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Tuesday, December 10, 2013

I'm A Finisher!

I lagged on this entry. My training right up until the race was amazing. I trained hard, and followed the schedule, making sure to get in those important long runs, although through trial and error discovered that my body prefers to run 3-4 times a week; 5 is pushing it a little and I do better with an extra rest day or two for my body to recover. Anyway, that last week of training, where you are ramping down on mileage, I decided to push it on speed. My last run was a 3 mile run in the evening. Since normally I take the first few miles to warm up, I just bypassed a warm up, and went for it. Mistake! While the run was one of my best runs, and I broke several personal records, I ended up straining (what I later found out was) my TFL muscle in my hip, and didn't quite realize the severity of the issue. I should  have researched it more, taken epson salt soaks, stretched a lot, seen the chiropractor, tried to get in a last min therapeutic massage, but I just stretched a little - same stretch as I had been using for my IT band, and hoped for the best. Race day and my hip was still tight but what was I going to do? So I just warmed up as much as I could and hoped for the best.

My first two miles were my best times, 9:30 and 8:30 respectively, but after that second mile, I felt it start to cramp up. Crap. Well I wasn't going to quit so I just decided to push through it and stopped every few miles to try to stretch it back out. Miles 9-11 were probably the hardest. Not only was it a slight uphill but it was also the to part of a there & back loop, so its a mental head game seeing how far you have to go before you can even round and come back. Anyway, I pushed the pain aside and just ignored it, willing my body to compensate and get 'er done, and finished in 2:10. My hip was wasted after the race and could hardly walk. But when I got my official race time and saw that I was only 10 min shy of my goal (finishing in less than 2 hours), I was proud of myself and more determined to do another one, this time finishing in under 2! I also realized that I would not be happy until I ran a full marathon. While before I ran the half I thought it would be sufficient, maybe want to do a few half marathons, but a full was just not necessary, after I finished there was no doubt in my mind that I had to run a full.

But first I had to heal the damage I had already done! I saw my chiropractor which set me walking straight again, and scheduled an appointment with my massage therapist to work out the knots and tensions that I had created with my training and the race. I was nearly good as new after that and am now jumping back into training for another half that I've signed up for at the end of the month. Nathan is running it as well as one of his cousins, and they are aiming for a 9 min pace, which is exactly what I would love to run at to accomplish my goal! So I have these last two weeks to push and really train hard while listening to my body and taking care of it when it tells me it needs attention (something that I get older is becoming more important to do; otherwise I injure myself and it takes even longer to heal). Wish me luck!