Hello old friends...it’s been a while. I’ve been super MIA. Well at least in the blogging world. In real life I’ve been still completely occupied by wedding season (yes it’s still that season for Wes and I) as well as training for my first (and only) ½ marathon. Exciting, exciting and completely exhausting.
Since Justyne and Dustin’s Wedding I’ve thrown Wes a 30th birthday party full of moon pies, Vienna sausages, beef jerky, pork rinds, RC cola, trash can punch, keg, football and a 200X20 ft. slip n’ slide.
Then I got the pleasure of joining one of my oldest friends for her bachelorette party down in New Orleans. Nola may have had the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina but it took them no time to get back to the familiar smell of beer, piss and vomit on the streets. By no means is Harrahs a friend of mine, nor were they wanting to keep me there (it showed with the lack of drinks they brought my way). I kept my promise to Wes and stayed away from hand grenades. I only wish I would have stayed away from other things like nasty whore shots, smoking, and stuffing my face full of food in order to ward off the results of too much Fat Tire. All and all, it was a great time meeting new people, reuniting with old acquaintances and torturing Jessica with the rituals that can only be done once during your bachelorette weekend.
And then there's the training...
Ten weeks dedicated to running five out of seven days and strengthening the other two all to run 13.1 miles on October 3rd. Throughout the training, part of me thought 'hey i'm already running 13...I might as well double it and go ahead and run the full thing'. My endurance was there for sure. Miles 1-3 were my weakness and then after mile 3, my heart rate slowed and my breathing returned to normal and then it was a day in the park. I really boring day in the park, but easy none the less. Running is not a passion of mine and will never be. I don't enjoy it, I just wanted to accomplish this. My mind, my endurance, my determination (stubborness) was all in it. My body, however had plans of it's own. As the weeks passed and my long run became more and more, I begin to feel intense pain in parts of my body I had forgotten about. I was aging more and more each mile I logged. The worst at first was my hips. I thought they were protesting and no long letting my legs move back in forth. I began a glucosamine regimen and my Chiropractor gave me stretches but nothing helped. Then my knee (which a was finally leaving me alone) decided to join in on the party. Still I kept it up. The week before the race, I hurt but I was feeling confident in myself. I ran 12 miles in 2 hours. I was sure I'd be able to tack on another one and even cut back on time. I wanted to push to finish the whole thing in 2 hours or less. I now know I peaked too early.
The race was in Findlay, OH. I ran with my college girlfriend Danielle and her sister, as well as some of her sister's friends. It was 40 degrees that morning. So cold, I thought my bones were frozen. The race started our fine. I hate crowds. I'm soooo not a group runner, so when it started, I did as I always do (like a rookie) and ran hard to get away. I finished the first mile in 7:45. It was way too fast so I put the breaks on and found the 4 hour full marathon pacer and ran behind trying to keep up. All was fine, I was making great time keeping around a 9 mile pace. Around mile 5 my knee started to ache, but I pushed it beside and continued. 
Mile 6, Danielle caught and passed me after she spent the weeks before totally hustling me saying she wasn't even sure if she'd run it because her feet hurt so bad. She ran like a horse galloping along taking in the sights. It annoyed me a little because she had no care in the world and I'm a girl on a mission, but hey if your better, your better. There's nothing I can do about it.
In between mile 6 and 7 we had to do a turn around and I noticed I was as far behind Danielle as I imagined. So then I was determined to catch up. My belly had different out come. Right after the turn around I hit the port-a-potty fast. I thought I might poop my pants. Crisis was over come and I continue. This time with a 40 mph head wind. Wes, the lovely person he is, decided to laugh and joke with me that the wind blew his hat off just standing. News flash: it's not so funny to laugh about a strong head wind to a person who has to run 5 miles into it. At the next mile marker I had to hit the john again. Not my best day. That head wind was awful. I could feel my whole body pushing but felt as if I was going NO WHERE! It hurt. My knee, my hips, my confidence were all failing me. By mile 10, I had already resorted to running stiff legged on my right side (Forrest Gump style). 
I spent the rest of the race balling crying and explaining to passer-byers that I was all right and didn't need help. At that point I knew I was never going to get my ideal time, I just wanted finish. After mile 12 when a volunteer told me to go left to run the full or stay straight to finish the half, I wanted to hit her. "DO I LOOK LIKE I'M DOING THIS WHOLE DAMN THING AGAIN" is what i wanted to say but I managed a smile and trucked on. I thought I was in last place. I saw no one around me and I was so disappointed. When I saw Wes I buried my face in his chest and cried. I was happy to finish but was sad that after ten weeks of getting ready for this, it was out of my hands. My body doesn't want me to be a runner. 
Danielle finished in about 2:08:88
Jessie (Danielle's sister) 2:08:95
Here I come...the straggler!2:23:78 is what the clock said but in the pain of it all I forgot to turn my watch off. I remembered after I sat down with a nurse and she was wrapping it so I believe I finished in about 2:20. Still super disappointing, but after all that I still want those three minutes to now count.
I wish I could say that I plan on running another one so that I can prove to myself I can do better, but it's highly unlikely. For the weeks after my right knee was black & blue. I was completely swollen through my knee, calf, ankle and foot. So much so, that Wes had to help my out of my boots. Still, I wake up stiff and swollen and I hurt to walk down stairs or after I've sat down for too long. I don't know what caused so much pain since I haven't been to the doctor. I figure if I can walk, it must not be that bad. I have a 10K in November and I promised Wes that if my knee bruised bad again that I'd get it checked out. I don't see why it matters since I only hurt when I run and I am retiring my running shoes after the Calloway Garden Run in November. I'm happy I finished but I'm still disappointed with the results. However, you can't fight fate and as I say:
If it's gonna happen sometime...
Then why not now?
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