St. George Marathon Recap…

So it has been three weeks since I traveled to St. George, Utah for the marathon so I figure if I am going to write about it I should probably go ahead and do it.
After taking it easy at the start of the year, my goal was to be in shape and ready to go when training for St. George happened. I had planned on a 12 week plan, but you know what they say about the best laid plans. After straining my quad, a biopsy and minor surgery by the time July 1st rolled around I was wondering if I even wanted to train for St. George.
In the past, I have tended towards just running what everyone else was running when I trained for marathons, and this time I decided that since I was not in shape when I started training and I wanted to find a plan that would work for me I decided on Hal Higdon’s Senior Marathon Training Program. I decided on this plan because you could modify the 8 week plan, it was only running three days a week, and I have had trouble with overtraining in the past. I printed out the program and taped it to my fridge and decided to give it a shot. Even with the way the plan was written I did hills once a week and never ran more than six miles on my second weekday run, I also found a group that ran a pace I could manage so there wouldn’t be a lot of solo miles like there have been in the past.

These girls saved me this summer. I won’t even say how much work it was to get everyone in the same place, with the selfie stick that morning.
So I ran through July, August and September in the heat and the humidity of our Oklahoma summer, and while I wasn’t thinking this would be a PR kind of race for me I was proud of the fact that, unlike last summer, I had actually run every mile instead of walking. I felt confident that I could run the 26.2 miles even if they weren’t super speedy.
Fast forward to October 1st and we were headed to Utah.

Pre flight selfie. We wanted to make sure we got the plane in the background.
So we fly into Vegas, get the rental car and drive to St. George, check into the hotel, get some dinner and then I have the worst night’s sleep ever. After a two mile shake out run on Friday morning where my legs felt completely awful, we headed to the expo to pick up our bibs and grabbed some lunch and decided to drive the course.
I will say that Utah is beautiful, but this course scared the crap out of me. I loved the point to point aspect, but even though it’s billed as a downhill race there were some uphill portions too.
The starting line was pretty cool though.

Action shot:

They had flags from every state/country that had a participant, how cool is that?

First Aid, toilets AND fires? Oh yeah.

We headed back to the hotel, Rochelle and I ended up getting some not very good take-out and by 8:30 I was exhausted. That was about the time I realized that my sunglasses had broken in my suitcase. That was a bummer. Luckily Tim and Christie headed out to get some last minute supplies and picked up a pair for me.
I did get some sleep and then was up somewhere in the 3 o’clock hour. Everything was running smoothly and then I got thrown off a bit by a few panic moments before we left the hotel and managed to leave without a bottle of water. We made it to the buses and didn’t have to wait too long before we were on one headed up to the starting line.

It was pretty chilly up there. We got in line for the port-o-potties and then found a spot by one of the fires to relax before the start. I found a spot near the 4:30 pace group and just planned to go out and enjoy the day. Which I did, for 17 miles.
I chatted with some other runners and walked some of the uphill spots (miles 7-9 were no joke), and managed to keep myself either in front of or right around the 4:30 pace group. It really felt like a good day.
At the water stop around mile 17 I walked for a few minutes and was going to take a picture of the view. A guy that was walking by me offered to take my picture.

This was the last point I felt good for the rest of the race. I turned around and almost immediately I had sharp, shooting pains in my right leg that started above my ankle and would shoot up my leg and down into my foot ever time I stepped on my right foot.
It has been 3.5 years since my tibial stress fracture, but that one started exactly like this. Mid-run, shooting pain that hurt with every step. I knew I was in trouble. In an instant I went from feeling like I was having a great day to feeling like it was the worst day ever.
So what did I do? Well what I should have done was stop. I should have found the next medical tent and called it a day. But that is absolutely not what I did. I walked. I walked for NINE MILES, on what was in fact a tibial stress fracture. A bunch of people told me that I should have stopped, and yes I know that I probably should have, but when you are out there it’s hard to quit.
I walked 9 miles at about a 17 minute pace. It took forever! I cried. I cried a lot. I managed to finish about 8 minutes slower than at Chicago last year, I can’t decide if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I did not get stung by a bee this year, so that’s a good thing, but that happened at mile 17 in Chicago last year. I think next marathon will be all about making it past mile 17 because that mile seems a little unlucky for me. I managed to not be the last person in our group to finish, thanks Tim!
So I finished, got my medal, got back to the hotel for the most frantic post check-out shower ever and then we were on our way back to Vegas. In case you were wondering, Vegas is the absolute worst place in the world to be with a leg injury. Just walking (and I use that term loosely because I was limping) from the valet to the room seemed like miles. I made myself presentable and we headed to Mesa Grill for dinner.

Cremini mushroom quesadilla with fontina and ricotta, topped with a fried egg. I ate ever bit and it was so good.

Rochelle, Tim, Kristy, me and Christie.
I did have a good time. I have spent the last three weeks wondering what I could have done different to have had a different outcome. I have been incredibly bummed about the whole thing.
I was back in the boot the Thursday after we got back, had an MRI the following Monday, and then told that I needed to be on crutches the next Thursday. After nine days on crutches I am back in the boot and I go back to the doctor on November 5th. If nothing else, after two less than spectacular marathons last year St. George showed me that I am not done with the marathon. I had a great day for 17 miles, I was feeling good and having fun, and I know that there are more races ahead.

Goodbye 2014...

 There are just a few hours left of 2014, so what better time to be nostalgic about the year that has passed then now? No big plans for the evening, except a few extra teenagers, a little take out, and a midnight run planned for later.

There has been a lot of baking this year, but how about everything else?

There has been some running...

1. Chicago Marathon, definitely a bucket list race, I got stung by a bee, and I'd like to do it again and run stronger.
2. OKC Marathon, the last time I ever run the full in OKC, it was brutal.
3. National Running Day, that day that I didn't actually do any running.
4. Route 66 half marathon, the horrible half that turned into an upper respiratory infection and pneumonia
5. Sooner State Games trail run, the day I seriously thought I was going to be last.
6. Strides of March half marathon, my second fasted half ever, and the reason I decided to run the full at OKC. What was I thinking?
7. Birthday running, I love birthday running with the girls.
8. Walking the Turkey Day 5k, got Josh out of bed to walk that with me.
9. Scorcher half marathon, the wettest race I've ever ran, and my last race in the 35-39 age group.

 And some other fun stuff...

1. My 40th birthday, when my aunts and great aunt flew in to surprise us.
2. Joshs's 41st birthday and one of those times he did a shot of tequila on his birthday.
3. Rochelle's birthday celebrating at Blu.
4. The girls' birthday at the Melting Pot in Dallas
5. Food basket deliveries for the Elks Lodge before Christmas.
6. The tailgate after the crappy OU game Josh and I went to.
7. The Daddy Daughter dance, only one year left...
8. Spring break in Branson, or that time we tried to go to Silver Dollar City and it freaking snowed.
9. Birthday celebrating for Sarah and Rochelle.

By the numbers:

• 1,047 total miles
• 7 100+ mile months
• 2 marathons
• 3 half marathons

I think I ran my most miles in a month in October with 147 total miles, and my least amount of miles this December when I logged only 9 miles. That is quite a drastic change. Two marathons in one year is a lot. 

I am looking forward to a fresh start that the new year brings. Time to get back on track, set some new goals and decide what comes next. I can't wait!

Chicago Marathon Recap…

It’s been a few weeks, so I need to get my recap of the actual race done. More on the trip to Chicago (later this week, I hope!) because the weekend was FANTASTIC!

The racing, not so much.

I haven’t talked a whole lot about my training this summer, but in a word it was awful. I was really run down after OKC, and I don’t think I had enough time to recover from that before I jumped into (trying to) training for Chicago. You really should not sign up for your next marathon BEFORE you run the one you are training for. Lesson learned.

You might think that I am saying I wish I hadn’t gone to Chicago, but I am not saying that at all. I don’t regret a single mile, no matter how horrible they might have been. After last years injury (sprained ankle), accident (bike), surgery (appendix), I am so happy that I have been able to make it through the miles I have. You regret the miles you don’t run, not the miles you do.

So I headed into 26.2 #4 with very low expectations. I think I might have been a little delusional, really. It is not possible to slog through your training miles and expect to show up on race day and be able to run.

We were all in separate corrals for the race so it was pretty lonely at the start. It was probably over an hour between the time I left my friends and the race actually started. I took one horrible picture by the fountain though.

Pretty awful, right? I had just dropped off my gear bag and was heading over to my corral. This race is so big, you can’t even see the people that are starting before you, it was just a huge mass of runners.

After an eternity we were off. I love Chicago, really, I think the city was fantastic, and this was a great way to see it all. I was fine for about the first 12 miles or so. My walk breaks in the water stops started getting a little bit longer but I still felt like I was doing ok. The crowds were amazing, I think that has to be what it feels like to be an elite runner, there were some parts of the course that had so many people it was just a wall of sound.

Somewhere between miles 13 and 15 it all just fell apart for me. I can’t even point to one specific thing that happened, it was not like I hit a wall it was like the wall fell on top of me. It just got harder and harder to keep running. Around mile 17 I got stung by a bee on my left shoulder. That was painful, but I think the fact that my whole body hurt so bad by that point it didn’t hurt as bad as it could have. For the rest of the race whenever I was walking and I would try to stand up straight and put my shoulders back I had a very sharp pain in my left shoulder. Turns out the stinger was still in there and I didn’t realize it until I got home and Josh removed it for me on Monday.

I kept trying to tell myself that my family didn’t care how long it took me to finish, but then I would think that my friends were all going to be waiting for me at the finish line and I felt awful that it was taking me so long. It is a long time to be inside your head when it all feels impossible. The last six miles were probably the hardest six miles of my life. I would run a little and then I would walk and I would cry and then I would run a little more. I drank a beer. This seems to be something I am doing a lot during my marathoning in 2014.

I did make it to the finish line, they gave me my medal and another beer. Almost immediately after crossing the finish line my wonderful MIL texted me and told me that I was amazing and they were all proud of me. (More tears.) I managed to make it to the gear tent and hobble to where Carrie, Lauren and Rochelle were waiting for me. (More tears.)
Since we didn’t get any pre-race pictures we got a post race shot, but apparently it was not taken with my phone. That’s okay, they are all changed and had massages while they were waiting for me and I looked absolutely awful.
I set a PR for my worst marathon performance to date, but I am so glad I went. I love Chicago and I am hoping to be back there one day at the starting line feeling much stronger than I was this time.

Marathon Training...

It has been a month since my last super whiny marathon training post. So I thought I would check back in and see how it's going.

A few weeks ago, I am not going to lie, I had a "Holy crap, what was I thinking, I never want to run again" run. It was 14 miles, and my fabulous friend Sarah stuck with my slow self the entire time, and by slow I mean, how about we walk about three of these 14 miles? It was awful. It was so freaking hot outside and so humid that I could squeeze the sweat out of my socks and my shoes were soaked. It was not raining, that was a couple of shoes full of my sweaty, not so fabulous, self.

I even considered, and said, more than once, that I was doubting my decision to even be training for this race. Yes, I have said it a few times since then, but less this week than in previous weeks.

The Saturday after that horribleness, I ran 16 miles that turned out to be a tad less horrible. It has been so hot, and humid here. It is crazy. I feel bad when I need to take walk breaks when I am running with others, but I can't run without them. My last seven miles were all on my own, and with my headphones on I managed to have the best five mile run in a while. I ran and walked when I needed to. No pressure to keep up, or to not walk.

Last week was better, although the fact that it didn't feel as humid as it had been probably was a big factor in this. I ran some of it by myself, and then ran some with a friend that is training for a half ironman and said that she would be walking during the half portion of her race so it was okay to have some walk breaks with me.

When we got back I looked like I had jumped into a swimming pool. NO joke.

You should thank me for not including my super sweaty self in this picture, although it's kind of rude of me to block out half of Anne's face with my visor. The second after I snapped the picture Ro stuck her tongue out, so it's a pretty big group selfie fail.

Oh well.

So this run was much better for me mentally. It felt manageable, even if it was painfully slow. This weekend I am planning for 18, although I think we are running on Monday, which sounds awful. We are running the Brookhaven 5k on Saturday, oh if I didn't love our local running store so much I would not do it. I guess we will see if my track workouts are paying off, but I did skip the track party yesterday in order to get an hour more sleep, so that might not have helped much.

Running is an adventure, and it's supposed to be fun. It is getting to be more fun, but I sure can't wait until Fall.

Why Am I Doing This...

 

A few months ago, when I was a few weeks out from the OKC Memorial Marathon, and a friend of mine suggested we all get into the lottery for the Chicago Marathon it sounded like a FABULOUS idea. Now I am just over 78 days away from my next 26.2 and I was wondering why I am doing this.

This will be marathon #4 for me, and I am super excited to go run in one of my favorite cities with some of my favorite people. Plus, it'll be FLAT, FLAT, FLAT! Our hotel is booked, plain reservations are made, and we even have a reservation to carb load on Saturday night.

But holy cow, do I feel like I have a long way to go! After recovering from over training for my last 26.2, I have been working for the last month on building up my miles again. I am back to running 6 miles during the week pretty regular and have been turning my Saturday runs into something that would resemble a long run.

I have 14 miles planned for tomorrow and I am trying to not feel super intimidated by the distance. I have a good plan, which won't involve many solo miles, and I will be running with as many friends as possible. I am hoping the miles will just fly by. What are the chances there is another polar vortex that swoops into Oklahoma in the next 12 hours or so and I wake up to temps in the 40s? Probably not very likely.

I always think, after a marathon, that maybe it's not the race for me. I much prefer a half marathon. I love a race for which it doesn't take much to be trained. Marathons are time consuming! But, I am still chasing that perfect race. The perfect course, the perfect weather, the perfect raining, and I think that is what is keeping me coming back.

Will Chicago be that race? Will I get my 4 hour marathon? Will I at least get a PR? Only time will tell, and I will continue to slog through these summer runs, knowing that cooler weather should be coming at some point, and the heat will make me that much stronger.

78 days to go...