Adjusted Reality

“Reality can be beaten with enough imagination.” – Mark Twain

See Jane (Not) Run

If you follow my ass on twitter or facebook, this will probably be redundant.  But because not everyone signs up for my exhilarating tweets and posts about how fage, chocolate almond butter, rasperries, and stevia is the best breakfast ever and that I ran 3.5 miles in 34 minutes and felt good, I’ll compose this little ditty.

About 2 weeks out, I was dreaming about back to back PRs.  How cool would that be?

The day before my tri last week, Tricia drove the course and said “OMG the HILLZ” (my paraphrase).  So we all know my LOVE of hill running (not), so a PR was probably out the window (but still was dreamable).  Then, I smashed my A goal at the tri.  I could do anything!  I had a nice recovery swim on Monday, and a GREAT QUICK 4 miler at what I hoped would be race pace (around 9:30) and felt awesome.

Wednesday, my glute muscle felt PULLED.  Strained.  Whatever it was, it hurt.  Bagged my run on Thursday because it still hurt, figured I’d go on Friday.

Friday, I woke up with a head cold.  No lung issues thank the dear and fluffy lord, but a sore throat and sniffles.  I went to work, and by the end of the day I was beat.  I’m not sure if I was just less focused on my glute, and it still hurt, but it felt better.

Yesterday, my cold was worse but still just above the neck.  We had lots of errands to run and I was WIPED after a few hours of just being out and about.  We picked up the packets, and drove the course.  It had some crazy hills between miles 7-9 and 11-12, but it wasn’t as bad as Austin Half.  I psyched myself up for the best.  Pop a dayquil, get some caffiene in me, and I’ll be fine, I thought.  The faster I ran, the faster I’d finish would be my motto.  It drizzled a little bit, and I figured it would be a-ok, and made the contingency plans if it was still raining during the race.  Windbreaker, wearing tri shorts to run in instead of normal shorts since they do well when wet, hat instead of headband, electronics in plastic bags, etc.  I made an epic playlist, ate my pre-race filet tater and veggie meal, chugged some Nyquil, and drifted off to sleep peacefully 8 hours before alarm time.  The hills, the rain, my body – it was not going to beat me.

Woke up this morning, and noted that it was FREAKING POURING and LIGHTNINGING.  Watched the news and saw that there was no letting up all day today.  Whatcha gonna do?  We did all the normal stuff – half a coffee honeymilk (caffeiiiiiine), get dressed, eat a little breakfast, get all my gear plus readied everything for running 2+ hours in the rain, plus dayquilled, vitamin C’d, and zinc’d up (more caffeiiiiiiiiiiine).  Checked emails, and nothing yet, so we headed down to the race (luckily it was like a 10 minute drive from the casa).  I commented that I wouldn’t be surprised if the race was delayed, cancelled, or just cut to a 5k.  We got halfway there, and I saw the confirmation tweet – the race was flat out cancelled.  I made Zliten drive to the start just for… I dunno… closure?  To be sure?  To make sure we at least got to the start?  But yeah, everyone was turned right around and not allowed to park.

Sore glute.  Sick.  Very very close to TOM (I wouldn’t have been surprised if it hit during the race as hard running seems to bring it on).  Pouring rain.  One week after racing a tri HARD.  I feel bad for the people who were training up hard for this race as their goal race, but frankly?  I’m relieved.  I was going to toe that line no matter what if they didn’t bag the race, but I’m so very glad they did.  In a way that I have never ever felt on a race day.  I signed up for the shirt and damned if I don’t have that pretty little shirt in my hot little hands and I’ll wear it proudly, since I showed up and was willing to run even though I had a host of fucked up conditions that would have very likely made it a rotten race for me.

That being said, I have a lot of pent up “rarin’ to go” for a race and nothing long scheduled for a while.  So this morning, I’m drinking mimosas (it’s kind of a requirement – it was the race for champagne, plus, what else am I going to do with my uber hyper self at 7am, right?), watching IM 70.3 Las Vegas coverage from last month, and surf for some fall/winter races, and getting some major rest so I can get healthy and back to training.

I will definitely run long next weekend as long as my body is up for it (not sick and no butt hurty).  Skipping this weekend means my 2nd without a long run.  Though, to be fair, 1:39:44 of heavy triathlon type-effort probably excuses last week. 🙂

In 2 weeks, I have a flat 5k race on a military base.  I can’t lie, I would love to prove to myself that I still can run 5ks fast.  My PR is 25:10, but I still question if it was a short course.  My other PR is 26:31 from 2 years ago.  My goal is 26:30.  I know I can do about 26 easy on a treadmill without much of a thing, maybe I can pull it off on a flat course.

Some other options:

DRC half and 5k Nov 6.  An excuse to go to Dallas for some In and Out (yeah, we’ve been looking for an excuse).  Zliten could run the 5k.

Azle Half, 1ok, 5k. Nov 12.  Small town race outside of Dallas.  Super cheap.  Another excuse for In and Out post race.  Cheap ass race entry (15 dollars each for Zliten and I).  Zliten could run the 10k or 5k.

Rock N Roll Half, San Antonio, Nov 13.  If I don’t do the one above, maybe this one.  I raced it last year and PR’d the crap out of it and enjoyed the race.  It’s fast, it’s flat, I know the course, there’s lots of support, and pushing for the next 3-4 weeks beyond the 13 miles might help me not fade out after mile 10 like I did last year.  Downsides: Expensive and Zliten isn’t ready for a half and there’s nothing less here, so he’d just be spectating.

Spicewood Vineyards Dec 3rd 10k and Half.  Not sure which distance I would race, I love me some 10k runs and I’ve only raced one.  However, it’s hilly.   Probably not a PR course (well, maybe for a 10k because, well, my current 10k PR is 2.5 years old), but should be a nice race day.  Zliten would be ready for a 10k here.  We will VERY likely do this one.

After that, there’s Decker Half but I heard it’s miserable (or maybe it was just one bad account of it), and I’ll keep looking for other race options, but soon after that, I’m dedicating weekend to 26.2 training, but I’d really like to race a half sometime this year while I can.

Have you ever had a race cancelled on you or skipped a race due to sickness?  Ever ran a race you regretted?

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3 Comments

  1. Miz

    I was totally shocked to see this on Twitter yesterday morning too.

    people were PISSED.
    and it got a little ugly huh?

  2. Yeah, it got nasty! I can understand being upset especially if it was your first half marathon, but really? It was a safety issue (lightning and flooding) and the police simply wouldn’t support it, it wasn’t SJR’s fault. And it would have been miserable (even more miserable than my first in late June in SA in the heat and humidity). For those ladies that were upset, there are about 10 half marathons in the next 2 months within a 4 hour drive of here.

  3. I’ve run lots of 5Ks, but never in a race. But you’ve got sooo much goin’ on. Im not on your running level. Not even close.

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