The Longest Run...

This Sunday I'm going to attempt to finish a marathon. I have run three half marathons (each one progressively slower), I have a few triathlons under my belt (haven't drowned yet), I sort of followed my training plan (16 weeks is a long time), I have run 20 miles in one day (it hurt), but nothing... nothing, seems to compare to this next challenge looming on my not too distant horizon.

If the 20 mile training run is anything to judge by, I will be in large amounts of pain by the 16 mile mark, by 20 I'll be struggling to keep moving forward and for the next 6.2 miles I'll wonder why I ever willingly signed myself up for something that tests every ounce of my mental and physical strength.

I think the answer is this... From time to time I think a little struggle in life is necessary. We need to know we're capable of overcoming challenging situations. As we explore our physical and mental limits we may yet find a small piece of the never ending puzzle of who we are. These last 16 weeks or so have been challenging to say the least. I have given up and then rallied, turned an ankle, limped, fought back tears of failure then found pride in a good run. I have held on to moments of runners high, walked too many times to count, gave up my weekends, slept all afternoon to recover, iced and rolled out, forgot why I ever liked running, and then remembered. No matter how much it sucks sometimes, the good will always outweigh the bad. That's why we keep running. I am a healthier happier person because I do this. I'm in the best shape of my life. I can run for 5 consecutive hours. I no longer say to myself, "just another 5 minutes," I say "only one more hour." Even if I'm not fast, even if I finish last, even if I have to walk a hundred times... I'm capable of so much more than I ever thought possible, and the will to keep going is what got me here. At the end of the day it's worth the struggle to fight through pain and boredom, sickness and every type of emotion, to come out the other end knowing you're capable of meeting a challenge head on and defeating it. You run... run some more... and keep running til you cross the finish line... and the next one.... and the one after that. You pick how many races to run and plan how you'll get to the finish, but what you discover about yourself along the way is what will keep you coming back for more.

In running "slow and steady" doesn't usually win you any races, and definitely doesn't look particularly impressive in the race results, but it does get you across the finish line, and in this day and age the Tortoise and the Hare both get medals.

I'll be embracing my inner tortoise this weekend :)
Here's to a great race weekend!


listening to: Man on Fire/ Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros

Run Down

Time to catch up. As in get faster, run longer, and just in general, improve. Not to mention once again own up to my training, make some new goals and chronicle our adventures in leisurely athletics. So with that in mind...

Ever since the mental/physical breakdown that was the Lake Effect Half Marathon, I've been trying to fight my way out of the downward spiral of defeat. Everyone has off days, sometimes training doesn't go as smoothly as expected, and then things happen like falling down a flight of stairs 2 hours before a race. It's hard not to get discouraged when things don't go as expected. Training has been made more difficult this year as winter refused to relinquish it's icy cold grasp on the world until Spring battled it's way in with some wicked humidity. I feel like I traded a demon for the devil. My plan was to maintain what little stamina I had worked up to through spring, eyeing the Mountain Goat as the first big race of the season. I handled the Shamrock Run 4 miler well enough, but sooner than expected I had had enough of the cold weather runs, and layer upon layer of clothes that are an unfortunate necessity of winter running. Soon my desire to avoid frozen extremities had me skipping runs. Lo and behold I was back at the 5k distance, the Mountain Goat left to be tackled by stronger runners than I.

On the upside as winter slowly slackened it's grip, Boomer and I found it near perfect weather to run the Six Legged 5k. With the two legged Dan at our side, Boomer pulled me through my fastest mile time since middle school, 8:10 (I usually run a 10:00, or on a good day 9:00 at best). We slowed down a bit after, but I was still happy with our performance. Even more recently, Dan's mom's goal to run her first ever 5K was accomplished as a big group of us ran together in the Komen Race for the Cure this past weekend. She faithfully kept up with her training plan and ran the entire distance with a smile on her face. When I think back on my first 5k I seem to remember a few walking breaks...

It's a curious thing but as runners I think we often loose perspective on all that we have accomplished. It's easy to get caught up in the idea of going faster, or longer, to compare ourselves to "real runners." During the unending quest for our next PR we seem to forget that everyday we drag ourselves to the gym, run in a snowstorm, or stand at that starting line to run another race, we're working towards achieving something that started out as a fitness goal and has turned in to much more than what we could have hoped for. Taking the opportunity to better ourselves each and every day and attempting what we may have once thought impossible is a pretty impressive accomplishment in my book. Many of us have found along the way that we're capable of much more than we once thought, and the act of surprising yourself can be just as alluring... so in the spirit of attempting the impossible, and chasing down another ambition...

Bring on the Marathon!

                 

                                     


Listening to: Red Hands / Walk Off the Earth

Cool Runnings

Roughly 10 weeks ago I was talked into signing up for another half marathon. In February. In central New York. I missed the registration but quickly got onto a waiting list, a few weeks later I was in... if a little behind on my training...

Then I got a cold and then I got another cold. By the time I should have been logging in the long distance runs I was suffering through 3 and 4 milers. Long story short, I did what I could but only managed a 7 miler as my longest run and had to hope adrenaline could pull me through the rest of the way.

It didn't quite work as well as I'd hoped, but I have a medal to show for my efforts none the less. Here's the rundown:

I should preface this by saying, earlier this week I slipped on an icy patch and needed to comically flail out my arms to right myself... and wrenched my back. Luckily it was only a dull ache for a few days and I didn't take much notice. This morning I slipped into a new pair of socks, grabbed a hamper full of clothes and a full glass of water and took to the stairs... and then I went down. Hard. After giving myself a terrible charlie horse and probably wrenching my back a second time I had to mop up the stairs, collect my strewn laundry and then head off to the race. Not the best start to the day.

The temperature of race morning steadily went down leading up to the race. At the beginning of the week we were looking at almost 40 degrees, lining up at the start it felt like 25, sometime around mile 5 the temperature seemed to take a dip or possibly the wind just kicked up... either way it was cold! Dan and I ran together til we hit the two mile mark and then I stopped to tie my shoe and he went ahead. I felt pretty good for the first 5 miles... which makes total sense because I was perfectly trained up for a 5 mile run, unfortunately I still had about 8 and a half to go. At mile 7 I was already thinking I just had to get to 8. I stopped just short of 8 to walk for a few seconds and stretch out my back and protesting right hamstring. It was sort of the beginning of the end for me at that point. From that point on I stopped to walk or stretch about 30 times. I somehow made it to mile ten, downed a green apple gel, which was a good choice on my part, and told myself- 3 miles to go, just 30 more minutes. I struggled a lot during those 3 miles though. My back felt like someone took a bat to it and my right hamstring and arch of my foot were seriously messing with my mind. Around mile 11 I found myself running close by another girl, as I walked/ ran we passed each other over and over. Soon she was coaching me to keep running and by the last half mile she was the only thing that pushed me to run across the finish line. I was in so much pain I couldn't get my head around running until I heard her over my shoulder routing for me to run. I finally crossed the finish line at 2:24: something and thanked my lucky stars I was done. Dan finished his first half marathon at 2:13:something. Not bad for training through any sensible person's off season :)  

 After downing some chicken noodle soup, we went to lunch and after sitting for 10 minutes I could hardly put weight on my right foot. Happily, after two ibuprofen I once again have use of my right leg and am hopeful that my back will stop hurting before it's time to run the Tipp Hill Shamrock Run!

For now though I'm going to call it a night... and get some well earned sleep!

These are the awesome signs Laura made us!

We had a great cheering section who enthusiastically encouraged us on our way, I was even complimented on my cheering secion as I ran by :) 

These are the semi happy faces of mile 7

Dan finishing up, running through the pain

 Almost done at this point, and my impromptu "coach" behind me

Thank You Cheering Section! You rock for staying out in the cold that long!!!