Well it is Monday. I sincerely did not want to get out of
bed this morning. It is such a beautiful
day outside that I truly just wanted to sleep a little longer snuggling my dogs
and then bask in the gloriousness that is warmth of the sun. Clearly I am at work anyway. BUMMER. But something has to pay the bills and race
entry fees.
Friday night I got home and we did go out to dinner and I
drank 2 margaritas at a Mexican food place. They were delicious. Then we went over to my aunt and uncles where
a lot of people were having an impromptu backyard get together. We ended up staying a few hours and just
hanging out with people. It was lovely.
But ultimately I was tired and not on my best pre-race mode.
I think I tend to take for granted running any distance
other than a half. Like if it’s less
distance than 13.1 miles than somehow that’s easy and I shouldn’t or rather don’t
need to mind any good healthy regiment before it. BUT reality is, making dumb choices is still
dumb choices. What I mean is, I was
tired and dehydrated and the margaritas were probably not the best pre-race
evening fuel. Well that coupled with crap food.
Saturday morning when I awoke at like 6:30 AM I didn’t feel all that
crazy about running any distance. FUCK.
This is what happens when you take things for granted.
But somehow I wasn’t thinking clearly and instead of
consuming any water that would have helped I opted for a rock star. This is how I roll you see. My brother in law and sister came by to pick
me up and off we went. I didn’t feel
that horrible necessarily before the race began. I wasn’t expecting any crazy good
performance. I am a tired and true
runner. Actually I am a consistent
runner. I kind of have one speed. Sincerely
I basically run at a set speed whether I’m running 3 miles or 13. My body doesn’t generally like to go faster
than around 6 miles per hour. Sure it
can spike for a minute at a faster speed or slow down at a hill. But generally it likes this pace. BUT I can
keep this pace for almost 13 miles most of the time. Or a little slower I
guess. Just because I am doing a shorter
distance does not equate a faster speed for me.
My body doesn’t work like that.
This was a smaller race by nature. It was a 15k relay race, so you could have 3
members on a team each run a 5k, or you could individually do a 5k, a 10k or a
15k. I opted for the 10k. I would and could run a 15k on my own, but
the truth is, it was a loop. They had
one 5k loop route and for the 10k you ran it twice and the 15k was run the same
course 3 times. I kind of hate this idea
of getting to the finish and turning around and running the whole thing again,
so I only opted for a 10k, because I figured I could do this once, but if you
expected me to turn around for a 3rd time I’d probably punch you in
the face. So 10k it was.
I actually started out for like 2 or 3 minutes at a faster
pace than I normally go, I was solidly at like a 9 minute mile and I was like
SWEET. And then I remembered that my
body doesn’t like to go from zero to 60 suddenly and my body was like, fuck you
Emily. And then we approached the first semi incline and I had to force my body
to keep moving. Actually this stupid 3.1
course had lots of dumb hills. Boy do I
prefer a solid flat course. I’m just
lazy like that. Too many hills for my
liking but as I ran the first loop I took mental note of where all the hills
were and the reality that I would be back shortly to run this same loop was not
lost on me.
Also, it was simply gorgeous outside which I adore, but what
that traditionally means for me is allergies.
When the season first changes the first couple weeks of my allergies
suck fiercely as my body tries to fight them off. I have not acclimated to them just yet. My nose started running and I was sneezing my
head off while running. Fun times. I had
forgotten how shitty it is to run thru the start of allergy season. I remember a particular race last year where
I felt horrible because of it.
Oh, and the dehydration.
Somewhere at some point I realized that I hadn’t drunk water in for too
many hours and my body could tell. BAD Emily.
When I finished the first loop and found my way back into the high
school stadium track where the stop/start was at the reality of literally turning
around and doing it all over again was not lost on me. And instantly I thanked myself for NOT
choosing to do the 15k. So I turned
myself around and with much less gusto started the loop yet again. I was tired.
I was dehydrated. I was sneezing.
I was trying to not blow snot all over everything and I was slowing down.
But I ran.
I kept a fairly consistent speed because despite everything
I am consistent and my body knows like 1 speed.
Even in the face of crazy breath stealing hills, I forged on. And at like mile 5 something I was super glad
to be almost done. I had not given the
10k distance the due respect it deserved and therefore badly abused the runners
preparedness handbook the previous night.
I didn’t get my high. I didn’t feel good. I just felt like I wanted to
quit. I just felt like shit mostly but I forged on.
I crossed the finish line pretty much dead on with what I
expected. 62 minutes and a few seconds.
According to my own Garmin the course was a little long and my average
speed was exactly 6 miles per hour, or rather 10 minute miles. I will take it. Actually this is pretty okay with me. When running most half’s I can’t actually
maintain a 10 minute mile pace. It creeps up into 10:20 and that is a fabulous
happiness kind of time for me. So the
reality that I was maintaining EXACTLY 10 minute mile pace for 6.2 miles is
kind of a good sign. Especially considering how shitty I actually felt and
never really finding any sort of groove.
The reality of the marathon was not lost on me on Saturday.
When I finished and felt like horrible shit, at a whopping distance of 6.2
miles the notion that I was supposed to run 20 more miles was not lost on
me. FUCK!!!! Some days are great, some
days are bad. This is the reality of life.
And silently I was humbled and slightly glad that you have a bad day
every now and then as a reminder to treat running with the respect it deserves.
Lesson learned, even if it’s “just” or “only” a 10k run,
doesn’t mean I should go out and drink and stay up late and eat crap food and
drink no water before. I’m insanely lucky
I finished at 62 minutes actually. For
what it’s worth out of the whopping 3 women aged 35-39 who ran the 10k distance
I was first. This really means
nothing. Out of the 38 participants all
male and female all ages who ran the 10k I was 19. So exactly dead center. Right on par with my
average.
But honestly I am not going to complain about this at all.
It was fine. I was glad it was over when
it was done. I didn’t want to run
anymore and that was entirely my own fault. But it was a great lesson to be
reminded of. Nonetheless, it is always
nice to go out and run an organized race and especially with family. The one saving grace is this, my family any
of them, all of them, are only doing any of this running stuff because of
me. This is not said to gloat to make
myself feel better. It’s the reality that I started this whole running trend
and I am thrilled for it. Not only is it
great for my family as a whole, but it’s great for me to have other people to
do races with. In a nutshell it’s nice to share your passion and inspire those
around you.
After that race I hit up REI and got a cute new pair of
shoes. Not that I needed more Asics, but they were a great deal and I did not
have this pair so that’s a win/win.
From there I pretty much just chilled the rest of the
afternoon. I ran to Target and did some shopping and then pretty much spent the
rest of the gorgeous day hanging out with my French doors open, letting the
outside come inside. It was lovely. My back patio has not seen enough action,
really ever, and it’s lovely to be able to enjoy the space some.
Sunday morning I woke up and again didn’t want to do
anything, BUT, instead I put on my workout clothes and met Amanda at her new
gym for a workout. I did a quick 1 mile
warm up run and then we barreled thru a chest/triceps workout. My chest hurts today. Amazing how in 45 minutes you can actually
fry out a body part if done properly. It
was done properly. Honestly it’s going
heavy. I burn out every time going
heavy. I can’t go heavy enough without a
spotter who can effectively spot me. That is Amanda. So we fried our chests and I felt okay with
that.
After working out Chris and I hit up Safeway for some
groceries and then I went to my sister’s house for a birthday party for my
nephew who turned 7. Time flies. Those kids are getting so old. I’d like to
say I did something more stellar than that yesterday but it was generally a
lazy kind of evening. Some days are just
like that. My allergies were kicking my
butt last night so mostly I just wanted to stay inside and sleep. I felt exhausted. I started taking my allergy meds yesterday
and took one this morning so I’m hoping in a day or so they will be full force
in effect in my system and that hopefully does the trick. We will see.
So today is a new week. I do not have a race at all this
weekend which makes me kind of sad. Of course the weather forecast also does
not look nice at all. I am toying with the
idea of a race but I’m not sure. There are not a lot of good ones this
weekend. It’s just that if I don’t race
this weekend, next weekend I am on vacation in Vegas and it scares me to take 2
weeks off in a row. BUT we will see.
I have kind of mentally decided that I am going to do the
best I can these next two weeks, go to Vegas and have a blast and drink it up,
and then when I get home from Vegas May 5, things are going to be ON. I am going to go full force into my healthy
lifestyle. It’s time to get a little
more serious about my food choices and making some positive changes. It’s time to lose 10 pounds for the sake of
running. Honestly I have been pretty
happy lately in the past month or so with the progress I’ve been seeing with my
muscle definition, etc. What this
ultimately tells me is I have all the skills and knowledge and drive I need to
accomplish things on my own. I am now
leaning towards NOT hiring another trainer.
I think I can do this on my own.
I actually think I’ve gained a lot of muscle and strength these past
couple months and that is all on my own, with my own workouts and my own ass
kicking. I think I might be at the point
in my life where I am just good enough all my own.
I think I have enough skill and knowledge to create my own
workout plan and training plan for my marathon coupled with a healthier meal
plan that will work for me. I do want to
slim down some for the sake of running. But this is all going to go down post
Vegas. I can do this. My eating really
has been atrocious lately. Like horrifically bad. I don’t even want to talk
about these past 3 days. It was off the charts horrible. It has to stop. Like REALLY stop. Eek. Anyway.
That’s a topic for another day.
I don’t know what tonight’s plan is. I am thinking I might just go for a run. I
don’t really know. I kind of feel like
at least a 3-6 mile run tonight might be in order. But for now I’m just going to enjoy the sun
and decide how I feel tonight.
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