that Lemon Drop had nothing on Puke's Peak (this really tremendous hill from that Ron Daws race I did in April). She was right, of course, and I did run the whole thing without losing too much time. But any hill is killer at 22.

At mile 24, I thought there was still a chance I could qualify. Remember, I was 24 miles into a marathon and trying to do complicated addition and subtraction with splits. So I picked it up a tiny bit which was so so so hard. Every muscle in my body was screaming at me to stop. I kept wondering how awful it really would be if I dropped out at 25. I didn't actually consider it, but I did think it.

I slowed a little up the last few inclines in mile 25, but then with a half mile I dropped time again. I ran the last .2 at almost 7:10 pace. Seriously? Where did that come from? I thought I was closer to qualifying than I was. I felt a little stupid for killing myself at the end when I was way off, but a friend said she was watching the finish line streaming on the website and that I looked really strong. So there's that.

I'm going through waves of feeling proud for my 14:43 pr and feeling desperately disappointed with the extra 46 seconds. That's 2 seconds per mile. Just 2 seconds! A BQ is such a contrived goal, but it is there. And lots made it happen this spring. I guess the good news is that I know I can do it. Yesterday just wasn't my day for it.