Run, run, run

This Monday actually sucks extra hard because I had such a great and eventful weekend and I certainly did not want any of it to end. And alas, I woke up this morning not wanting to get up and return to real world where I was reminded of how much I didn’t do domestically over the weekend.  The kitchen is a total and utter mess, I did not grocery shop and subsequently realized this morning I don’t really have anything I need in terms of food. The laundry is atrocious. Meaning, there is far too much to do and clean clothes to put away. I just tend to ignore it all mostly and live for the moments. It happens.

I think I feel slightly eh because I don’t have any races or fun things planned for this weekend and that makes me sad. I know they can’t all be exciting but it makes the start of a Monday seem bleak when you have nothing exciting going on.  But I guess this is part of life also.  I really should not be allowed to complain. I am fully aware of this fact.

So let’s back it all the way up to Friday night. I felt really good all day Friday. Like crazy happy good. I got my pedicure and my feet look great. I like looking down at my toes now in open toed shoes and don’t feel disgusted so clearly that was a needed pedicure.  When I got home, I had some new Victoria Secret swimsuit pieces in the mail so I had to try one of them on and what resulted was a few awesome photos that really showed off some of the muscles that are popping. Now I’d like to say in all fairness I have not been lifting as crazy heavy lately as I have in the past so I don’t suddenly think these muscles are growing.  What I think is happening is that I am starting to lean out or drop a little weight and therefore my already hard earned muscles are starting to pop more.  This makes a lot more sense as to why suddenly I am feeling extra muscular.

This photo makes me look ripped and feel proud. Even though I promise you in real life I don’t walk around looking like that.  When the flexing isn’t happening I’m not quite as ripped.  But nonetheless I was feeling good.  I was actually kind of scared for the Rugged Maniac in part because I haven’t been lifting as heavy as I have in the past and was scared that the obstacles would be too much for me.  The website previewed the 25 obstacles and some of them looked intense and hard. But as per typical pictures are a lot harder than some things turn out being in actuality.

We went to packet pick up for the half marathon first before the Rugged Maniac and it turns out our start time was 12:30 PM, so ample time to get ready, take in the scenery, etc.  Met up with my cousin and her husband.  So I ran the course with Chris and my brother in law Matt and my cousin Chelsea’s husband Tim.   So yes, I was the only girl as both my sister and cousin were there but watched from the sidelines.  Actually Chelsea took photos that hopefully will get posted soon so I can show you all the muddy fun.  I was scared but I probably shouldn’t have been. It was so much fun. This was a freaking true Mud event.  We had to run about a mile or so first and then the obstacles started. Nothing was all that intense actually just kind of fun little dirty challenges. We did jump over fire, so yeah, I’m a fire jumper now. Ha Ha.  Mostly there was mud and more mud. Lots of giant mud pits that you had to traverse.  Army crawl under barbed wired mud pits.  It was head to toe mud soaking mostly.  Some of the pictures are going to be epic of the insane mud coverage.  Seriously you just had to go for it and let yourself get drenched in mud. But hey, it was fun as hell.

The last obstacle was a warped wall, as in the American Ninja Warrior kind of warped wall. I am certain it was not as tall as the actual Ninja warped wall but it was still fun.  I was able to get to get myself to the top and then had people grab my hands to help me, but it still counts.  These events are massively fun, if not scary at times.  Some of the obstacles were legit.  I really enjoyed it honestly. It helps hanging out will cool guys I love and most importantly trust! They would never leave me behind!

Post-race they had water showers to clean off the mud but it doesn’t do like 100% you know.  But anyway, I took post-race selfies of course but I don’t look nearly muddy enough at all.  I am thinking my cousin will probably get me some of the pictures in the next couple days.

After the mud run my brother in law went with us since he was running the half yesterday and my sister with my cousins to some wine event.  We were starving so we went to the Old Spaghetti Factory and had a big old plate of spaghetti. Delicious. We went home, took the dogs for a walk. Watched some TV and then Chris fell asleep. He requires a lot of sleep post exercise. Me not so much.  I showered of course because there was mud like everywhere in every single little nook and cranny. Anyway, then I got bored and started taking pictures. It’s what I do.  So I took these photos for fun.

I felt really good. Helps that they have a total art flavor to them.  We went to bed because we had to get up about 6:30 AM to leave the house at 7 AM for the half marathon.  I felt fine and like I was ready to run, but nothing super fancy.  But then I remembered why I liked this particular event so much, it just feels important. They do a great job of making it feel like a very special event. It feels amazing honestly. Epic in size and scale and I just love it.  It was my brother in law’s first half marathon.  The plan was this for him, he was going to stick with me running for as long as he could.  I don’t run super-fast but somewhere in the 10 minute mile mark for at least the start or a little faster. Then of course I slow down at the end.  He wanted to hang with me as long as he could. Chris was up and off and going earlier than that.  So anyway, we lined up at the start line together and off we went.

I started running and about a quarter of a mile in I felt pretty good.  I looked down at my Garmin and it looked like I was running about a 9:30 pace for that second in time.  I looked down again about 3 tenths of a mile in and then suddenly my Garmin went insane on me.  It stopped and gave me an error message.  I kept running of course but was like Fuck.  And then I started pressing all the buttons of course and then it did restart or reset and then it just froze.  No matter what button I pushed it was frozen.  Not much I can do while I am literally running. I shook my head, pulled my earphones out and looked over at my BIL and was like, no Garmin for me. Crap.  He had a Garmin so along we ran next to each for miles. He’d give me the fingers as we crossed each mile marker. And of course I saw the course marked miles. 

About mile 3 or so I asked him what pace we were running at and he said 9:40. I could live with that. I felt great and I knew that this could potentially could be a good one but felt naked without my Garmin. No way to gauge where I was at.  I tried to let my body and my extensive experience at running be my guide. I could kind of feel when miles were passing and of course my approximate speed. In ways it was nice to not be a slave to the Garmin. In other ways I felt so ridiculously alone.

So we hit Mile 6, still at a 9:40 pace. Yeah.  And then there was a hilly section up ahead. I still felt great so I started up it. And it was somewhere in these hills when I kept looking back and noticing my BIL get farther and farther behind me.  I felt good so I just kept going.  He wasn’t crazy behind me, but enough that I didn’t want to alter my pace.  But now I was really running blind.  Yes, sure I’d get the course marked miles but I had no reference of my speed or time. So I just ran the best I could.  Ultimately I knew that I would probably slow without seeing my time and having any motivation to go a little harder. 

I felt really amazing up all the way until Mile 10 or so.  And then my body started to slow.  I knew I was slowing down and taking longer than I should.  Again, no bearings of my time.  But I forged on.  At mile 12 there was another incredibly stupid hill section and I mentally thought what the fuck guys, why are you so evil that you put a giant hill section at mile 12? Really?  So my time once again slipped into the abbys. Without a watch to really tell me I couldn’t push the way I should have/could have.  But I did my best. 

Literally as we approved the finish shute I noticed the 2:15 pacer girl come running by me.  Is it possible I was in the 2:15 range? I guess it was possible so I tried to push on with her.  I crossed a few seconds behind her but didn’t really know what my time was.  I was happy to finish and happy with my performance nonetheless, knowing that had I had a watch perhaps I could have pushed thru a little harder in the end miles but it is what it is.

I waited for my brother in law to finish, knowing he wasn’t crazy behind me. About 8-10 minutes or so later he crossed.  Eventually I made my way to the official recorded results and it turns out I was 2:15:15 officially.  I was thrilled.  Considering both Chris and my BIL had distances of 13.3 miles I will take it.  That’s a good time for me overall.  I was happy.  Secretly I wondered had I had my watch on could I have pushed myself a little more? Possibly.  But I will never know.

This time was good enough to be 48 out of 149 participants in my age group, Female 35-39 which consequently was the largest age group of them all. Dang them late 30 year old female runners.  And good enough for 596 out of 1487 total participants and 255 out of 915 of all the females.  Not too bad.  I’m very happy with those numbers.

Post event was epic as I remembered.  Seriously great post event.  And the medal, well the medal is crazy good.  Classic medal and lots of details.  Another reason I love this event so much. The course was beautiful, well supported, and the post event is just epic. Still hands down one of my favorite events of the year.  I did not sign up for next year yet, despite crazy low pricing because I am undecided if next June I want to run the half or the full. This is the full marathon that I would consider doing locally and it’s a possibility still to do this one.  But I kind of want to wait and see how Maui goes of course.

When I got home I managed to google and then reset my watch and it appears that it is working correctly at this point so that makes me happy. I’m a little nervous because I really don’t want it to crap out on me on another half, but it is what it is.  I didn’t let that stop me from running.  Apparently intuitively I am about a 2:15 runner these days and I will take it. Actually this is good for me.  

I have to admit I’m a little sad I won’t be running a half with weekend. I kind of have gotten used to them and slightly addicted again honestly.  I just love the thrill of victory and crossing that finish line. I have to admit that seeing all the people finish their full marathon yesterday was pretty cool and made me utterly jealous.  And excited to complete my own marathon. I guess that’s a good feeling that it made me excited and hopeful more than scared.  I think this means I am ready for the task.

I do feel a really good runner’s high excitement today post run.  Also a very good thing.  Last night I was terribly munchy of course.  I will say that, running a half makes me crazy hungry and I haven’t really figured out a way to not eat everything and anything post run. It’s a problem.  I literally finished my night off last night with McDonald’s fries and chicken nuggets because suddenly fries sounded like the most amazing thing in the world to me.  Oh well.  Let’s just go ahead and eat twice as many calories as we burn.  Sounds like a great idea.

Nonetheless today I feel good. Not sore. Ready to go again. Also another good sign.  In fact tonight I am doing a personal training session with Amanda and we are doing legs. Good times right? Yeah, I am not going to be able to walk but at least the training session is only half an hour.  I am supposed to run 3 miles but I might bump that run out a day to tomorrow.  Not totally sure yet.  My Maui ticker to the right is showing 89 days until my Marathon. That seems CLOSE. Anyway, hope everyone’s weekends were solid and fun. 

And finally just a few random shots...