20 miles come and gone

I spent the week in Minneapolis with my sister who is recovering from her SECOND surgery in TWO weeks. I've got to say, she is a trooper, and totally motivating for me, especially when pain in the last miles of a 20-miler starts to kick in. We were told by our coaches that we could take it a bit easy in the days before this big run. That was a really good thing, considering Minnesota was covered in new snow and ice. I walked the dogs, actually they kind of pulled me along on the ice, and only ran (if you call dodging ice running) one time. I got a little scared while out there, envisioning me in a cast watching someone else running MY marathon, so decided that I wasn't going to risk it.

The day before the run, I basically slept, ate, slept some more, partially due to the fact that schools were closed and I really needed to recover from the trip. The day of our first 20-miler was really perfect. 34 degrees, no wind, and some sun. Our group was smaller, more about that later, but we all seemed ready to take on the challenge. I'd like to say that the first 10 miles flew by, but they didn't. Our coaches slowed us down even more this week, and I have to say...
I think I could have crawled faster. Not sure I agree with this particular training technique.

Anyway, I felt like I was tripping over my own feet, and I was definitely stepping on the feet of others. It is really hard to shorten your stride enough to slow down that much. I was a mess. Then, around mile 10, my right calf muscle started to cramp. Not like a debilitating cramp where you MUST stop and work it out or be writhing on the ground in pain. It was more of a sore cramp that wouldn't work itself out. Strangely, it was kind of like the pain that comes AFTER a severe muscle cramp. I couldn't stop it, but could run through it. That's when I decided the marathon is completely a mental game. I kept thinking of the pain my sister lives with on a daily basis, and that I could go 5 more miles with a cramp.

By mile 15, several of us were just fed up with the pace and took off. Lengthening my stride seemed to make the cramping more bearable and we kept up the faster pace throughout the last miles. I'm all about doing the long runs more slowly, but when you can't maintain your stride and it feels absolutely uncomfortable, I think that's going to the extreme. The positive part of the training run is that my before and during the run eating/hydrating plan seems to be working! Also, I know that if I start out more slowly (within reason that is), I'll be comfortable enough to pick up the pace at the end.

Another new experience - the ice bath. When I got out of the car to walk to my apartment, I can't say that I was really walking. More of a shuffle/drag. I'm not sure what people were thinking of me at the time. My calf muscle was screaming, and I discovered I also had a huge knot in my lower back. Although difficult to maneuver, I did manage the ice bath, a shower and getting dressed (quite comical actually). My loving husband greeted me with a congratulatory hug and the best homeade club sandwich EVER. Turkey bacon and all.

On a sad note, two people in my group have had to withdraw from the program due to injuries. By now, we've become a group, and each person and his/her individual contributions will be missed.

As for the fundraising update...we are $100 from the required goal!!! Yay for many reasons including your support of me and the Whitman Walker Clinic, the money that will go to treat people living with HIV/AIDS, and least, but still important, my credit card that won't be charged :). You've all done such an awesome job, and I'm trying very hard to stay healthy, injury free, and motivated to finish 26.2 miles on January 29th!!!!!

Taking a break...

This weekend was another 9 mile recovery run that felt GREAT. No pain at all, and I was back to my regular self. I know that the pain from the 17-miler was largely caused by the horrible cold, so I'm feeling more confident since yesterday went well.

This week, I'll be taking a short break from blogging. I'll be staying with my sister for a few days while she recovers from surgery. Maintenance runs in Minnesota - and I thought the DC runs have been cold!

We've reached $2200 in our fundraising goals! This is the last "official" week to donate, so if any of you would still like to contribute, this is the week to do so...

Again, thanks to all of you for your donations, attendance at fundraising activities, volunteerism, and positive thoughts. It would be much more difficult to do this without you, but much more meaningful to do this with you!!!

And there was pain...

I had some doubts as to whether or not the 17 miler was going to happen. Exactly 8 days before the scheduled run, I came down with some crazy sinus/respiratory thing that would not let up. Stupidly, 3 days after I came down with it, I thought I was improving, so went out for a SHORT, EASY, 2-3 MILES just to "work out the kinks." Of course, it happened to be a beautiful, abnormally warm (70 degree) day, and 2 miles turned into 5. 5miles turned into a hacking cough, huge sinus headache, and inability to sleep due to cold medicine and plugged nose. As chaos theory would predict, this coincided with a crazier than usual work week. As some of you know, my work week is crammed into M-TH with Fridays off. I slept until NOON on Friday, then parked myself on the couch the rest of it.

Soooo, Saturday arrived, and we had to be at the run site by 7:45 am. Our coach gave me the "you are not running today after being sick all week." I did the "but, I'm feeling much better" whine. Another group member wasn't able to complete all 17 miles due to her knees, so we compromised, me saying that I would do only 15 with her. Not really sure how that would have been any better than 17, but I just wanted to get out there! So, they loaded us up in a van to drop us off a couple miles out where we would meet up with the group. Well, my friend had a "nature call?" so we ran around the DC mall looking for a bush, tree or open museum where we could sneak in and use the bathroom. After all that, we ran back to find our group, meeting them before our designated spot. All in all, we ran as much as anybody else, and now can publish a book titled "Where to find a toilet at 8:00 am in DC."

On to the painful part. In case you are even slower at understanding this than me, I will inform you that 17 miles is a looooooooooong way to run, and it was a cold (OK- North Dakotans and Minnesotans have permission to laugh here) 30 degrees with cloudy skies and wind. Once we ran through the city and got to the trail, it was more sheltered and pleasant. But, the trail is long, long, long, and I didn't think we were ever going to turn around. By the halfway point, my body was hurting. I realized that this was partially due to being sick all week, so I tried to keep quiet about it. The last three miles, however, everyone was hurting. I am not kidding - there was pain everywhere. Head, back, hips, quads, knees, calves, feet, toes. Then, all of a sudden, I felt a twinge that reminded me of the onset of cramps I experienced during the half marathon. I started guzzling the rest of my Gatorade mix in hopes that it would prevent the worst from happening. It seemed to work, or maybe it was the "almost done" mantra that kept going through my head. Either way, the entire group finished!!!! A big thank you to my group, because there is no way I would have finished without you.

Despite the painful ending, I actually recovered quite quickly. I tried a mango "recovery" drink from Cliff Shot, took some advil and tried to walk as much as possible. Today, I was able to enjoy a 3 mile run in DC's first snowfall of the year. Big, messy snowflakes that made everything look awesome. My Achilles tendon is still a bit sore, so I'm happy this next weekend will be a short 8 mile recovery run.

Thank you once again to everyone who has donated money, volunteer time, and cheer. My thank you's are a couple weeks behind, but will be in the mail this week... Only $500 to go!!!! Take care everyone and see you North Dakota folks in a few weeks.