Just one of those days....

Do you ever have one of those days? You don't feel like working out but you know you have to. Yesterday my marathon training plan called for a short 2 miles. Normally, I would look at 2 miles on the schedule and run 4 to make it worth my while. Not yesterday. It snowed a lot and I didn't feel like going out to the gym, so I decided I was just going to run on my old treadmill. It was only 2 miles, how bad could it be?

After dinner I made a comment that I was debating whether I was going to go downstairs and run or go up to bed and watch Biggest Loser. I then said that I knew if I went upstairs I would just blow off running for the night so I could not choose that option. A couple minutes later Haley told me to "just blow it off Mom." Great, even she knew it was going to be one of those days.

Finally I made it to the basement for the worst 2 miles I could imagine. Right away my knee was hurting, then I felt like I couldn't get enough air, I was sweating like a pig before .25, and I just could not focus on running. It was painful and hard and it was ONLY 2 miles. What the heck had gotten into me? I worried the entire time that if this 2 miles was so horrible, how was I going to do 18 this weekend. When the treadmil said 2 miles. I turned it immediately off and said goodnight to the horrible, terrible, no good, very bad workout. I did follow-up the run with shoveling, which felt surprisingly good.

I am going to chalk it up to one of those days...and hope and pray that the next workout will be much much better.

Maui 1/2 Marathon = Personal BEST!

It has now been 1 week and a day since I finished the Maui Oceanfront 1/2 Marathon. For the past week, I was just too busy relaxing and enjoying the beautiful Maui weather and terrain to update my blog.


This was right before the race started!

I am THRILLED to report that I set a personal record in the 1/2 marathon. I ran my first 1/2 marathon in October, and finished in 2:09:59, which was under my goal of 2:10. This time my goal was simply to beat that time and set a personal record. I started out feeling really good, and set a pace of just over 9 minutes a mile. I wanted to keep the pace at 9:30, and did a pretty good job. Thanks to a great physical therapist, my IT Band did not bother me at all!

Running hard (near the 9 mile marker)! Look at the beautiful ocean I ran next too. I even saw a whale breech during the first 2 miles. Thanks to my friend, Sara, for the great picture. Every time that I saw Sara and Chad cheering me on, I smiled and pushed a little harder!

Somewhere around mile 10.5 I started to get a little distracted and tired. I could not push myself to get below 10 minutes/mile no matter how hard I tried. The mind games started and I tried to focus on finishing strong, and then it happened.....

I often talk about how "true" marathon runners will just urinate on themselves to avoid having to stop. First off, I do NOT consider myself a "true" runner. But I almost had no choice, the more I tried to concentrate and tell myself that I did not have to pee, the more I felt like I was going to pee down my leg! Luckily, with 1.5 miles left there was a water station and a port-a-potty. If you know me, you know I am not a huge fan of port-a-potties anyway, and on this day, it was absolutely disgusting!! I will not go into details here, but suffice it to say I nearly threw up as well. So I wasted 30 seconds in the NASTY port-a-potty and was on my way to a strong finish. My final time (including the port-a-potty stop) 2:03:12. Early on in the race, I thought I might make it in under 2:00, but I did not, and nevertheless, I was so HAPPY with my finish. My friend, Beth, often talks about finishing strong with your arms in the air in victory, and I did just that!

After the race I got a massage. I finished just as my friend, Dani, crossed the finish line for her first 1/2 marathon. So the cheering squad and I got in the car to go cheer on Dani's husband, Justy, as he finished the full marathon. (Justy and I were supposed to run the full marathon together, but after I was injured, I decided to do just the 1/2.) We caught up to him with about 4 miles left in the race. He was walking and looked tired and ready to quit. I decided to put my running shoes back on and finish the last 3 miles with him, a la Biggest Loser. You know, when the friends or family show up during their run to help run a portion of the marathon and encourage them! I tried to encourage Justy, and help him finish strong. He was swollen and beat, but I did manage to get him to run for a little while when the professional photographer was on the road, and to run the last 1/2 mile. He finished a marathon and I am proud of him! Later that day, we walked about 4 miles down the beach. So my total for the day with walking and running was about 20 miles. I am SO ready to train hard for Kenosha!