Tri-ing: 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!