Run #4 Lolas Half Marathon - 13.1

I dont know what emotions seasoned and expierenced runners feel when they run a long distance but man oh man have my emotions been across the board.

So i'm a little neurotic when it comes to being early for a race.  I like to get there at least an hour before the race starts.  I need time to use the potty a couple times, run around, warm up and stretch and to relax.  I think I was driving my friend Jess crazy because she decided she didnt want to get up at the crack of dawn to ride with me!  I don't blame her!

Friday night, the night before the race I thought I would be super nervous and not be able to sleep (the night before the Hot Chocolate race I was up till 2AM with nerves), this was not the case.  I was alseep by 10PM and infact I slept right through my alarm!  As I was driving to Waconia I started getting nervous.

I was definately early, but that helped to calm me down.  I ran a few blocks to warm up, got some good long stretches in and was able to potty three times before the lines got crazy long.

I lined up with 2:30 pacer, thinking that I know at this point thats a little agressive but lets see how long I can keep her in my sights.

As the race started, I put my playlist on and away I went.  I was able to keep up with the pacer for the first 5 miles and felt really good.  Then things started getting a little hilly, I talked to a couple people that lived near there and they were like oh yeah the hills are fun!!!!  The HILLS WERE NOT FUN!!!!  The hills were evil.  The course was well marked, and it was a great day till the sun came out.

I got really hot at mile 5 and started to feel sick, to the point that I wanted to quit.  I kept telling myself when I get to the relay exchange I am going to tell them I need to stop.  I got to 6.5 where the exchange was and decided to keep moving, I came this far I couldnt stop.

At this point were actually running along the lake and its beautiful, the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing and it was blowing the nasty fish stink all across me!  Again I was asking myself why i was doing this.  As I looked up I saw a couple of hawks that just kept circling ( I called them the death eaters, meaning if I stopped they were going to eat me up!)

Mile 8 I started to feel great again, minus the HILLS.  Those Hills totally sucked.  I hit mile 9 and thought woohoo I did a 15K!!    At mile 10 I ran in to a young lady who was on the side of the road crying. I had seen her a few time during the race, I would pass her, she would pass me but she seemed fine.  I stopped to talk to her and she told me her story and it was a very emotional one that had me tearing up.  We ended up walking, jogging, talking together for the last 3 miles and before I knew it we were back in town and getting ready to cross the finish line.

I finished my race!  I crossed the line at 3:03!  I did it, it felt great and I can now buy gear that says 13.1

Training Schedules

Well after we picked that race, I decided that I better be prepared when it comes time to actually run my race.  The race by the way is June 6th!!

So again, after scouring the wonderful world wide web, I decided on this schedule:

I have been modifing it to fit my needs,  added more weeks, since I was more than 16 weeks out, and HELLO  I can't cut out my Zumba, and after some research I found out that Zumba is good cross-training!

I decided also that I needed to run some races between then (Jan) and now (May) so that I could make sure I was ready.

The first 3 weeks of running were horrible.  I asked myself countless times WHY.  Why did I choose to do this?  Why Running?

The pain in my shins and calves were horrible, which was remedied by getting a new pair of shoes (I love my Hoka's).  I still couldnt run more then about .3 of a mile at that point with out stopping and come on I just wasn't a runner.

Then I started running outside on Saturday's with New Hope YMCA run club.  That was interesing to  say the least.  My snot froze to my face, my legs were pink in patches and I kept thinking WHY?

Well, on week 4 I came to a new realization.  I enjoyed being out side..Sure it was cold, but only for the first mile, until my muscles warmed up.  I still couldnt run very far without stopping, and it hurt, but it was my hurt.  Everytime I finished a run I would say the same thing, at least I finished and I know, I'm not that fast.  My friends kept telling me to not worry about my time, that will come when it does, to focus on the finish.

That's a hard thing to do when your running with a run club and there all out of site and its only been 5 mins in to the run!