A few months ago, I decided to basically take off from training for this fall. And like most other manifestations in life, in the course of just a few weeks, I signed up for more and more races. First came the opportunity to volunteer and run the RW Half marathon in October, then a free entry to Philly half (Shout out to National Running Center Ambassador Team for that one!!), and now the piece de resistance, Rehoboth this coming weekend. So, needless to say, what was supposed to be a super low key fall has been anything but that. Oh well, it's always an adventure.
So, running re-cap, how has my training been going you ask? Gah. Okay. A lot of treadmill time, until it recently broke again- but that's another story....and some outdoor running, but no real plan. And guess what? It's been great. My half marathon times have not been stellar (1:32.50 at RW and 1:33.54-ish in Philly) but not too terrible, and this annoying hamstring injury that has been hanging around is not making me nuts, so I am going with okay. Now, before my next freak out for this weekend, here's the recap from the mean streets of South (and North) Philadelphia.
I started out my Philly adventure with my co-worker at the expo on Friday. Everything was fine until we country girls tried to park our cars in center city. We legit couldn't figure out how to back our gigantic mom-mobiles into the spots and the attendant had to do it for us. There was a lot of head shaking and rolling of eyes. But whatever. Parking cars and/or driving for that matter have never really been my strong suit. We go to the expo, all is well, I get all my stuff, do a 'Thank you and see you on Sunday!', get in my car and head home. Around 7:00 pm my girlfriend who is riding with me to Philly texts me asking what I am wearing to the race tomorrow. "It's not tomorrow silly, we are running Sunday", I text back, and then my stomach drops to the floor. Yes, indeed we are running TOMORROW. WTF?!!!!??? Up until last year, Philly has always run the half and full marathons on Sunday. Nope. Not no 'mo. Holy crap. I have not had my customary pre-race, small child sized burrito, my nails are not painted, I don't have my pre-race granola bar...OMG. I am literally ready to cry. I get the kids to bed, then try to go to sleep myself knowing that I have a 4:30 am wake up call. After a few hours of barely sleeping, I get ready, pick up my friend and we hit the road. We arrive at the art museum and there's no parking. AT ALL. We drive in loops looking for a lot, and NOTHING. Finally we roll up on the police station mere feet from the entrance to the security check for the race, and like Moses himself had parted the traffic, someone is pulling out and the most gorgeous FREE parking spot is waiting for us. We breathe a sigh of relief, say a quick prayer that I will avoid the homicidal rage of my husband if the car gets towed, and head to the start.
It's cold, it's windy, and it's time to run. Mile 1-6 I am cruising through South Philly. I stay slightly ahead of the 1:30 pacer. I click through the halfway point and I feel myself start to shut down. The 1:30 group passes. I curse at them under my breath. Mile 8, 9, 10 are miserable, but it can't get much worse. Yup. It can. Now I'm heading up a 1/4 mile hill in the park. I feel the life slowly seeping out of my body. Mile 11 and I am heading back to the art museum. I feel like I am barely shuffling. Mile 12. Crap. This can only last less than 8 more minutes. I see the finish, and it feels like it's still miles away. I finally get there and barely crawl across. Ok, so that's a bit dramatic, but it sucked for the last 35 minutes. I gather my pretty sweet liberty bell and wait for my friend. It's cold. I am tired. But I finished, and some days that is all you can ask for. Just finish.
So, on that note, here's to another 13.1 on Saturday! Hopefully a much more upbeat recap to come soon! Cheers!
