Part of me thinks the universe was trying to tell me to take a break and part of thinks I am just trying to rationalize how slacker-like I was this week. Ohhh, it was bad. So bad. But life happens right? You gotta roll with the punches right? Ok, that was a little cliche. So let’s just get to it.
Monday- Sick. I actually called in sick to work. I had felt poorly all weekend and Monday morning just wasn’t happening. Lots of rest, water and sleep.
Tuesday-Rest I told myself I was well enough to run so I packed my bag- I wasn’t. My subconscious must have known better as I forgot my shoes. Then came the air quality warnings due to the Chimney Fire. I found out from my mother that even the schools canceled all outdoor sports practices due to air quality. Ok, I get it.
Wednesday-Rest I had to stay late at work for phone issues so I knew I wasn’t running. Boo.
Thursday- 4 miles I ran!!! Mile one was too slow and mile 4 was way too fast but I got out there. I still wasn’t feeling the greatest and I was moving a little sluggish. The smoke in the air made things rough. My legs were also freaky sore. I stopped to stretch a few times on the run. I was glad I got the run in though, it felt good to be moving. I remember thinking that there were fewer people out and chalked it up to the smoke.
Friday- Rest And backslide. I woke with a very sore throat and some tightness in my chest. Boo, smoke. I used my inhaler on the way to work. Things got a little better while at work as work town is a little farther from the fire. That didn’t stop the sky from glowing when I left though.
Saturday- Rest. I had laid out all my clothes to run the night before and I was really hoping for 10 miles. Surprisingly, marathon training made me like long runs. But I felt worse Saturday morning than I had on Friday. Boo. So I lazed about all day and the ended the day at the movies.
every parking lot is full of fire trucks
Sunday- 8 mile stationary bike, 10 pushups and a plank attempt. My clothes were still laid out to run but yeah. I was exhausted and learned something about my running route. Mountain lion sightings?!!!! Oh hell no. Apparently there have been a few sightings and the game warden has been out. Seriously?!
Ok, enough is enough. Smoke, lions and sickness? I’m done.
So yeah, this was an interesting week. I am over it and moving on. And now debating if that running route is public enough to chance running. I mean there are houses on one side, right? Hmmm.
The weekend is almost here, woot woot! I am so ready. How about you?
How I will feel at closing time on Friday
My brain has been all a-jumble this week so I figured I would just ramble on a bit. Join me for a stroll?
So you know how some people celebrate races by treating themselves to all kinds of food? I thought I would be one of those people. I mean I already have a messed up relationship with food- reward/comfort but that’s another story- but that’s not what panned out. Instead I seem to have gone through a 3 week period of impulse purchases. Oops!!! New shoes, new shorts, the transition towel, a 26.2 sticker for my car, a new planner and a little something else that I can’t wait to share. To bad the projected time frame for delivery is 8-12 weeks. Boo.
I’m still in that weird spot of wanting to grow my hair but hating where it’s at right now. I’ve been thinking it might be time to dye it again. So I took a pair of scissors to it over the weekend. I now have bangs. And they went a little 80’s on Wednesday. Oops.
We’re doing a Biggest Loser type contest at work. I figured a little motivation wouldn’t hurt right? Oh man, I am losing so badly. And I broke my scale. Not sure how I am weighing in tomorrow. Yikes!
And I thought the Soberanes fire was bad- the Chimney Fire while smaller is a lot closer and burning like crazy. The air is full of smoke. Town is full of firefighters. The smoke is a little insane at times, my lungs are very cranky. Serious thank you to all the firefighters.
I am on Olympic overload. There I said it. Can I have normal tv back? I miss the news. The news at 11 was my sign to go to bed, now I am all confused.I’ve been dvr’ing it and fast forwarding through a lot. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t for the dumb way NBC is airing things. And some of the announcers are driving me bonkers. #watchonmute
Instead of the Olympics, I’ve watched a lot of Bones. It’s surprising how much I remember.
I hadn’t really planned on another recovery week but well life right?
I was feeling very out of it all week. I had troubles speaking and couldn’t seem to remember anything. With working last Saturday and then the company picnic on Sunday, it just felt like the longest week ever. I was just so tired and so ready for the weekend. That said, this will not be a very long recap. 😛
Monday- Rest I got a phone call Sunday evening from an employee calling sick. With another one on vacation I knew the day was going to be straight chaos so I left all my running gear at home assuming work would run late. And I was right. I wasn’t completely lazy though, I managed to clean my car after getting home that evening. I am embarrassed at the state that it was in.
Tuesday- Rest Same situation as Monday. However I also had a meeting in another town in the AM and I had the brilliant idea to wear heels for the first time in a month. Oh my word, blisters suck. Ouch! I did make it home in time for #bibchat though. I took advantage of a discount being offered and finally ordered myself the fancy transition towel I had been eyeing on the Orange Mud site for a year. Monday’s car cleaning also aided in me finally clicking buy.
Wednesday-Rest I can’t remember why though. I know I took my gear to work but didn’t run. Hmmm. I ate pizza though. 🍕🍕🍕
Thursday- 4.5 miles Fully staffed for the win! I taped up my blister and ran in home town. It was a little warmer than I would have liked and I started out super cautious thanks to the blister but it turned out to be a pretty good run. I have my watch set on 5 min run/ 2 min walk intervals, I am trying that these first few weeks post marathon. The first mile was super slow due to more walking and mile 4 somehow came in at 9:40. Ummm, oops? I think my new playlist may have been a little too inspiring. I felt pretty good at the end of this run though.
Friday- Rest So damn tired, is it the weekend yet? We also started a Biggest Loser type bet at work and the scale really pissed me off this morning.
Saturday- Rest. I planned on running, I was aiming for an 8 mile mid to long run and had been looking forward to it all week. I could not get out of bed. I stayed in bed past 3 alarms and could not get moving. When I finally did get moving, I was moving like a snail. Ok, running probably wasn’t the best idea. So instead I headed down to SLO for some errands. That included a stop at the Running Warehouse for some new kicks-
Sunday-8 miles. I was still tired when my alarm went off but not like Saturday. That said, I didn’t get started on this run until 9. That was stupid. I only took my handheld with 23 ounces of water- rookie move #2. Miles 1-4 weren’t bad. I was feeling tired but overall ok. Miles 5-8 were a hot mess. I was overheating, slowing down and having troubles with my asthma. I couldn’t smell smoke in the air but a huge wild fire broke out nearby Saturday night and I figured that could be affecting me. My mother met me at the halfway point, well that was the plan, I was so slow I didn’t catch up to her until mile 7. Oops. I just kept telling myself get to my car, get to my car. It felt like forever but finally I was done.
I was glad to have completed the run but things went south in the afternoon. I started to feeling very not right. I couldn’t regulate my body temp and I was burning up. I took the coldest shower possible and was chugging water. I was coughing a little more than normal and couldn’t focus on anything- which is why this post is also a day late. I texted my boss to let her know that I wasn’t doing so great. For me to text my boss, things are bad. At last check, I had 220+ hours of sick time available. Which is now 8 less because I did not make it to work on Monday.
I am feeling a tiny bit better and hoping that it was just too much sun/heat on top of being overly tired that kicked my ass. It was in the 90’s when I finished on Sunday which shouldn’t feel like a lot considering I live in Central CA but it’s better than the alternative. That coworker that had been out at the beginning of the week? Pneumonia. So yeah, I am hoping for too much heat.
12.5 miles for the week. More than the week before, that’s a plus right?
This week was odd. It was the first week since February that I didn’t have the marathon looming in the back of my mind. It was partially relaxing and partially nerve inducing. You know that feeling when you feel like you are forgetting something? That’s kind of how I felt all week.
There are so many theories online about marathon recovery, it’s easy to get lost. Plus, I had no idea how I was going to be feeling post race- would I even want to run after that?
Monday- Rest I had a few vacation days, so I turned off all alarms and just slept in. It was kind of awesome. Even better was that I had actually unpacked, put everything away and done laundry Sunday evening after getting home from San Francisco. I must be crazy. While relaxing, I finished up Lost. Still not sure about it. My legs felt pretty good. The only time I felt sore was when I moved from a sitting to a standing position.
Tuesday- Rest Another vacation day. I actually thought about running. I didn’t do it but I thought about running. Pretty much all my soreness was gone. That’s not normal right? I kept waiting for other shoe to drop so to speak.
Wednesday- Rest Back to work, boo. I took my running gear to work with me but that’s as far as it got. I once again was easy prey to my family and numerous emoji’s of pizza being texted. 😛
Thursday- 3.1 miles I ran!!!! It was slow, like epic-ally slow, but I ran!!! I also walked a lot of that but whatever- I was moving forward! My calves were a little tight and my right hip was yelling at me. Not yelling at me in a painful way, more of “girl, you’ve lost your mind but I’ll try to get on board” way. I felt like I had a crazy grin on my face the whole run. I could have done with less smoke in the air but it was great to be out there. I made sure to foam roll well that night and slept in compression socks.
Friday- Rest Well, hell. I woke up with a charlie horse around 3am. Grrr. I rolled with the stick before going to work. But the day turned around with an email- race pictures!!!!
Saturday- Rest I had to work so I headed that way in the morning. Talk about smokey! I work in a town much closer to Big Sur on Saturday’s and the smoke in the air from the fire was intense. I then headed home with the intention of doing a bunch of chores and errands but really only accomplished getting my tires rotated and doing laundry.
Sunday- 4 miles I had my company bbq at the beach in the morning. I am so awkward at these things. I stayed the minimum amount of required time before heading home. To where it was nearly 100. Fun. I headed out for a slow run in the evening but let’s be real, it was a walk. Still moving forward right?
So, 7 miles is totally recovery right? I am hoping to add another day and more miles in this week. I have another post in the works about some new post marathon plans. Stay tuned.
Oh and I never did a Goodbye July post- my third hundred mile month!
I can’t believe this post is here. How did the 6 months since I registered fly by so fast?
I was also seriously doubting that I would be able to write this post. I was losing my mind the 2 weeks leading up to race day. I even had a back up plan all picked out. I was going to have some valid (to me) reason to quit at the halfway point and then say I was going to run a local marathon in October. And then come up with some reason by then why I couldn’t. This was still in my mind even on expo day.
Race day dawned all too quickly. I stayed in bed until the last moment. I got up, got dressed, panicked a bit and we were out the door. Disclaimer moment- the way I fueled for this race was specific to me and my weird stomach- I in no way recommend it. I did not eat anything prior to the race. My Camelback was filled with orange Gatorade and I had Honey Stinger chews in the front pockets.
Ashley was awesome enough to drop me off as close to the start as possible before she parked and Uber’ed to the Second half starting line. I felt like I needed a bathroom but couldn’t find the port-a-potties. I stood in the line for the one pier bathroom I saw but decided screw it about 5 minutes before they closed the gates to my starting wave. So I lost my throw away layer, took a place near the 2:30 half marathon pacer and took a deep breath. Wave 7 started right on time at 6:22 and we were off.
Miles 1-5 Hello, speedy. 10:40, 10:48, 11:08, 10:48, 10:54
I started at what felt like a comfortable pace and just tried to enjoy the sights of running along the Embarcadero in SF. Ocean views, boats and the prettiest McDonald’s I’d ever seen. I saw Coit Tower in the distance. I came up behind the 4:55 pacer and tucked myself in behind them. I heard the guy say that he was planning on running everything but the hills- those he would walk. Perfect! That had been my strategy anyway. Hit the first water station- I walked through and drank some water. Mile 3 included the first hill but it was a baby one so I almost ran it but forced myself to walk. Yeah, remember how that pacer said he would walk the hills? His walk was my running pace. We ran into the Presidio and I caught up with the pace group again. We were looping around towards the bridge and all I could see was the fog around the bridge. My mother was tracking me via the app and she sent me a text telling me to watch my pace. No problem as up next was another hill…and it was bigger. I took 2 Honey Stinger chews at mile 5. My Garmin was also about .25 miles off the mile markers.
Miles 6-10 Hello bridge. 13:00, 11:11, 11:20, 12:07, 11:34
Totally lost the pace group on this climb. I kept them in my sights until the bridge and then they were gone. I had been looking forward to running the bridge and enjoying the sights but Karl had other plans. I thought I was prepared for fog but yeah no. This was more like rain. The mist was making me wet and the bridge was drenched in water. There were metal plates that were slick and I almost face planted twice. I slowed down as my shoes filled with water. Grrr. Once across the bridge we looped Vista Point before heading back to the bridge. The aid station as Vista Point was having some issues- they had run out of premixed Nuun and were low on filled water cups. I still managed to snag one but I was glad I had my Camelbak and was sipping on Gatorade every mile or so. Then I was heading back over the bridge and I was done with the fog and the water- I wanted off the bridge. Coming off the bridge led to another hill but it was a little drier and less foggy so I was loving it. I took another 2 chews at mile 10.
Miles 11-15 Kind of a blur. 10:46, 12:55, 12:45, 11:42, 12:43
Downhill holla! It was too short. I was bouncing back and forth with the 5:10 pace group. What the hell? I was on track for a 2:30 half and they were ahead of the 2:30 pace group. They eventually left me in the dust so I have no idea when they finished. I started to slow down but can’t pinpoint why, I was still walking the hills and there were a lot but I was running a decent pace on the rest. We ran through city streets until we turned into Golden Gate Park. The second half runners were merging with us and the first half runners were heading towards their finish line. I didn’t even think about following them. I hit the halfway point at 2:33:13. Ok, a little slower than I hoped for but still good. I had been told the second half was less hilly so I was hoping for a negative split. Oh, naive Slacker. Miles 14 and 15 were a longish out and back and it was a bit mind numbing. Mile marker 15 was also in the wrong spot. My watch said 14.5 miles and I knew it was ahead anyways. Grrr. 2 more chews around 15.
Miles 16-18 Uh oh miles. 13:03, 13:29, 13:54
We were deep in the park looping paths and I passed an aid station around 15.5 They were also having troubles keeping up with the demand. I felt ok so I grabbed a cup of water and kept going. Just before the mile 16 marker, things changed. My stomach cramped in a very bad way. I knew there was a bathroom 1/2 mile behind me but the thought of adding distance to already long race was too much. So I walked more than I would have like and ran when I could. I knew the next bathrooms had to be around 2 miles farther. I am sure that at any other time, I would have enjoyed looking at the park around me but I just wanted the hell out of the place. I felt like we were looping around forever. I could even hear the First Half finish line but had no idea where it was coming from. Let me out! We were finally out of the loops and running past the First Half finish, I just kept looking for the bathrooms. Aid station!!! I ran towards the port-a-potties but it didn’t have toilet paper. Nor the second or the third. WTF?! Success at the fourth. And nothing happened!! Stupid stomach. Since I wasn’t breaking any speed goals I made sure to use the hand washing station before running on. I have to say the cold water felt amazing. Considering the pitstop in mile 18, I have no idea how it came in at only 13:54. Ashley started texting me encouragement at this point along with my mom so I had those to look forward to.
mile 16.5 ishMiles 19-21 Park, still?! 12:33, 12:18, 11:38
I’m still in the park?! Yes, it was pretty but I felt like it was taking forever. As we were finally coming out of the park there was a group of ummm, homeless men to the right. They were cheering on the runners as we ran by. One shouted out the he had heard that cannabis helped increase stamina. Ummm, thanks? I admit it made me laugh though and I dug myself out of my park coma as we headed towards Haight-Ashbury. I glanced at my watch around mile 20 and knew I was slower than my 20 mile training run but it is what it is. These hills were no joke. I ate 2 more chews at mile 20 and water at every aid station.
Miles 22-24 Headphone time. 12:55, 12:28, 12:55
The beginning of the city streets were pretty and interesting to look at but I needed a kick in the pants so I turned on my music around mile 21. Yes, I ran 21 miles with nothing but sounds of my breathing and the sounds on the course. I only had one earbud in so I could still check out my surroundings. I passed a Taco Bell/ KFC combo and the smell of fried chicken made me nauseous. I passed cool looking houses and homeless tents camped on the sidewalks. I passed the scariest Burger King I’ve seen in my life. I ran passed a man in jeans, heeled boots and a black lace bra singing to the runners. I won’t lie, I was getting tired and my hips were hurting but I kept trucking. I did have to slow down for a cable car to go through the course. The last few miles were very industrial.
Miles 25-26 Damn is the bridge ever getting closer? 12:30, 5:57, 12:05
Yeah, I did something funky to my Garmin there and by this point in the race, my watch was reading 1/2 mile longer than the course. AT&T Stadium and the Bay Bridge were looming but they seemed like mirages in the distance, never getting closer. The crowds picked up as we got closer- it was a game day so there were people heading into the stadium. We ran around the stadium and back onto the Embarcadero. I wish I could say I was running this last bit but it was more like run 100 yards, walk 100 yards. Text messages were coming in constantly from friends and family in the last 1/2 mile but I just ignored them. Turns out my mom was posting my time updates to Facebook while I was running.
26.2 Holy crap. 5:22:27
Crowds were cheering, under the bridge and to the finish line. I actually did it. I crossed the finish line and stopped my watch.
Then I just stood there, I had no idea what to do next and there wasn’t much direction. I was finally handed a bottle of water and pointed towards the medals which were farther away than I was used to. From there, I found a picture line but still little to no direction from the volunteers. I marched in place while in line and responded to my mom’s texts and then Ashley’s. Then I was out of the picture line and headed towards food tables where volunteers handed me a banana and bar of sort but no bag to carry them. I didn’t have the manual dexterity to carry all that plus my pack which I had taken off at some point and I was starting to get emotional. I ended up standing in the road just past that and started crying. What was wrong with me?! Ashley called me and I headed towards where she said she was but I was feeling very lost. I found her and her sister and calmed down a bit. They asked me how I was feeling and what I needed. I said that physically I was feeling ok but I didn’t really feel like food. I was really craving a Diet Coke. Ashley’s sister went and found me a soda while Ashley and I headed to the challenge tent to pick up my California Dreamin’ medal.
I am not sure how I went from being a hot mess for 2 weeks to never even doubting that I could finish come race day. The fog made me wheeze during the bridge miles, the hills kicked my ass but I just kept running. I saw the turn off for the first half finish but it never seemed like an option. I was slower than I would have liked but I just kept moving forward. I walked more than I would have like but I just kept moving. I somehow managed to thank volunteers on the back half of the course, I talked to another “marathon virgin” on the course and spoke to one of the bad ass ultra runners. I am not a talker during races. At the finish a guy thanked me for pushing him. Umm, what? Turns out he focused on my socks for the last bit and followed me.
It’s been 2 days and I still haven’t processed a lot from the race or training. There will probably be another post coming. And a whole lot of thank yous to people.
Slacker Runner 