Thursday, November 7, 2013

Coming clean...

I have a shameful confession....

My feet are soft. 

I know! How could this be?

I know exactly how it could be. In the last year I have logged no more than 10 miles per week, and that is pushing it, up until about a month ago. I decided I was sick and tired of not being able to run when I want, hindered by work schedules and mom responsibilities. I can't leave LB home alone at 6 AM, gotta get him ready for school and the bus. I can't leave him home alone at 8:30 at night....what if I get hit by a car or fall in a hole (that's totally realistic, it's happened before)? I just can't do that but those are the times that the urge strikes. My legs get antsy and I feel like doing something. So I decided to search Craigslist for a treadmill. Within seconds of pulling it up I found one, the first one on the list actually. I looked at it, it was nice, brand new, and the price was right. I called the number and within the hour I had a brand new treadmill sitting in my garage!

Since that day I have made it my routine to get on the treadmill at 9 o'clock PM nearly every single day. I don't run really though. I have a little bit but mostly I set the incline to no less than 4 but usually on 7, and walk at 3.9 mph for 60-90 min while watching any and everything I can on my iPad.

So here are my newest guilty TV pleasures found on Amazon, Netflix, and ABC.com (I don't have cable TV):

  • Grey's Anatomy
  • Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
  • Extreme Weight Loss (I wish I could marry Chris Powell.)
  • The Colony

So I just walk, on an incline, and sweat and watch shows. It is great!  Except my feet are soft. I have blisters on my second toes and the inside of my heels.....All my hard work and training over the years created nice, strong calluses that protected my feet...but now with so much time off and such little mileage they are gone. And my feet hurt.

Either way I'll keep going...and next weekend I'll put my incline walking to the test when I head out for the Raven Rock Rumble 5 Miler. I tried this one last year (the 10 mile option), one week after nearly dying with the flu. Needless to say I took a wrong turn, on purpose, that sent me through the finish line 7.5 miles early. I quit. So Raven Rock and I have history....I'm not gonna quit this year.  




Saturday, November 2, 2013

DC Army 10 Miler....

I did it.

I wasn't sure how it would turn out, or even if I would get out of bed come race morning. Sarah and I both were on the fence about the actual race....going to DC, a weekend out of town....no brainer, that was happening.  Getting up and running 10 miles? Questionable.

We packed only the essentials and headed to DC Friday after work.


We hung out Saturday, hit up the expo, and tried to make it to some hot yoga. Somehow we ended up at the wrong yoga studio...go figure. No hot yoga for us. Our train malfunctioned and we were stranded underground for a while, with a stench of burning oil and grossness. We made the best of it and Sarah kept looking at the positive side, we were on an underground tour of DC. Score!

We met up with the Crazies, our local running group, at the first Organic restaurant in the country, Nora's. The food was good, at lease mine was, but the service was awful. After two hours and a headache Sarah had to split our bill, between 8 of us, and figure in the taxes because the restaurant couldn't do it.  After dinner Sarah and I wandered the streets for a while, looking for something/someplace we could find some breakfast food. We found nothing....

We gave up and headed to our hotel. We discussed the game plan, prepared our race piles, and went to sleep with a 50/50 chance that we would actually get up and make it to the starting line.


I slept well without the pressure of a PR on my mind. I didn't even have concerns of a PW....I knew if I ran it would be a PW. I haven't run 10 miles since June. I haven't run more than 4 miles since June. I have been slacking. I knew it would not be pretty. In fact I knew it would be painful and ugly.

My alarm went off at 6:15. Sarah's did too. I woke and checked my phone to find a middle-of-the-night "Have a great run!" text which helped too. "People" were expecting me to run....We looked at each other and both said, "So? You wanna run?" We both nodded and rolled out of bed. Why not? We came all this way, went through so much trouble to register....I brought a cute running outfit...priorities people!  We headed out the door towards the race at 7:15 for the 8 AM race start. My wave was to go at 8:15 but I wanted to stay with Sarah and the 8:30 wave. We were in this together.

As we approached the start it was a cluster of humans! We all were herding together trying to fit through a tiny security check point. I appreciate the security but it was kind of a joke. When we finally got up to the check we just put our arms up and walked on through. The man who checked me pointed at my Spibelt and looked in the total opposite direction and wasn't even looking at the other 30 people who waddled by with their arms in the air. Security? Nope. They may have noticed if I tried to come through with a bazooka but short of that I have no idea what they were looking for. 

We made it to our corral and huddled together. It was cold! We finally heard our cannon to get us on our way. It was really crowded, Rock'n Roll crowded. Sarah and I ran along with a nice pace and just enjoyed the atmosphere. About a mile in my legs were feeling really good and I wanted to see how long they would last. My run/walk plan wasn't feeling so good, my legs wanted to go. So Sarah gave me her blessing and I slowly lost her in the crowd. 

I had no music. I wanted to just run and not bother with it. I'm so glad I did. The crowd was great! It really reminded me of my first marathon, OKC Memorial Marathon, where everyone there had been affected by the Oklahoma City bombing in one way or another. This was the Army 10 Miler, there were t-shirts memorializing loved ones, in honor of, KIA,  mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, friends.... so many people were running for something, someone. So many lives who have been affected by war. It was overwhelming. So many people. As I looked around me I wondered about every single person. What was their story? What are they running for? WHO are they running for? What is my story? Why was I here? 

My story began to play out in my head. Mine is one that is not unique to me. So many have experienced what I have. And so many have had more and different experiences. So many struggle with not only the visible wounds but also the invisible wounds of war. So many people! So many struggle day to day....and here I was, I almost didn't get out of bed to run this race. I almost rolled over and went back to sleep. I almost missed this opportunity....

Sarah and I both had similar thoughts and feelings about this race and we both were so happy we decided to get up and run. Being surrounded by so many people who seemed to have a commonality beyond a love for running was a really cool experience, one I am grateful for. 

This was certainly not a PR race, nor was it intended to be. I had zero expectations other than to finish. But once I was out there on the course old habits took over. My legs started moving and my mind started wandering. The miles rolled by and before I knew it I was at mile 9. This is where I was overwhelmed with so many emotions, so many I can't even begin to put them all down. I had a lump in my throat and my heart was exploding. My eyes were blurring and I wished my dad could have been there....

Me and Sarah after the race!
I picked up some new Zensah calf sleeves at the expo. They were awesome! I love my compression socks but they sometimes make my feet hot...problem solved with these compression sleeves!


Our finishers coin was really cool....but I do prefer medals...I can't hang a coin on my medal rack....

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