I'm Baaaaack - an Indy Mini Race Recap

Hello all!  I hope you haven't left me during my long absence.  And now I don't even know where to begin...

Almost exactly 2 months ago I fell down and I've had a hard time getting back up.  My knee has re-gained all of it's skin, but it still hurts like you wouldn't believe and feels a little twisty and out of place.  Leading up to my half marathon I never ran any longer than 3 miles, and most of my runs were more like 1.5 - 2 miles.  I knew there was no way I could run a half and that I would have to downgrade to the 5K.  Frankly, I was depressed about it.  I know it wasn't a lifelong goal like Boston (and I can't imagine living with me if it had been that big of a race) but I had been training and training and was having the moment robbed from me by a stupid crack in the sidewalk and I was angry!

I didn't want this blog to become a place where I wallowed in self-pity (and have it live on forever in the world of the internets) so I've been away.  Mostly taking piddly little training runs and then finishing off a lot of these:

Don't mind the Liquid Plumr.  I wasn't that down about the sitch.

So anyway, I spent the whole week leading up to the race toying with the idea of running the half anyway.  I mean, I had paid for the half, my shirt said I ran the half, and if I had to I could run or walk that far.  You know, if I was being chased or something.  The night before the race I laid out my gear for the morning:

We woke up race day and took the requisite pre-race picture (both of us still thinking maybe we could do the half, and knowing we would be crippled for a good long while if we did):

Yes we look haggard...it is early, don't judge.

We literally walked out the front door of our hotel room into the corral for the 5K.  The starting corrals are lined up for blocks and blocks, but somehow we picked the perfect hotel for our corral.  Go us!  Usually we have to walk a mile in the freezing cold.

Anyway, the 5K starts in the half marathon A-D corrals.  Corrals E-Z are already lined up behind you and the half marathoners who want to get into A-D stand off to the side and shoot you ridiculous 5Kers dirty looks.  As a person who downgraded to the 5K you can feel the energy, nerves, excitement, etc of all the people behind you who are about to do something they've trained and looked forward to and maybe even feared for months.  Personally, I understood the glares from the people on the sidelines waiting to get into my corral.  Last year I was in Corral D, and I wanted the 5K to get out of my way already, because it was COLD on the sidelines and at least in the corral I would have body heat surrounding me.  All of that energy surrounding the half made me still want to get out and run it while standing in the 5K start line.  Glutton for punishment?  This girl right here.

In the end, we did run the 5K.  It was so congested that we walked for almost the first half mile.  When it finally cleared a little you had to spend the next half mile or more dodging people, weaving in and out, because no one actually lined up according to their pace.  In the end, Dave and I finished together in 33:07, the first time we've ever run a whole race together from start to finish.  It was a nice thing, running together.  But next year we are totally running the half!!

We got done in time to head back to the finish line of the half (score some Dippin' Dots) and watch the quickies finish the race.  I even saw some people I knew from our running group at home and one guy I went to college with (random) and cheered them on as they ran down the final .1 mile.  It was exciting and fun to cheer for people.  You could see who had some left in the tank and who was totally crippled by their effort.  One chick actually had blood gushing down her legs (we think from chafing, we hope from chafing).

We cleaned up and went to do our traditional post race gorging of ourselves.  Dave wanted PF Chang's and so for the first time in my life I tried tofu (the sacrifices we make for love):

No, just no.  Nononononono.

I had to wash the taste out of my mouth with something:

While we were walking around the mall eating our cookies we saw a Proactiv vending machine.  The things you can buy out of vending machines these days astounds me.

The good news is, we weren't crippled by running a 5K (smart decision? yes.) and we were able to have a great weekend playing mini golf, shopping for new furniture, and eating yummy chocolate at The Melting Pot.  But we will be back to avenge the Indy Mini next year!

The 5K That Wasn't

We are having some seriously crazy weather in the midwest this winter.  Tuesday and Wednesday we had what forecasters were calling a "blizzard".  I hardly think it was that bad, but we did get some nasty ice with a few inches of snow on top.  Then Friday we had a heat wave.  It got up to 37 degrees and the sun was shining so all the snow melted.  I was thinking my 5K Saturday would be a go for sure, no more snow!  So I wake up Saturday morning, eat my banana, get appropriately bundled up for a 30 degree day.  Then I peek out the window to remote start my car and find another blizzard.  We had a few inches of snow back on the ground and so much snow falling you could hardly see through it.  Ridiculous!

Well I couldn't see paying $25 for a race to set my Personal Worst.  Ever tried to run fast in the snow?  It's a recipe for disaster.  I also couldn't bring myself to do my long run on the treadmill since I was already appropriately dressed for a cold outside run.  So I dug the car out so I could head out to my regular run spot.

I climb in the car, turn on the wipers, and nothing on the drivers side.  My passenger side windshield is cleared, but in front of me: all snow, all the time.  I get out in the snow to inspect and find my wiper is definitely broken.  My ingenious husband somehow jams it back together long enough to get to the auto parts store a couple blocks away, where they replace my wiper blade for free and upgrade it to a better model-score!

It was a crazy morning but I did manage to get my long run in.  I did a 2.5 mile loop (that I designed in my head while running it or I might have picked a longer distance) then came back to my car for a drink and a snack.  Then I set out on my loop again but extended it this time.  My second loop was 3.5 miles, for a total of 6. 

The first loop I ran with my glasses in my hand because the snow was coating them until I couldn't see.  I smartly left them in the car for the second loop.  Here's a picture of the snow on my first loop, which unfortunately doesn't do justice to the amount of snow that's actually falling at that exact moment:

I was so glad when the run was done so I could get inside and get warmed up.  It took me 1:12:15 for 6 miles in the snow, for an average pace of 12:03. 

My last 6 mile run not in the snow was in 1:03:29 so the snow slowed me down quite a bit but honestly, I expected it to slow me down more so I'm happy.

After that the hubby took us to Five Guys for lunch.  Ever been there?  It was our first time and I wasn't nearly as impressed as I had hoped to be from all the rave reviews.  It was okay, just not great. 

Today I have a 2-3 mile easy run scheduled.  I'm playing it by ear, depending on how the old bum knee feels.  Either way it will officially put me in double digits for the week, which will be the first time this training season that I've hit double digits!!  I'm excited!

"If you wanna win you gotta learn how to play"

Pretend high five to the first person who names that tune.

So, I've been feeling discouraged over the last few runs because I've had to stop for rest breaks all of a sudden.  Last night I decided I was not going to stop and rest no matter what.  I had some tricks going into the run to try and help myself out.  Mind games if you will.

I decided to forego the TV watching because it doesn't seem to be distracting enough when the going gets rough.  It was just me and my iPod.  I decided to set it on shuffle, set it down, and not touch it again!  I get so easily distracted by watching the clock, or my watch, or shuffling through songs on my iPod so last night I just let play.  Here is the playlist the universe picked for me:

1. California Gurls by Katy Perry
2. Harder to Breathe by Maroon 5
3. Big Green Tractor by Jason Aldean
4. Not Meant to Be by Theory of a Deadman
5. Mine by Taylor Swift
6. Wish You Were Here by Mark Harris
7. Speak Now by Taylor Swift
8. My Sister by Reba McEntire
9. Marry Me by Train
10. Tik Tok by Kesha

The last two would have worked out much better had they traded places since I started my cool down walk right as Kesha came on.  Also, there was a lot of mellow stuff that came on which doesn't exactly encourage speediness.  Still it was nice not futzing with the music the whole time and listening to some songs that I typically don't listen to while running.

Mind game #2 that I played with myself: our treaddy is in front of the TV, which I've already said stayed off last night.  Which means the screen acted like a mirror right in front of me.  Every time I caught myself feeling negative or worn out or just staring at myself in the TV screen I smiled.  That's it, just smiled at myself.  I read somewhere that if you're feeling down, but you smile anyway, soon your mind will believe that you're happy.  So I tried the same trick with my run.  As long as I kept smiling at myself, my mind would believe I was happy with my run and I would therefore end up with a good, happy run and not another disappointment. 

Since I have a 5K race coming up on Saturday (if it's not ice/blizzard delayed) I decided to run 3.1 miles last night.  My confidence has been a bit shaken this past couple of weeks and I wanted to make sure I could still do it!  Well, I did make it 3.1 (without stopping to rest!) in 33:16 (10:44 pace) at an incline of 1%.  I'm feeling much, much happier about this one!