October 2008 Archives

It was surprisingly fun.

As the race progressed, I kept thinking "I'm running a half marathon right now. I'm running a half marathon right now," but it never really sunk in -- or felt like I thought it should have (hard, miserable, 13 miles). Don't get me wrong, it certainly wasn't easy. The course looked something like:

Some of the hills were pretty rough, but thankfully I found a couple of my running buddies who helped keep my over exuberance in check (taking it easy up the big hills, walking through water stops, etc.).

I was hoping that the race photographers would nab some photos of me in action, but they seemed more interested in Steve.  I can't blame them though -- his costume was much better than mine.

So these are the photos I'm left with.  Let's start from the beginning . . .

First, I needed to choose which leg warmers to wear.


Tough choice, I know. But not nearly as difficult as ripping up a sweatshirt without completely ruining it.

It's a good thing I bought three sweatshirts.  My ripping skills were lacking.

After the costume prep, I had to get my hair nice and big.

How MySpace of me. I was going for big 80s-esque hair, and ended up with Medusa-esque hair. What can you do?

Two weeks ago, I finished the TC 10 Mile in 1:38.  This was 8 minutes shy of my goal time, but my hip flexors were just not cooperating (I blame moving to a third-floor apartment, no elevator, just days before the race).  Parts of the race were great fun -- special thank you to whoever was playing Footloose at mile 9.5. While the rain at the end was cold and miserable, it was a wonderful experience.

I run my first ever half marathon on Saturday. Yes, like three days from now. I am beyond nervous.  But the delightful thing is that the Monster Dash is a Halloween-themed race, so I'll be running as either Jennifer Beals (Flashdance style), or Jane Fonda circa 1987. It's the same costume, really.

My plan for the half? "My race, my pace" is my new mantra. I feel like I missed out a lot of the fun of the TC 10 Mile because I was too distracted by how off my goal pace I was. For my first half marathon, I'd like to actually enjoy the experience and not finish it feeling disappointed in myself. When I think about it, it's just so silly to be disappointed after running 10 sub-10-minute miles! One year ago, I was still 40-some pounds overweight, and had only been running for about three months.  I want to revel in the strides I've made since then, and this race is a celebration of that. Plus, there's going to be candy. And did I mention the costumes?!

Even with this quasi-enlightened philosophy about the Monster Dash, I'm still having the prerequisite anxiety dreams: I forget to pick up my race number, my legs stop functioning, I lose my chip, my granny teaches me how to make cannoli.

Er, strike that last one -- I think that had more to do with being hungry and less with pre-race jitters. The rest of the dreams, though, are regular occurrences for me as I enter race week. Fortunately race week brings plenty of awesome with it, too. Carbo-loading (in moderation, of course...), tapering, and being able to talk incessantly about how I'm running my first half marathon on Saturday and oh my gersh I'm so nervous and can you believe it's coming up so soon?!?

Wish me luck, and I will be back with pictures and a race report this weekend.

Race day looms. As many of you know, I've been training for the Twin Cities 10 Mile race.  And now, the day of reckoning is upon us. The TC10 is this Sunday, one part of a weekend full of running events culminating in the Twin Cities Marathon (also on Sunday, they start about an hour after the 10-milers). This Sunday. Four days from now. Holy -- when did that happen?

In many ways, I feel prepared and confident about the race. I've run the distance more than once, and I even ran the course last weekend (you go uphill and then uphill some more). I'm contentedly tapering right now, giving my body some much needed rest. I have my hydration and fueling strategy worked out. On the other hand, I'm feeling a bit scattered and unfocused. I'm in the middle of moving from Minneapolis to St. Paul, so needless to say I'm stretched a bit thin. 

I haven't slept much the past few nights. I felt great during our training runs, but that's no guarantee for how I'm going to be feeling on race day. Also, I'm not sure where any of my running gear is. I marked the box "priority," but then I lost the box. In the absolute best case scenario, the week before a race involves lots of sleep, relaxation, low stress, nutritious meals, easy runs and maybe a dash of cross-training. In the real life scenario, you have a crazy work week, there's a debate watch party that will keep you up late, your life is split into two trailers parked in garages around the city, lunches and dinners are a hurried afterthought, and "tapering" turns into a complete halt.

We'd all love the ideal scenario, but life intervenes and you have to adapt. For my part, I'm going to count moving into an apartment on the third floor (no elevator) as cross-training.  I'm also going to limit my Friday night activities to unpacking a couple of boxes and going to bed at 9:30. Oh, and carbo-loading!

What about you? How do you deal with day-to-day obstacles -- whether you're preparing for a race, or just trying to fit in your weekly workouts?