Race Recap (finally): Dallas Half Marathon 2019

Kids, it's been a week....ok, really over a week since I busted out my goal half marathon in Dallas, Texas.  I really meant to bore people with the minute and intimate details of all 13.1 miles of that race sooner, but these things called "work" and "family xmas gatherings" kept getting in the way.  But now I have some time, so let's get this race recap on, shall we?

Race recap WHAAAAAA

Pre-Race Stuff:

I flew in to Dallas on Thursday night before the race because Friday and twin sis and I (who lives in the Dallas area and runs the races with me) had to hit the race expo downtown and grab our packets. 

Helpfully pointing out the race expo for you.

We signed up for the weekend series, which meant we voluntarily signed up to run a Saturday and a Sunday race because more bling, a sweet jacket, and more bragging rights. Thankfully we had the presence of mind to sign up for the 5K on Saturday rather than the 10K, so it served as more of a shakeout run for Sunday than a race.  And the trip to and from the expo served to give me more experience posing on train platforms and taking touristy photos of Dallas from said train.

Saturday Race: 5K-ing it

On Saturday we got up super early and took the train to downtown Dallas for the 5K.  It was a little chilly outside, but nothing some handwarmers, gloves, and a throw-away sweatshirt couldn't take care of for me.  Oh, and posing in front of the starting corral with a light pole and a twin sister also helps keep you warm, I swears.

The 5K and 10K (and the marathon and half marathon) starts right in front of the Dallas City Hall building, which is a neat little building with a huge street in front of it that happens to be a good place to start races.

The 5K course takes you on a nice little jaunt through downtown Dallas, with a few hills to keep it interesting.  My only complaint is that the finish is a nice little uphill until you hit that sign in the pic above, which is a minor complaint of mine in the 5K but becomes a major complaint when you run the marathon or half marathon the next day and finish in the same spot.  At least running the 5K let me know what I was in for on Sunday at the end of the race.  Speaking of the end of the race, here's me and the 5K blingity bling in a marathon t-shirt.

*bling*

Sunday Race: Half-marathoning-it.

The twin and I again got up super early and took the train downtown to the same start line.  However, the twin hurt her back during the 5K race the day before, and after testing it out with a warm-up jog after we got downtown decided not to run the half with me lest she injure herself further.  She ended up hanging out in the nearby convention center to wait for me to finish...and watch my gear check bag so I didn't have to waste time a) finding where the hell they put gear check this year (please stop moving it!), and b) having to go to gear check after the race.  I dutifully lined up in the start corral, realizing quickly in the 55 degree temps that I didn't need the throw-away sweatshirt, gloves, and handwarmers I had brought with me.

This sign is a lie when you're waiting to start.  FYI.

My goal time for this race was originally a 1:55, but after a look at the elevation profile and realizing just how many hills were in the first 6 miles, I revised my goal to hitting anywhere between a 1:57 and 2 hours.  Since I wasn't trying to PR in the first place, I felt that this new goal range was pretty reasonable for me....and I remembered how much it hurt a few years back when I overdid it on those beginning hills and petered out in mile 17 of the marathon.  Respecting the hills (and not completely destroying my body for my next training cycle) was the rule of the day here.

Nothing like a STEADY CLIMB

So the starting gun went off and off I went, running the streets of Dallas.  I was going to hang with the 2-hour pacers for the first half, but of COURSE they were running too fast...so I decided to run my own race.  Specifically, that race was running too fast for those hilly first 7-ish because I'm stupid like that.  I was running between 9 and 8:50 the whole first half of the race, and I remember that at the 5K mark pictured below I was thinking, "man, I don't have to run this fast...I better slow down."  But my legs were all WE ARE RACING SHUT UP LET'S GO FAST WHEEEE and it was all downhill from there.  Well, uphill, actually until mile 7 or so.

I know that it was a net downhill from miles 7 to the finish, but that didn't stop the race from containing a few more steady uphill climbs.  (NOTE: I didn't pass the 2 hour pacers until mile 8, and my splits the entire time were well UNDER a 2 hour pace...fast pacers are one of my all-time racing pet peeves.) Mentally those hilly climbs were getting to me, but I kept telling myself "your mind gives up before the body does...keep going...wimp."  And I did, but I was slowing down a lot in the last mile due to stupidly running too fast at the start and a sharp side cramp right underneath my rib cage.  I did stop and walk while I tried to work out the side cramp, but then high-tailed it to the finish line for the last 0.7 (and up that nasty finishing hill...UGH) to snag a 1:57:22.

Please to note crappy 13th mile (9:07)

So, of course, rather than celebrating being right on the fast end of my goal time range I was all OMG IF I HADN'T WALKED I WOULD HAVE GOTTEN A 1:56 I SUCK AT THIS...but I had to remind myself that for a 45-year-old broad who just ran a gazllion freaking hills that 1:57 was a time of which to be proud--a time comfortably under 2 hours. Also, I ran the whole race in a pair of shorter-than-normal-for-me shorts that I would never have worn if I hadn't lost 15 pounds...so there was another small win. Bonus win: buying that shirt I raced in at the expo two days before and not experiencing any adverse chafing events.

Overall it was a successful weekend: great weather, great time, great company, great bling.

Not pictured: Awesome weekend series jacket

So, what's next?  Well, I'm taking it easy for a few weeks before I start marathon training again (although I could get used to that half-marathon "only running 10 miles tops on the weekends" thing fer shure); this next training cycle I will be focusing on getting lighter and getting faster so I can get as close to the 4 hour mark as possible in the spring.  More on those goals later...but for now, this post is over.  You don't have to go home, but you don't have to stay here and read the stupid learnings below:

• The weather was absolutely perfect for the half.  I almost took my shirt off in the last 2 miles because it was that nice, but decided no one needed to end a race seeing me like that.
• The course is tough but doable--that's why I keep coming back to this race.  It's a challenge.
• Have I mentioned that pacers that run too fast and then have to slow wayyy down at the end are one of my racing pet peeves?  Like a HUGE pet peeve?
• Another pet peeve is having the majority of the race photos taken at the end of a race.  I would like to see my suffering at all points of the race, thankyouverymuch.
• I'm sure one of your pet peeves is really long race recap posts.  Too bad.

Race Recap: Schaumburg Turkey Trot Half Marathon

About a month ago I thought it would be a fantastic idea to sign up for a half marathon before my half marathon to see if my legs were ready for the stress of running a sub-two at my goal race (BMW Dallas Half Marathon).  Like any idea of this sort, it seemed like a good idea at the time.  And then the morning of the race came, and it looked like this:

Booooooooooo

Clouds a-plenty, lots of drizzly annoying rain, temps in the 30s, winds in the high teens, and my motivation to run this race was in the negative numbers....that is, until I remembered that this race was part of a race series I accidentally got myself into when I signed up for the race.  You see, anyone who signed up for 3 or more half marathons put on by this race company was automatically entered into the series.  I was unaware of this until they sent me an email about a week ago, telling me of the glories of the extra medal and t-short I would be getting if I completed this last half marathon of the year for them.

They had me at "extra medal."  I dragged myself out of bed and got my butt to the start line, dressed in one my usual awesome "what the hell woman did you get dressed in the dark" running outfits.

That hat is what happens when you accidentally
gear check the one you planned on wearing and
this is all you had in the car.

Thankfully this race a) gives you the option of mailing your bib to you so you don't have to mess with race day packet pickup, b) is small enough that if you get there kind of early you can park close to the start line and snooze in your car until 15 minutes before the start time, and c) is small enough that there are *really* short lines for the port-a-johns so you can take care of an...umm....needs right before the gun goes off.  And that's just what I did, because I decided that I wasn't really going to race this race so pfffft warming up...who has time for that?!?  It was cold and windy and rainy outside, after all.

Anyway, when I got to the start line, I got cozy with the 2:05 pacer after deciding that a 9:32 pace was enough for today, thanks.  And that pace would have been fantastic had I actually run that pace.  Let's run through what happened, shall we?

• The pacer didn't actually start running at the pace advertised on his cute little pacer sign.  We were tracking in the 8:45s and 8:30s at various times the first two miles according to my watch. He finally looked at his watch and then slowed down, but I always worry that this might trash some people for the rest of the race, especially if they haven't trained for those paces and they're busy chugging along keeping up with him.  As soon as I realized he was going too fast, I slowed down to a 9:20-ish on my watch because I'd be damned if he was going to destroy me in the first few miles.
• Eventually pacer guy slowed down to a more reasonable 9:20-ish pace and I began to run with the little pack around him again.  However, he kept slowly speeding up (we had a 9:10-ish minute mile in mile 7) and then, after looking at his watch, slowing down again.  Now, I get that pacing is tough, especially if you're used to running much faster during a race.  But I am of the mindset that pacers should run roughly a consistent pace the entire race so that you're not worn out by too much fast running.  So all the speeding up and slowing down really got to me, especially when we were going to come in well under 2:05 by mile 8 and the pacer had to slow down to around a 9:45 pace just to not come in too early.  
• I decided to go it alone at around mile 9.5.  Even though I know I run way too fast on my own, I was tired of all that speeding up/slowing down business, so I got fed up and didn't wait up for the pacer after a water station at around mile 9.5.  I was surprised by how easy the hills were for me in those last three miles or so, going as fast as I was; I was also surprised by how many people I passed in those last 3 miles. I finished in 2:01:40, which I consider a pretty decent time for this old running broad.
• And about that weather we were having...  I didn't even notice it was full-on raining until mile 11.  And, since this race was mostly through a forest preserve, the trees blocked the wind for many of those 13.1 miles.  Best of all, as soon as I hit the finish line they handed me a hot cinnamon roll, I snagged my gear from gear check, and stepped right onto a warm shuttle bus back to the finish line, where the bus dropped me off right in front of my car.  A nice way to end the race.

Turns out I kind of played this race like two separate races--one 10 mile race and one 3 mile race.

I told you I'm not good on my own...look at those last 3 miles!

No matter how I played it, still got my bling though.

Found out I don't get that extra medal for the race series until the end of the year....rats.


And now you're finding out it's time for learnings (because this post is over):

• I'm not hating on pacers.  I'm just annoyed at this pacer in particular.  So I did what I had to do when I ditched him completely.
• While I dig the big races, there's something to be said for the smaller local races.  And that something is "short port-a-john lines."
• I'll have you know my legs felt really good during the race yesterday.  And today they feel as if someone beat them with a stick yesterday.
• I'll also have you know that boy oh boy they're going to feel even worse in two weeks after I try and run an 8:50 pace for 13.1 miles.

Tomorrow's workout: Speed!  Some 1200s!  Good times!

Sports bras, half marathons, hip pain, and Dr. Google.

I know I say this every time I start blogging again, but I really mean it this time:  I am going to post more regularly from now on.

Even if it's just a picture with one stupid little sentence from the deep recesses of my brain, like this pic from yesterday's 16 mile long run in the heat:

When the dog slobbers all over the front of himself during the run just as much as you sweat....


So expect a lot of what you just saw on here kids.  My sanity these days depends on having some sort of fun and creative outlet, and, unfortunately, you all are going to bear the brunt of my bad sense of humor just so I can maintain the blogging habit again.

But I do have a bit of a longer post planned for today, seeing as some recent running things have happened in my running life:

• I ran a half marathon race in a sports bra and shorts, and
• My right hip has been nagging me with soreness for the past two weeks.

The half marathon was last weekend, and of course it was on a day where we had dangerous heat.  The course had very little shade and, even though it was well-supported, I knew that trying to use the race as a tune-up half to run marathon pace just wasn't going to happen.  So I made my goal just to run my first race in a sports bra instead.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.  Really.

I kept the pace slow (ran it in 2:18...a very slow race for me), but not just because of the heat--I was also running slow because my right hip capsule has been sore for weeks.  And by "sore" I mean "a deep pain would happen trying to hold the gas pedal down while driving" type of soreness.  A soreness whereby I was testing daily to see if it was really a stress fracture in my femur level of soreness.  A soreness where sitting down in a regular position on the couch was painful.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that my hip was really really sore.  And it was very concerning.

But of course I kept running on it, and then complained about my hip being sore.  I finally did what any other normal runner would do to see if could get some relief from the discomfort--do some research on Google. (What, did you think I was going to go to a doctor? Crazy talk.) After exhaustive and extensive research on the internet and a lot of jamming my thumb into various parts of my hip and glutes to see where it hurt the most, I diagnosed myself with a pain in the piriformis caused by weak hip and glute muscles.  This made sense to me, especially since during my last marathon training cycle I did absolutely no lower body strengthening whatsoever.  It seems that the muscles in my glutes and hips responsible for motions other than forward propulsion got all weak and stuff and then all of a sudden it's hurting to drive a car.

Since I made my own expert diagnosis using Dr. Google and my thumb, I have been trying to strengthen those weak glutes and hips with these exercises from Strength Running:

And by doing these plyometric workouts from Cathe because they involve a lot of squatting and lateral hip exercises: High Intensity Interval Training, Plyo HiiT 2, and Crossfire.

Are they working?  Well, remember that 16 mile run I did yesterday?  My hip didn't bother me once.  And while it was a little sore when I woke up today, I am happy to report that I can sit, walk, and drive a car normally.

Now if only I can get that nagging pain on the top of my right foot to go away.  So, if you'll excuse me, I have to go consult Dr. Google again.  Until that time, enjoy the non-learning learnings meant to summarize this post but really are just a list of nonsensical random thoughts I couldn't find a way to coherently put into the post above:

• I do really mean it this time - a pic a day at least on this blog.  Contain your excitement, kids.
• Feeling like someone is grabbing the top of your femur and squeezing while you're driving is a weird feeling.  Very weird.
• Cathe's workouts are full of jumping, and jumping is fun, ergo plyometrics is fun. 
• I'm glad my hip didn't bother me yesterday on my run because then I could really focus on just how miserable I was in the heat and how much my bra was chafing.  Good times.

Upcoming workouts: More plyo and some weights today, and a crazy amount of 1200s for tomorrow's speed session on the 'mill.  Even more good times.

I did another half marathon thing today and did not die.

Remember how I said I wasn't going to race so much during this marathon training cycle?  Yeah.  Well.  I did another half marathon thing today.

Wait...are these people running a race?  I will too.

I wasn't going to run this race--The Lincoln Presidential Half Marathon in Springfield, IL--I SWEARS.  I had looked at this race as my tune-up half marathon (having run it before and knew it was a quality event), but it was a little too late in game for it to be used as a tune-up.  And then my friend texted me and basically browbeat me into doing it with this text:

"Are you doing the half in Springfield?  The medal is kind of cool this year."

And of course I took one look at the medal and was all I'M IN WHERE DO I RELINQUISH MY MONEY

And with the pennies in the medal I got $$ back!

But the medal isn't the only cool thing about this race; it starts at the Old State Capitol, takes you past all of the major Lincoln historical sites, past the new State Capitol, and through Oak Ridge Cemetery where he's buried and waiting for us to run by every year I just know it.

Running in a cemetery? Not creepy at all.

Because this race was a last-minute addition to the training plan, it meant that I had to work it into a 20 mile training run on the schedule.  As I learned during my last half-marathon, doing the extra miles I needed to do before the race began was the key to actually getting them done.  So I got my butt up early this morning and headed to the hotel treadmill deep in the bowels of the hotel at 5:30 AM.

Why isn't anyone else running before a race?

A few things about the 6 miles I did there this morning: a) only two of those treadmills actually worked, and b) what respectable hotel locks the bathrooms near the fitness center when it's open 24/7?!?!  Regardless of those two inconveniences, I managed to get 6 miles done before I had head back to the room to use the freaking bathroom and then get ready to go run the half.

The race itself is a pretty hilly one, with none of the hills being very long...but what hills there are can be pretty stinking steep.  Thankfully the hills around my house have brutalized me to such a degree that I am no longer afraid of hills--I just put my head down and get up those suckers.  That's something I realized I was doing in mile 11 of the race, after we went up and down a few rollers on the back side of Oak Ridge Cemetery: it just hit me that I was taking the hills without any pitiful mental whining whatsoever.  Now, since mental whining is my jam, that was a huge revelation regarding how far I'd come in my training progress.  This race made me realize a few other things about how I've improved as well:

• My legs were only a little itty bit tired when I started the half, and it only took about a mile into the race for them to feel normal again. This is kind of crazy to me, seeing as I stopped doing any lower body strength training other than spin biking for this entire training cycle.  Seems like my legs got stronger without strength training.
• My old left butt injury didn't even bother me.  Not once.  It hasn't really reared its ugly head at all during this training cycle...maybe that break from running right before I started did more good than I realized it did.
• I realized my legs felt fine during the last mile of the half, which was really my mile 19 (I ran a mile cool-down after the race to make 20).  I've never felt that amazing in mile 19 of any marathon; in fact, usually I'm having a mental breakdown at that point and debating whether or not I should just sit down in the middle of the course and start sobbing.  I also was busting out an 8:30-ish pace in that last mile, and it felt just fine.

• I started the race behind the 2:30 pacers but ended up finishing in 2:02:40.  I am only sort of ashamed to admit that this meant as I was waiting for my friend to finish the race I was watching people come down the chute like MUHAHAH I PASSED ALL OF YOU.  Sorry, people I passed; you still did an amazing job finishing 13.1 miles.
• I ran 20 miles today and I wasn't completely destroyed afterwards.  In the past I would have been hobbling around right after the race, but I was walking around with only a minimal amount of shuffling and wincing. Legs are stronger, that's for sure.
• It was super duper nice not to run in winter gear.  It was a beautiful day to run 13.1 miles outside, people, and I'm sure that helped me run strong and fast because I wasn't worrying about losing fingers and toes to the cold.

Because of all of these cool things I noticed, I've got a little more confidence in hitting my marathon goal...inching more and more toward that "I got this" mindset.  It's amazing what not skipping any workouts and eating right will do for you.  You know what else is amazing?  Some end-of-post learnings, that's what:

• Racing protip: Don't fill your handheld water bottle with sparkling water the night before the race, reasoning it will go flat by the morning so it will be just like regular water and you don't have to fill the bottle with hotel tap water.  Just don't.
• When you're about to run up a short but steep hill and a spectator tells you it's just a little hill, you are allowed to glare at them.  Hard.
• Sunshine helps you run faster.  Believe me.
• The best reason to run a race you never planned on running is because it has a kick-ass medal.

Upcoming workouts: Crazy speed and crazy tempo workouts this week.  Mile repeats are good for the soul....maybe.

My tune-up half marathon: Goodness gracious so much goodness

During this training cycle, my normal weekend routine involves getting up and running an insane distance in the cold, trying to ensure I don't lose fingers to frostbite and not letting large dog pull me into a ditch for the miles he's with me.  But this weekend has been different--instead, I went and ran an insane distance in the cold about an hour south of my house.  I went and ran a half marathon.

So much green.  SO MUCH.

FYI--I don't normally get a medal for running
loops around my own house.

The purpose of this half marathon was, for once, not to get a medal.  It was my official training plan tune-up race, at which the plan was to run my marathon pace (9:25-ish) the entire time just to see how comfy it was so I could make any adjustments as needed between now and the end of May.  How well did that go?  Well, see for yourself:

Just in case you couldn't tell, NONE of those
paces are 9:25.  NONE.

I'm a tune-up race moron.  And you know what's even crazier about those paces? The fact that I ran 4 miles before the race started and then about 1.5 more after the race because there was an 18-19 mile run on the training schedule this weekend.

So the pace was way too fast (bad), but there were a lot of positives (goods) that came out of this race.  Let's arrange them in a nice bulleted list because we're all down with bulleted lists (especially when they are not a part of a death-by-powerpoint):

• Good #1:  I actually did the extra mileage I was supposed to do.  Normally I have every intention of running the extra miles on the plan when I have a race scheduled, but it doesn't usually happen.  This time it did because I'm still in the RUN ALL THE RUNS mode.  A PR never comes to most runners when they don't do the runs on the training plan.
• Good #2: My ankle didn't bother me at all. I've been worried about my right ankle and its corresponding shin splint that had plagued me for weeks, but it didn't rear it's ugly head at all for any of the miles I ran today.
• Good #3: I managed to run with the 2:05 pacers for at least half of the race before blasting off to the finish.  Now, these pacers kept running in the 9:20s...but last I checked that's not the pace one runs to wheeze across the finish line in two hours and five minutes.  Too-fast pacers aside, I hung with them  for the first half of the race and then they disappeared at a water station right before the start of mile 7.  I do attribute some of my strong back half of the race to the fact that they slowed me down during the first half. (The other half I attribute to the cold wind that I wanted to get out of ASAP because I like my fingers attached to my hand.)
• Good #4: This gave me a good sense of how tired I'm going to feel at mile 17 when I'm doing my marathon thing.  This course was much flatter than the hills around my house, which pounded my legs a little more than they normally get pounded.  This made my glutes and hammies pretty sore and tired by mile 9 (my mile 13 when you add in my 4 before the race), but I kept pushing because, again, you don't get a PR by wimping out.  I may have to add in some light leg work to my strength days to counteract this type of fatigue, seeing as my goal marathon is of similar flatness to this half.
• Good #5: I realized I can totally go into overdrive at the end of a race and not die.  In the last 0.2 the race curved into a parking lot so you could see the people ahead of you--and that's when I saw the 2 hour pacers.  Now, I never thought I would ever catch up to them, but I started gunning it with everything I had left for that last 0.2 in case they were running too fast like the 2:05 pacers--and they were, hence my official sub-2 finish.  So what if I hobbled through that 1.5 mile cool down.  That last-minute burst was worth it, baby.

• Good #6: SHAMROCK SHOES PEOPLE.  And I only saw, like, two other people who had colorful running tights on in a sea of black.  How not fun.

And now, it's a good thing that it's time for learnings because that means the post is nearly over:

• I'm feeling pretty good about my performance in this race - that sub-2 really surprised me.  Especially since the 2 hour pacers crossed the line ahead of me.
• I'm also feeling pretty good about those awesome shamrock shoes.  Mmmm.
• Feeling good about nearly killing myself in the last 0.2, even though now walking is still difficult.
• Large dog is not feeling good about the fact that I had to leave him behind.  In fact, he is wholly unimpressed by all of my racing nonsense.

Tomorrow's workout: Some cross-training until my legs work again.

Day 7, Week 12: A 20 mile run masquerading as a half marathon.

Because I am apparently addicted to Turkey Trots, in addition to the 4-mile one I busted out on Thursday I ran another one this morning that was a half-marathon. 

You already knew, however, that I was going to turn this race into the 20 mile long run that I missed last weekend because I am a complete idiot who knows better than to try and make up miles...but I will do it anyway.  Let's talk about how those miles went, shall we? 

Well, we'll talk about them after we admire how awesome my crop tights were that I wore to the race:

They have POCKETS, people.  So awesome.

OK, admiration complete.  On to the race recap.

The morning started with me getting up at my normal time and driving about an hour to the race location.  It happened to be in a scenic forest preserve that has copious amounts of running paths.  I know this because this was the same half marathon at which I first broke the 2 hour mark, so this race is kind of special to me.

All the specialness is just shining down.

Look!  Water! You don't see that every day.

I then busted out 5 pre-race miles on the paths around the start line because I figured getting more miles in before the race started was better than having to do all 7 of the extra miles afterwards.  And by now I think we all know that anytime I say "I'll do it later" that "later" really means "lol never, suckers."

By the way, the last 0.2 of those 5 miles were spent dodging members of the lead pack of the 5K that were barreling towards me on the path.  That sure will get the heart rate in the zone, let me tell you.

Afterwards, I spent some time running little distances to the port-a-john (always a must), as well as back and forth to my car to ditch that sweatshirt and grab extra gels.  I did record those itty bitty distances because every little bit counts, doesn't it, when you're trying to make a 20 miler out of a 13.

The 0.25 is what happened pre-race.  Obviously, the 13.13 distance is the actual race itself, which considering there was a freaking strong, cold, and gusty wind the entire time, went pretty well. 

I have no idea what my hand means.  It was early.

Well, the race went well except for the fact that I was supposed to run the damn thing at a 9:35 pace and, as you can see, it ended up being at a 9:15 pace.  While I had a few 9:30 splits, my legs again decided to not listen to me at ALL and do their own thing.

I kept trying to get behind people and pace them to slow down, but I think the sound of my breathing/wheezing was forcing them to slow down to look at whatever was making that noise (me), so I just had to keep passing them one after the other.  And then the finish was upon me, where I grabbed the boxed water they were handing out (yes, boxed!), squatted a bit to stretch my quads out, and then walked back to the 13th mile marker and started running the 1.5-ish miles back to my car.

Now, I know you read the end of that last sentence and were all like, "Yes, Terie, it makes perfect sense that you would run back to your car after running 18-ish miles, 13 of which were a race."  OK, maybe you were more like "crazy woman you RAN back to your CAR?!?" Yes, I did.  That was by design.  I could have taken the shuttle back to my car, but I knew getting back to my car was pretty good motivation for me to finish off those 20 miles.

Plus I have taken the shuttle before.  It takes forever.  It was faster just to run back to the car, trust me. 

Once I got back to that car I tried to take a cool pic of me with my medal but the wind kept making the ribbon do weird things so instead I got one that looks like I'm strangling myself with it.

When I got home and showed large dog my medal, he was highly impressed, especially with the fact that I managed to make a half marathon turn into a 20 miler.

Just oozing with being impressed.

Post is done, learning has begun:

• Can you tell that's my fave running hat since it's in almost all my race pics?  
• Even if large dog isn't, I am impressed that I actually pulled off 20 miles today.  I thought for sure I'd wimp out and just do the race.
• When I was running back to my car, people finishing the race kept telling me I was running the wrong way.
• When I told those same people I had already finished, one of them yelled, "And you're *reallybadword* still running?!?"
• Hubbs wants it noted on record that I am, indeed, a crazy woman.

Tomorrow's workout:  I honestly have no idea.  Maybe weights?  Maybe yoga?  I'm all discombobulated because I ran long on a Saturday instead of a Sunday.  Stay tuned or the resolution of this fitness cliffhanger tomorrow.

Day 5, Week 7: Dark morning runs & Don't ever let the doubt monster win

I took the large running dog for a 3-mile spin this morning at 4:20 AM.  Why so early?  Because, I keep telling you people--I'm an idiot.  Even the dog couldn't look me in the eye this morning; THAT's how disgusted he was with me for dragging him out in those wee hours of the morning.

I just...I can't even LOOK at you 

Eventually he got over it though.

Alright, I'm done being disgusted.  Let's get our run on.

My legs are still pretty tight, so I was glad to run an easy three this morning in those nice cool 50 degree temps surrounded by darkness and a dog that likes to pull you as if he were in the Iditarod.  My legs desperately needed a break from all the heavy pounding they'd been getting, and I thought a very nonstupid thought during the run this morning - that these recovery runs are part of what's going to get me to my 4:05 marathon goal time in Dallas.

I'll be honest, there are days where I don't think I'll ever be able to hit a 4:05.  The doubt monster creeps in and sucks all the confidence right out of me at those times.  But then I think about times where I did hit my goal time right on the money...and how at the start of those races I had no idea if I was ever going to hit the goal.  But I knew I had trained and I was going to throw it all out there and the course and see what happened.

One of those times was when I finally ran a sub-2 hour half marathon.  I tried five times previously, but the 6th time it was all mission accomplished.  You can tell by the finish line pic below I was simply overcome with happiness.

Actually, when I crossed the line I had no idea if I had done it or not.  I didn't own a GPS watch at the time and am really bad at math in my head so I just ran like the dickens and hoped for the best.  And by "ran like the dickens" I mean running the entire gamut of emotions during the race:

Miles 1-4: I TOTALLY GOT THIS WOOT
Miles 5-8: I feel like sitting down and crying but my legs won't let me
Miles 9-11: I have to look halfway decent because the hubbs will be nearby to take a pic so suck it up buttercup
Miles 12-13: What if I do it what if I do it WOULDN'T THAT BE AMAZING??
Mile 13.1: I will die before I reach the finish line and never know if I ran a sub-2 *sob* (don't believe me?  See the pic of me in that last tenth below.)

I do a fantastic miserable.

I was in such complete suffering by that point in the race.  I was scrambling to stay ahead of the 2 hour pacers, but in the last mile I kept seeing that little pace sign bobbling off in my peripheral vision.  So I kept going faster and faster to stay ahead of it, hence the look of impending death on my face.

Well, I didn't die, but I had to wait until the results were posted on the internet to find out.  And I had.  And I screamed so loud when I saw my results I startled my poor sleeping husband right out of the bed.  I partly screamed because I had accomplished my goal...the other part of that scream was because I realized that pacer was a tad off.  I came in around 1:58 and some change, which, my friends, means I was running my sweet patootie off in that last mile for almost nothing.

But enough about my sweet patootie.  Why am I even telling this story?  Because when some people find out about my marathoning and duathloning and Ragnaring and see all my participation medals they get a little freaked out.

Some people just like that they're all shiny.  I know I do.

And when they freak out, I hear things like, "I could never run like that" or "I would be so slow" or "I would never be able to run as fast as you/marathons like you/race like you."

One thing I've learned about goals through running is this: If you don't think you can do it, then you won't be able to do it.  Every time I have started a marathon with more doubt than confidence, I have NEVER hit my time goal.  But the times where I plan on just getting it done and trusting my training...those are the best races.  Listen, if you have a running goal, you might have to try and fail a few times.  However, you still have to hold on to that goal and fight for it, even if you suck at first.  If you want to run, yes you can.  If you don't want to be slow, believe and work at getting faster.  If you want to run marathons, then believe you can run a marathon-but put the work into getting there first.

You just gotta do it.  Even if you suck.

And now to summarize the learnings:

• I changed the batteries in my headlamp.  Now it's awesome until the batteries suck again.
• Large running dog is just as nutso in the dark as he is during the day.
• That first sub-2 marathon was a sweet, sweet victory where I couldn't walk for days afterwards.
• Don't let the doubt monster keep you from a goal like I have.  That guy is a freaking creep.

Tomorrow's workout: 6 mile run, 4 miles at tempo (warp factor 5), again in the dark with the large running dog.  Stay tuned to see if he keeps trying to drag me into the ditch!