Boston

The Boston Marathon is iconic.  Even people who don't know how far a marathon is know that Boston is like the Superbowl of running.  ESPN didn't think it was a big enough deal to televise, but terrorists thought it was big enough to bomb. 

Words have been inadequate this week and still are.  But words were my window to at least understand what was happening.  I watched the whole thing unfold on Twitter...the bombing on Monday, the shootout at MIT, and the capture of the remaining suspect on Friday.  Most of my tweeps are runners, and several of them were actually running on Monday.  Thankfully, none were hurt.  Physically, that is.  We were all hurt by what happened.  And we pulled together as a community.  We prayed.  We donned our race shirts and laced up our shoes and went running.  And we said that we would not stop running because of this; if anything, many of us are more determined than ever now.  Someone said, "If you are trying to defeat the human spirit, marathoners are the wrong group to target."  So true.  After what happened this week, I am even more grateful that I will be running my first marathon with and for United States Marines. 27 weeks and counting....

20

Been looking forward to my first 20-miler since I ran 19 a month ago.  Imagined myself feeling strong and great about my accomplishment.  Let's just say it didn't live up to the expectation.  In a word, it sucked!  :)

Mile 1 - Fuel belt felt like it weighed a ton from the very beginning.  I carry three 10 oz. bottles, so it's never light, but I've run with it for so many months, it's virtually become a part of me on long runs.  Not today.

Mile 2 - That little quad/knee issue that I've been battling since September let me know it was still there.  Thankfully, it didn't bother me throughout the run.  But still scary on the front end of a long run.

Mile 3 - Legs just felt heavy.  Really?  That early?  Clearly, it wasn't the mileage.  Just not my day.

Mile 4 - Stopped for my first energy gel.  Had to take extra time to get a rock out of my shoe. 

Mile 5 - Abdominal cramps.  Not something I usually have to deal with.  Didn't stop me but definitely slowed me down. 

Mile 7 - Running uphill and against the wind sucks!

Mile 8 - I had been tune-free to this point, just trying to enjoy nature.  But nature was pretty uneventful this morning, so I popped my ear buds in, along with another energy gel.

Mile 10 - Stopped at a hospital to refill my bottles.  My luck, the bathroom downstairs was out of order.  Fortunately, I was still able to climb (and descend) the double flight of stairs!  Only later did it occur to me that I probably could have taken an elevator...but what's the point of that when you're trying to be fit?  (This represents a total change from the days when I took the elevator upstairs to walk around the track!)

Mile 12 - Slightly nauseated.  Ugh.

Mile 14 - Accepted that this was not my day.  Abandoned original strategy of approaching this as five 4-mile runs w/ GU breaks in between.  Decided to run .4 and walk .1. 

Mile 15 - Saw a beautiful Monarch butterfly...as I was listening to the song, "Wings."  A nice moment of synchronicity and a reminder that the Creator is always with me--even on runs that suck!

Mile 16.5 - Tried skipping because I'd heard it's sometimes easier due to using different muscles.  Didn't help.  My whole body was fatigued, so it didn't matter which muscles I used.  More nausea.  Double ugh.

Mile 18 - Hill that climbs almost 150 feet.  Yeah, I walked that. ;)

Mile 19.5 - Just a half mile from home, but I was completely out of water.  Figured my time was already going to be terrible, so I stopped inside a hotel to get a drink and enough water to make it home.

Mile 20 - Finished!  Not quite the feeling of triumph I'd hoped for, but I didn't quit.  I had resisted temptation to sit down in the cushy lounge chairs at the hospital and the temptation to call a cab somewhere along those last 4 miles.  (Running with a credit card is a double-edged sword!)

Perhaps the scariest thing about this run was the little question that started tickling the back of my mind: Why are you doing this???  I guess it's natural to have doubts when things don't go well, and I had been fortunate that my last bad long run like this was a 13.1 back in August, so I had forgotten the feeling.  But I know why I am doing this.  I have my heart set on the Marine Corps Marathon.  One of the reasons I love those guys is that they don't quit, even when things get tough.  So neither will I.

And rather than dread the 21-miler I have planned for next month, I'm going to look at it as a do-over for this terrible 20.  Reflecting on it, I think there are several things I can do differently to make the next one better:

- Skip the gym the night before.  This may sound like a no-brainer, but I love going to the gym on Saturday nights and have been in the habit of cross-training even the night before a long run.  It was fine when I did this before, but it caught up with me today, perhaps because I did too much and spent too long in the sauna/steam room.  Duh.  I had my reasons for doing what I did, but now I see how it cost me--not only in terms of energy expenditure but also by keeping me up past my bedtime.  Easy fix.

- More time between breakfast and starting run.  Staying up late meant that I ate and ran because I was trying to beat the heat (which I ended up not doing because I bombed and took forever to finish).  Hopefully waking up earlier and eating before other pre-run activities will solve the cramping issue, if indeed failure to do so was the cause. 

- No butter for breakfast.  First time having biscuits for breakfast before a long-run.  Wonder if that contributed to nausea.

- Drink ZipFizz.  It's loaded with B Vitamins and gives me energy.  I usually down one before a long run, but this morning I forgot.  Ooops!

- Wear compression shorts/tights.   I had done so for my last several long runs.  Today the weather was warmer, so I opted to run in shorts with compression sleeves and save the tights for recovery.  My quads and hams were less than thrilled with the decision.  (Good to know my high-dollar investment in compression gear DOES make a difference!)  Oh, and given the awesome tan lines on my knees from today, I'm tempted to say, if it's cool enough to wear calf sleeves, you might as well wear tights.  Of course, this means now I need to buy another pair....

- Shorter intervals.  When I did 18 miles, I ran 1, walked .1, and so on.  For Cowtown, my strategy was to walk the aid stations, which were 1.5 miles apart.  When I did 19, I decided to run 1.8/walk .1--more closely approximating the 2-mile spacing of aid stations at MCM (and helping me overcome my prime number aversion associated with doing 19!).  Because of fewer walk breaks, I ran 19 in less time than 18.  And I felt so fresh after that I thought today I'd try walking only every 4 miles, which obviously didn't work out so well.  Maybe today was just a bad day.  Or maybe I'm not there yet. 

So despite the run not going at all like I hoped, I did finish, and I learned lots of things that will help me moving forward.  That's why they're called training runs, and I'm really happy to have my first 20-miler under my belt 6+ months before marathon day!

0 - 19

A brief history of my life as a runner:

Childhood: Asthma.  Lots of trips to the hospital.  0 miles.

High school: Laziness. "I'm an academic, not an athlete."  0 miles.

College: Surgery on both feet.  100+ lbs. overweight.  0 miles.

Grad school: A few miles...before quickly getting injured.  Twice.

2003: Thanks to the right shoes (and socks!) and the encouragement of a Chicago marathoner, I finally began to run. 

2005: Though not part of an official race, I did my first 10K.

2007: Alternating 3 songs running, 1 song walking, I ran my first half marathon around my neighborhood. 

2008: Broke a toe.  Back to 0 miles.

2009: Surgery on the other foot.  Back to 0 miles.

2010 - 2012: Worked back up to 6-7 miles.  Car accident.  Back to 0 miles.  Again.

 

A year ago, I was finally able to resume running.  I am lucky to have a buddy who is an ultramarathoner, having completed 42- and 50-milers.  Hearing him talk about his own running and those who inspired him, 26.2 no longer seemed impossible.  For years, I had flirted with the idea of a marathon but never committed to the idea.  Yet the more stories I heard and the more miles I ran, the less running a marathon became "someday maybe" and the more it became something I have to do. 

In early May 2012, I wasn't sure I'd be able to finish 3 miles with my friend.  By Memorial Day, I was back up to 10K...though with the 95-degree heat and still being out of shape, it took me forever to finish.  I didn't worry about the time, reasoning that if I could go the distance, speed would come.  I was up to 10 miles by June, 12 by July, and did my first 13.1 training run in August. 

I did my first race, a 5K at the Ballpark in Arlington, on Labor Day weekend and my second, the Tour des Fleurs 10K a few weeks later.  I will never forget that race, not so much because of my performance but because my family was there.  I told Mom I was running a race at the Dallas Arboretum because I figured she would want to come watch and see the flowers.  To my surprise, she signed up!  Then my dad and my brother followed suit.  Everybody went their own pace, but we all finished, and it was a remarkable way to celebrate my birthday!

Sometime during that summer, I realized that if I just added a mile/month to my longest training run, I would be at 26.2 by October 2013--in time for the Marine Corps Marathon.  I did 14 in September but missed October and November due to a quad/knee issue that was treated w/ Airrosti.  I had to sacrifice speed work to get better, but by Veterans Day, I was able to run the American Heroes 10K, which took place about a mile or so from my childhood home.  Due to a poorly marked course, it turned out to be an "ultra 10K" (7.17 miles!), and I was glad I had gone in with the goal of running pain-free as a higher priority than setting a PR. 

In December, I set out to pick up where I left off and do a 15-mile run, but I literally went the extra mile and finished 16, putting me right back on track with my training schedule.  I was back.

In January, I ran 17 miles--even though it was 32 degrees (19F windchill!).  I think the mental toughness and belief in myself I developed that day were far more important than physical endurance from the run itself.

I did 18 in February, book-ended by two 13.1 training runs the week before and after.  Something remarkable happened.  The week after running 18, I shaved 20 minutes off my 13.1 time from the personal best I had turned in just 2 weeks earlier.  20 minutes off a half marathon in 2 weeks?  Who does that?  Me, that's who.  :)  I ran negative splits on all three of those long runs and felt like I still had gas in the tank at the end of them.

That set me up for the Cowtown Half Marathon, my first time running 13.1 in a race.  Trying not to be as conservative as I had in training, I came out too fast and tired over the second half--an important learning experience.  But I still set a PR--and finished ahead of my old running buddy.  :) 

Last month, I ran 19 miles for the first time in my life.  And thanks to fewer walk breaks, actually did so in less time than it had taken me to run 18.  There are 2 things I will remember about that run: 25 mph winds (which due to a laundry miscalculation, short sleeves, and a temp of 51F left quite a lasting impression!) and seeing the Fort Worth skyline in the distance when I reached my turnaround point.  Awesome. 

It has been quite a journey so far, and it's been amazing to see the transformation, of my mind as well as my body, as I keep growing as a runner.  Thanks to Team USO, I have a spot in the 2013 Marine Corps Marathon and continue my training for October. 

Tomorrow, I tackle 20...