As I have expressed, this training for a marathon thing has been HARD. Not just physically and mentally, but finding all the time to run is sometimes an impossible task. Trying to figure out how to get 30-40 miles in each week has not been easy. Waking up at 4:30am on a work day is not my idea of fun. Alarm clocks screaming at me at 3:30am is pretty much a circle of hell for me. Running used to be fun and "easy," but this training has made it feel like a lot of work. And I understand that. I knew when I decided to torture myself by running 26.2 miles that I wasn't just committing to a one day event. I was committing to MONTHS of training. I knew this. I really did. It just didn't register with me how time consuming it would be.
Twenty miles. That number has been scaring me for a few weeks now. According to the plan I'm following, my 20 mile run should be the weekend of October 7th. However, I signed up for the Mo' Cowbell Half Marathon. The question then became, should I do it BEFORE or AFTER the half??? Of course, I went to the evil Internets to see what I should do. Ugh. Bad idea. Most plans say to aim to do it at least 3 weeks before the marathon. This gives your body time to properly heal, yada, yada. I read articles on tapering and how some folks start too soon, while others don't start soon enough. The message boards were full of all sorts of conflicting advice. It was making my brain hurt. In the end, I let Tim twist my arm into just doing it the weekend before my half marathon. I'm pretty sure he wanted this just so I would shut up about it. We were taking Friday off from work and the weather looked questionable on Sunday, so we decided to just do it. Steven had to get a 20 miler in as well, so we all planned to meet up and knock it out. Props to Steven for agreeing to run with my slow butt.
As usual, I was a nervous wreck the night before. I had had a pretty mediocre running week. I only got 2 runs in and they weren't the type that boosted any confidence. I knew I was getting on Tim's nerves, so I just tried to go to bed early. I slept poorly. Shocker.
We met up at Steven's house around 4:30am. It was pretty foggy out. We stayed in town for the first few miles and then headed out towards Harrison Road. Surprisingly, I felt pretty darn good those first 10 miles. I think I may have even mentioned how much ass I was kicking at one point. :) We hit the Water Plant at mile 11. I took a potty break and did a gel. About a mile after that, my hip started hurting and I was just feeling a little tired. I realized that I hadn't really drank much of my water, so I tried to take sips more often. It was brighter out, so I started to lag back a bit from the boys. My pace had decreased a lot. Tim kept turning his head (I know he was worried about me), but I was actually okay going at it solo at that point. We went to the marina entrance and then headed back towards town. I was annoyed with Tim's route because there are 3 hills after the marina that I absolutely hate. I bargained with myself that I would stop at mile 15 to walk a bit. Well, that would have been in the middle of that last hill, so I forced myself to get up it and then walked. Walking didn't really help. It actually only made my hip hurt more. Blah.
We continued on towards Lake Murphysboro. I stopped again because my fuel belt was loosening so much that it was falling off. Tim was sticking with me at this point. I think he was sensing a come apart moment. Steven was a bit ahead and turned back to wave to indicate he was heading out. I was actually surprised that he stayed with us that long- he was going to work that day! Tim apologized for all the hills. Blah. Stupid hills. I swear I was looking at my watch every tenth of a mile. Once we got out the lake, we only had one hill left (the hill that I used to not think was a hill! wink, wink) and about 1.5 miles to go. And this is when I hit a massive wall.
My stomach cramped up and I started crying. Oh yeah, it wasn't pretty. Tim let me have my little "moment" before gently reminding me that we were almost done. "We just have to get home now, babes. Just gotta get down Cemetery Hill. You got this." I had a lot of doubt in me, but I knew he was right. I started running (slowly) and promised myself not to look at my watch again until it beeped at 20 miles. And when it beeped, I'm pretty sure I cried out in joy.
I think my issues at the end were because I didn't fuel or hydrate properly throughout the run. I really hate doing gels, etc., but I was so shaky at the end, that I could tell my body needed something. I gagged down a protein shake and tortured myself with the foam roller.
Sweaty & tired, but proud.
I will say this, I am glad to have it over with. I feel a bit more confident now that I got the 20 miler under my belt. I'm not sure if I'll do it again when my running pals run their 20-- I'm going to see how my legs feel this week and after the half marathon. I'd like to just so I can play around with the fueling a bit more. I'm still terrified of running 6.2 more miles, but I think I can get it done with Tim's encouragement. I just need to believe in myself...
Oh, it was our 10 year anniversary that day, too! After the run, Tim made me pancakes and surprised me with this:
Yeah, I have the best husband ever.
No comments:
Post a Comment