Well, Sunday was the big day. We ran a half marathon and our mileage was an average of 11:26. Now, I know that this sounds really slow to some of you runners, but that's actually four seconds faster than the pace for which we trained for Steamboat. That's great because Corey and I took three bathroom breaks (the revenge of the Cheese Its- more on that gastronomical disaster later) and we walked a little at the end, so that means that we are getting faster overall, I think. We ran about the same pace for four miles, so I feel great to have run a similar pace for 13 miles. I was #67 out of 89, but I am okay with that- nowhere to go but up!
So, I want to talk about the weeks leading up to the half. Those were interesting. By interesting, I mean crappy, really. The last two weeks we were supposed to be tapering, and that was fortunate since there were just so many issues that came up that I don't think we would have gotten through our runs otherwise. To begin with, I fell again. Ugh! I am seriously such a klutz. This time, I was on main street in front of some local businesses. Of course it was about 8:30 in the morning, and everyone was around, so I am sure that a lot of people saw me biff it. Ggrrr! I felt like the kid that falls that has that moment of indrawn breath before she bursts into tears and yelling. I just had that moment of indrawn breath during which I made sure I hadn't really broken anything, and then I had to just suck it up and hoof it home instead of yelling. I skinned both my knees this time, instead of just one, and I reopened the one that was partially healed. After that fall, I am pretty sure I gave myself whiplash. My neck and head hurt off and on for ten days after that. That sharp jerk was terrible on my neck, worse than the rollover accident I had during the winter.
Corey, meanwhile, came home with a cold, which he caught at work. He was congested and miserable, and I ended up catching it too, so I was then congested and miserable as well. Well, he kept complaining about how he wasn't feeling well, and his back was hurting. I didn't think that much about it, but then he called and told me he had gone to the doctor because the pain was so bad, and he was diagnosed with shingles (herpes zoster). Fortunately, I have had chickenpox, so I couldn't catch it from him, but that made for a really sore few days for him. He didn't want to run, and I was still recovering from the cold and didn't want to run much either. We were pretty unmotivated, despite the fact that the half was approaching. I think we actually missed a run or two, and that has never happened before.
During this time, school started for me, and I had to get my classroom ready. It really messed up my schedule to have to actually go back to work (it gets in the way of so much I want to do- haha). Usually, I would get Corey off to work at 6:30 and then I would go for a run. I love running in the morning. Everything feels so fresh, and I love the feeling of running into the morning mist. Well, since gas has skyrocketed, Corey and I try to always commute together, so now I have to also leave at 6:30. No more morning run unless I want to run at 4:30ish. Ugh! I am not an EARLY morning person, so I had to adjust my runs to nighttime. I also started my ISU classes as well, so that was an added stress, and I had to figure out how to work in my runs around all that.
So even after all that, we still managed to work in enough running to be ready for the Peoria Half Marathon on Sunday, 8/28. Our last long run was the Saturday before, and at mile 6ish, I had to stop and walk home with a raging case of runner's diahrea. It was awful. I have had this happen before- running just bounces things around inside me, so if I have eaten at all crazy, then I usually have to have a pit stop at some point. The good thing was that I was somewhat close to home and not in a cornfield somewhere- I have had that experience as well, and it was NOT good. So you'd think I would learn, but of course I never do. The Saturday before the half, I had my first Saturday class at ISU. To deal with my distress over having class on the weekend, I binged a bit- to the tune of almost an entire box of reduced fat (oh that was so helpful) Cheese Its crackers. Cheese Its will (not shockingly) give you loosey poopies like anything else, so let me just say that I really regretted my indulgence on Sunday. When I run, I get sweaty- really, really sweaty. When my butt is that sweaty (my whole body, really), I almost slip off the seat constantly, and on a porta potty at mile 6, slipping is not an option I like very much. The slurry at the bottom of the porta potty is pretty gross, and the thought of slipping anywhere near it is enough to make me a champion squatter, but at some point, my legs were just too shaky, and I had to plop down on the seat. Much slipping and sliding occured, but fortunately (this one and only time) my butt was too big to let me slip into the porta potty, so I managed to do my business in safety.
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