Saturday December 1, 2012 -- 26.2 Mile Trail Run
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| On our way to the start |
The race went OK. It had a LOT more hills than I thought it would - that was rough - just not knowing how hard it would be. Pretty much all hills, switch back after switch back. The forest was really pretty - it was MUCH warmer than I thought it would be. When I signed up for the marathon I did not think that I would be running in shorts and a T-Shirt. So I kind-of feel like I missed out on the winter marathon experience - maybe next year it will be more winter like because I will be back next year to try it again.I think it will be much better knowing what i'm getting myself into at the start.
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| Waiting at the start |
We ended up starting almost an hour late so my food energy balance was a little messed up - one of the buses had broken down - so we had to wait for it to get to the start. Once we started about 4 miles of the trail was a wide path - lots of big gravel pieces that actually really started to hurt the sides of my feet. I wore my brooks trail shoes - the longest run I had done on them. No blisters or anything, i was happy with their performance. After that 4 miles of wide trails it narrowed into a single track path - and that is mostly what is was after that. I felt good for about 8 miles. Debi started falling after that I my energy left me. I struggled for a while, feeling ok, then bad again... The course had plenty of aid stations - I probably did not need my camel back. after around mile 10 the stations started having food - that was nice and helped me out - new favorite because they did not have pringles is Cheese Nips YUM. Judah was feeling great till about mile 18, he actually couldn't have gone a lot faster than I was going between mile 10 and mile 18, because I was being pathetic. I was not doing well - I gave into my hurts and tiredness and really wussed out for a while - I am annoyed about this of course now... At around mile 17 Debi had a bad fall, she fell right on her IT band sore spot - then at mile 18 Judah started getting awful muscle cramps. This made him very angry. I would have just cried personally, and I kinda wish that's what he had done instead of being so mad.... Guys... So, we all walked for a while after this - debi was really hurting, and Judah kept on getting cramps every time we tried to run. A lot of people passed us - I started getting my energy back and started noticing that a lot of people were limping that were passing us - Debi was hurt, Judah was having issues... .but I was finally feeling good again. Ideas of continuing along alone started going through my head.
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| Running |
Judah and I had planned to run it together - but we had discussed one of us getting hurt and the other going on - he thought that we had decided to finish together no matter what - at the time I seemed to have forgotten this and wanted to redeem myself for the weak miles and poor performance exhibited on the road behind me. Debi and Judah continued on walking & running when Judah could - I started to run on alone with out Judah's blessing. I felt horrible - but I needed to finish strong at least since I had sucked it up so
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| Glad to be done |
Sadly - even though I was happy with my last few miles - I had a VERY un happy fiance. I really did feel awful - but I was also upset because I felt like he should have been ok with me leaving... But no one agrees 100% of the time - and mis-understandings defiantly happen in life. I don't regret leaving them - they were hurt - I was not, however I did feel sad as my sister and my Fiance ran across the finish line together as I waited along the edge. I understand the disappointment of not preforming as you would have wanted to - been there done that in pretty much every race I have ever run. I suppose learning to deal with that is a process. I have learned to not get too emotionally involved in races - however I think this method is starting to hurt my race. I do know one thing - That I will not be committing to run any race with anyone again. training is one thing - but races need to be everyone for themselves.
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| Everyone finished |
The problem is - I have no race. I kill them - and not in a good way. I think I have committed it in my head for so long, that a race is just another run i'm almost bitter at the race - and when I feel down and tired I become defendant to the race for making me feel that way - and then it truly just becomes a run again - and not even a good run because by the time I kill the race nothing good is left and that's why I let it die. I need to learn to fight harder - not stress so much about being tired and hungry - to just get through it. I think I let myself believe that I have more race issues than other people, i'm more tired than they are, i'm more hurt, something is different about me so I deserve to slack off - and it's ok, it's just harder for me. That's not true. A marathon is just hard. next race - I suck it up and deal with it.
On a side note - the trip down took about 5 hours - we all drove together. We stayed at "A Summer House Inn" Not the greatest place, but at least they extended our check out because of the late race start. The rooms were not all that clean, the bright light was on outside all night & the bathroom looked like the perfect place for a murder.
For our pre race dinner we went across the street to a place that ended up being much more formal than we had though - expensive too & they put us in the back room. I don't blame them, we were very under dressed - the food was good though, but not worth the price, and we kept having to ask for more bread because they hardly gave us any - that was annoying.
Another thing I liked about the race was the late start (if it had started on time) it was nice to get some more sleep.
On the way home we stopped for dinner & local beer (I had wine though) then back to illinois we went - getting home around 11pm.
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