One Half Down...

Well, if you haven't seen the Facebook, Instagram or Twitter posts in the past 48 hours...well then you are way behind and clearly not a techie.  I completed the 2nd Annual Iron Mountain Road and Trail Half Marathon this past Saturday.  And, I'm pleased to report, that despite my lack of training/readiness/conditioning, I finished just 9 minutes off my PR.  That's something I'm pretty darn proud of.  Here's a breakdown of how the run (I'm not calling it a race because it was just a "training" run for me. Yep.  That's what it was) went:

It was a beautiful, crisp fall morning in da UP.  Temp was about 40 degrees but the sun was out, no clouds and no precipitation.  The makings of a perfect run, weather wise.  And I felt good, which is really the most important thing.  But again, this was just a training run for me.  I had no illusions of running the entire route or placing in my age group (unless they had the over 35 but joints of a 70 year old category, which, sadly they didn't).  So the gun went off and away we went.  I knew I would be near the back of the pack which was totally fine with me. 

My strategy in this run came courtesy of my BRF (and kind of life coach) who suggested running staggered time intervals.  So I started with run 10 walk 1, then run 9 walk 1, run 8 walk 1 and so on.  I had tried this is one previous training run and didn't do so hot with that but I was optimistic.  Oh wait...I'm failing to mention a key point here.  Genius here (read: MK) decided two nights before the half marathon to do a weights workout.  Now normally that wouldn't be an issue except I had been spending all of my time focusing on running and hadn't done a weights workout in weeks.  So needless to say, Friday morning I could barely move my arms or legs.  Yep...I'm a genius. 

Back to the half - my goal initially was to do the staggered intervals for the first 4 miles.  That would be the longest I had run since the Princess Half in February.  I made it through the first 4 miles and actually felt really good.  After about 4 miles, the course went into Fumee Lake.  That's  wooded area surrounding two non-wake lakes.  I've run there several times and it's absolutely beautiful.  Anyway, as I started to enter Fumee, there were runners who were exiting as I was entering.  Boy did that make me feel slooooooooooooooooooooooooooow.  But again, I was not racing, right? 

I did well on the trails at Fumee until about mile 6.25.  That's when I felt a pain in my right hip.  That would be the hip I had surgery on in 2012 in Memphis.  Hmm....this isn't good.  It wasn't the same kind of pain as previously felt so I knew it wasn't cartilage.  Regardless, I decided I needed to walk a little more because, again, this was just a training run and I wanted to be healthy for Belgium.  Well, as healthy as I can possibly be with two bum hips.  So I walked for about a mile or so and then ran/walked the rest of the route in Fumee and up the obnoxious hill that comes out of Fumee.  Those of you that live here know what hill I'm referring to.  Those of you who don't, I will show you the next time you visit.  It's seriously obnoxious.  I started running again about mile 8.75 or so.  That's when my muscles (that I had aggravated by said weights workout on Thursday) decided to cramp up.  So the last 4.1 miles of the route I was in complete agony and had to stop and stretch every half mile or so.  Now, I will say this.  The agony of those cramping muscles was nothing compared to the hip pain last February.  So it was a good tradeoff as far as I'm concerned.  That doesn't mean it was enjoyable by any stretch of the imagination.  So I did a lot of walking and some running.  Running might be a stretch.  More like jogging. 

And, of course, the last 1/4 mile was uphill which was brutal.  But I made it to the finish line and got my shiny medal.  I'm going to fess up and say that those medals are kind of why I run these races.  :)  Not that I'm competitive or like shiny things in any way. 

Now, if you recall from my last post, the whole purpose in running this half marathon was to determine how to run the Brussels Half in three weeks.  And I did figure that much out.  Here's what I figured out...

1. I need to have training runs longer than 3 miles between now and October 6
2. My BRF's suggestion of staggered time intervals really works well unless the pain starts and then all hope is lost and I just have to push on
3. I really do love running the half marathon distance if for no other reason than to prove to myself how tough I really am!

So I leave for Brussels in just over two weeks.  I can't believe it's almost here!  I have a busy schedule until then.  I'm doing a 5K Run or Dye race in Green Bay this Saturday with one of my friends from Madison.  It's like a Color Run but it's a different organization.  I'm excited about that one though I'm not sure how much running we will actually do!  But it ends at Lambeau Field which is pretty cool in itself. 

Then I'm off to Chicago for a few days for work then back to the UP for about 4 days then back to Chicago for work and then off to Brussels!  Holy cow! 

So I will do my best to blog over the next two weeks before I leave for Brussels, especially after the Run or Dye.  I should have some great photos from that run too.  And I will have my iPad in Brussels so I will definitely be blogging there. 

Until next time, I will leave you with this quote:

"Racing teaches us to challenge ourselves.  It teaches us to push beyond where we thought we could go.  It helps us to find out what we are made of.  This is what we do.  This is what it's all about."

                                                                                             -----Pattisue Plumer

I Really Am Half Crazy!

I've been having this conversation with myself for the past few weeks (are you really surprised I talk to myself?)  What kind of run am I going to have in Belgium?  For those of you who are runners, you get it.  For those of you who are not...well...there's not really a good way for me to describe it so you will understand.  Let's just say that every runner, regardless of their ability, plans out their race in terms of pace, fluid intake, supplements (gels, blocks), etc in order to have the best race possible.  Throw in coming off an injury/surgery and it gets a bit more complicated. 

Here's my conundrum (gosh I love that word!).  I know I'm not going to be physically able to run the entire race.  Even if I was healthy, I haven't been training to run the whole race and haven't had enough time to do so.  That option is off the table.  So then the question becomes: what kind of interval am I going to run?  Am I going to run time intervals or distance intervals?  My running, to date, has been time intervals and that's been because that's what I was allowed (read: only way I was going to get to run) to do by my surgeon and PT.  Not that I'm complaining.  It's been a great way to ease back into the sport.  My intervals, however, have only gotten up to Run 6 Walk 1.  That's going to drive me crazy if I do that for 13.1 miles!  And we all know I don't need any help in the crazy department.  So my other option is to run distance intervals ie: run a mile walk a half mile, etc.  The question is do I have the lung capacity back to do that?  I don't have to run that mile fast but I'm certainly going to push myself. 

The decision I've reached is running distance intervals but how do I practice this?  I mean, sure.  I could do it during a training run.  But really?  Am I really going to do that?  Well, I probably would if I really took the time.  However! There is another option.  Yep...I registered today for the Iron Mountain Half Marathon.  This will allow me to test out my running distance intervals theory and see if I really can do it while still allowing myself a few weeks to recover before Belgium.  The catch in all of this??  Oh yeah...the Iron Mountain Half Marathon is NEXT SATURDAY.  As in 8 days from today.  And the most mileage I've run since being back is 2.5 miles.  Umm...last time I checked 2 1/2 miles is not anywhere close to 13.1.  Boy oh boy this will be interesting.