Because I Have Nothing Else To Do With All This Nervous Energy!

On Your Mark....Get Set...Go!

Emotions Running High!

This is the final week before the half marathon and my thoughts and feelings are all over the place! I feel a major surge deep within…kind of like I’m already at the start line just waiting to bolt off! (Which, by the way, I won’t be doing any kind of “bolting off” whatsoever. I plan on taking it slow and steady then entire 13.1 miles!)

This week I finally get my “easy” week in regards to training. I’ve pretty much been taking it easy anyway since my 12 miler a few Saturday’s ago, due to scheduling conflicts, kid schedules, and a weekend trip out of state to Texas, but this week it’s an official take-it-easy week. I have a 3-mile run today (Monday), a 3-mile run on Wednesday, and get this…a 2-mile WALK on Thursday. That’s it!!! I’m not sure I can handle just doing a 2 mile WALK, but I’m proud I’ve made it through the 10 weeks of training, so I’m going to enjoy the walk anyway.

This week I also start carb loading and cutting out all junk food, which I haven’t REALLY been eating during these last 10 weeks anyway. I’m purposely forgetting about the three scoops of raw cookie dough I gorged on this weekend and nearly had my head in the toilet throwing up over. My body was NOT happy with all that sugar! Gag!

Anyway, I’ll be choosing foods this week such as cereal, pancakes, potatoes, rice, and breads, (who would complain about THAT) along with a good amount of fruit and fruit juice. Starting on Wednesday or Thursday I will start drinking my G2 to keep my electrolytes at top level so I’m all maxed out by Sunday. I will attempt to get my best nights sleep on Friday night, because I know I’ll hardly get any sleep at all come Saturday night.

My husband and I are driving to Chicago but we still haven’t decided if we’re leaving Friday (hopeful) or Saturday. His work schedule may prevent us from leaving on Friday, which would leave us departing super early on Saturday morning. It’s still doable (a 9 hour drive) as long as we can make to the mandatory health and fitness Expo by 6pm Saturday to pick up my race packet and running bib. The Chicago half marathon does not allow ANYONE to pick up your race packet for you, under ANY circumstances and they do NOT allow you to get your race packet the day OF the race, so if you miss out on the Expo, essentially you’re screwed. I find this highly annoying that they don’t allow you to get the packet the morning of. *Grumble* Registration was $110.00 for this race, add in the cost of gas for getting up there and home again, add in splitting a hotel in downtown Chicago, plus parking and oh yeah, eating and that equals a lot of cash. I’ll be damned if I let ANYTHING stop me now, I’ve come too far!

Even though my husband isn’t running the race with me, his support and him being there FOR me is a true gift in and of itself. While I’m running, I’m sure he’ll be moseying around downtown snapping all kinds of amazing photos. I’m excited that he gets to be there with me and gets the chance to “site see” a little bit while waiting for me. I already can’t wait to see him at the finish line! I hope he has a pocket of tissue ready for me, as I’m sure I’ll be a crying mess at the end.

Also, one of the best parts about this whole trip is I get to FINALLY meet a friend of mine, Julie, that I’ve “known” for almost 15 years but have never met! We started out in our early 20’s (cough! cough!) being pen pal, if you can believe it. You know…before the days of text messaging and emails; real letters in the mail. We wrote back and forth and kept in touch all these years. Then technology came dancing by and we were able to keep in touch via email. Then a few years ago, Facebook happened and here we are! We have a lot in common, are both Virgos (that should explain a lot right there) and unfortunately both our mother’s passed away from breast cancer. This race is benefiting the American Cancer Society so this is BIG for us, and probably very emotional. So here we are, about to do our first half marathon together and meet for the first time! I can’t wait to see her after all these years.

The race starts at 6:30am, that’s gun time anyway. It’ll probably take us at least 20-30 minutes to make our way up to the start line from our corral. With 25,000 runners, it’s not like we can all start right at the same time…can you say MESS?! We figure we’ll start around 7am and finish by 10am. We gave ourselves a generous estimated time of 3 hours. I plan on fully enjoying this experience, NOT worrying one bit about my time. I can’t wait to run in downtown Chicago, and along the water. I can’t wait to hear all the bands and enjoy the finish line concert (Five For Fighting!!!). This is truly going to be an amazing experience, I can already feel it.

The nerves have started to set in and I’m getting giddy! I can’t believe I did it! I can’t believe I’m days away from the biggest goal I have ever set for myself: running 13.1 miles! I can’t believe I’ve trained 10 weeks, pushed myself beyond limits I would have never imagine pushing myself though. I can’t believe how much I’ve pounded the pavement and accomplished running all those miles and just how far I’ve come. I started training and within a few short weeks, lost a precious baby and had to have major surgery. I only took a week off and jumped right back into training. What? I really did this? I sure did and I’m giving myself a huge well-deserved pat on the back for it.

I don’t care what place I come in at, because…I’ve already won!

So Close to the Finish Line!

I last left off just days away from my 11 mile run. I had been training 4 days a week for WEEKS, very strict, very scheduled and things were going very smoothly. When I ran my 10 I felt GREAT afterward. Great as in: Fan.Freakin.Tastic. I figured that since my 10 were nothing short of awesome, 11 could only be better…oh sheesh was I wrong.

As some of you runners may know, a run doesn’t always go as planned, no matter how much psyching up you do before hand. I had done all my “regular” things I do before my long Saturday miles. I carb loaded the day before, hydrated with lots of water and electrolytes, I ate healthy all week, I got good sleep, I had a positive attitude. Once again, I decided to do my 11 on a treadmill because of the weather that morning. I can’t remember if it was storming, or if I just didn’t want to deal with the horrible humidity, but for whatever the reasons, I decided to hit the gym and get those 11 miles done on the treadmill.

I DID get it done, at a great pace, no stopping, straight through, but let me tell you it was not pretty and definitely not worth the good pace. Actually it was quite awful. I’m trying not to be overly dramatic here, but when I say it was horrible, it really was. I pushed myself beyond limits I’ve never pushed before which was the only positive aspect of this run. I never knew I COULD push myself that far because by mile 6 my knees started hurting bad, and by mile 8 I wanted to cut someone. Deep. I tried to slow it down but going slow just didn’t feel right and all I could think about was if I kept up my speed I’d get the 11 over with sooner. The last two miles nearly killed me or so I thought it would anyway. I was angry and somewhat emotional. My entire body ached and all I could think about was getting done. Once I hit 11, I stopped and just stood on the treadmill. The world continued on around me, but my brain was stuck on PISSED. I don’t know what it was, but honestly I hated the experience and I was upset that I wasn’t feeling elated, proud, and full of pride, like I had hoped. My legs felt like noodles and I had zero energy, which was probably a good thing because I wanted to hurt someone at this point. I hobbled down to the locker room, nearly drowned myself in the sink, and tried to regain my composer again. Again, I gave the words hot mess a whole new meaning. I drank an entire huge G2 after, ate a Snickers and put myself into an ice bath. It only took my body a day to recover, but it took my mind days to get over that bad experience. I didn’t want to run anymore, wanted to pull out of the marathon, and didn’t even want to talk about running. I took SEVERAL days off not because my body needed it, but because my mind needed it. I don’t know what it was, but mentally I wasn’t in the right place. Or something.

*12 Miles*

I was still pretty bitter over my previous experience but managed a few “short” runs during the week (I never thought I’d ever consider a short mile run to be 6 miles!) and started geared myself up for my biggest and longest training run ever….12 miles! Again, I carb loaded starting the day before, loaded up on electrolytes by drinking my fill of G2 and made sure I had plenty of GU packets. I decided that no matter what the weather or humidity, I would do my 12 miles outside in preparation of the marathon. I checked out an audio book from the library and was very excited to see if listening to a book, rather than music for over 2 hours would help me get through the “boredom” of running 12 miles.

Saturday morning I started out early; I believe 5:45am, in hopes of beating the sun and heat. The weather was relatively mild, not too awful yet and I felt good and mentally ready! I started out, kept my pace S-L-O-W and started my audio book. Before I knew it I was at mile 3. I stopped for a quick 30 seconds water/mental break and started up again. At mile 5 I stopped for a GU and water break and felt really good at this point plus I was really enjoying the audio book. I continued to mile 8, stopped for another quick water/mental break and was greeted by my husband who had come out to check on me, give me an “I love you” note and told me how awesome I was doing. He had asked me how many miles I was at and when I said 8 he couldn’t believe it because he said I looked great, not out of breathe or anything. He mentioned that I didn’t even look like someone who had just run 8 miles!!! Hearing that from him made me feel good and gave me more energy to carry on. At mile 9 I stopped quick for another GU shot and took in a few swallows of water, then I was off again. I hit mile 11 and felt great knowing that I was embarking on my longest run EVER and felt so proud. I sipped a bunch of water and told myself that I only had 1 more mile left and that I WAS going to do it! My legs were really aching by now and I was mentally ready to be done, but knew that I was on my last few moments of this major milestone. My adrenaline carried me through the last half mile and I completed with that pride I desperately needed when I did that horrible 11 the week before. I finished and hobbled home, beaming with happiness. I drank up tons of G2, took some Advil, and got into an ice bath to soak. It felt heavenly!

Again, it only took a little over a day for my body to recover and I felt great! It’s so strange how even though it was only 1 mile more, the huge difference in the way the run felt compared to the 11 and how it left me feeling was a huge and monumental difference. I guess it just happens like that sometimes.

I did it. I have completed training! I actually made it through all those (10) weeks of blood, sweat, and tears. I pushed myself, I took my mind and body places it’s NEVER been before. I opened up a whole new world I never knew existed. It feels good and I am very proud of myself and of my body. I am very grateful that I have the body to move, and that I have the mind to make my body move!

More soon as Chicago is in just a few days! I’ll be writing about my game plan this week and all the excitement I’m feeling!

This is big. Very big!

My first skipped run, my best mile, and OH LOOK I have a webcam!

Please forget the fact that the angel of the web cam on my laptop was ALL. WRONG and makes me look like a giant! Oh well...I'll try for better next time! What do you think? Written entries or video diary entries? The video ones are easier, I admit! Feedback you shy ones!!!