Taking it easy

I have been taking it easy since my marathon a week and half ago, no running at all from Sunday until Saturday. Saturday we ran a little over 5 miles, very slow and even walked quiet a bit. On Sunday lots of walking and shopping. Tonight I will hit the track. So far on schedule is Run thru the Woods 5 mile on Thursday, Conroy Turkey Trot 5k on Friday and then 9-10 miles over the weekend. Sunmart on December 6th. Thursday after Run thru the Woods my husband and I will head to mom's for way to much food. Hope everybody has a great Turkey Day!

Stuff

Tuesday night went up to the track to meet up with Bill and the girls and then headed to the Goose's Acre. We had a couple of pitchers and some good laughs.

Wednesday night I was back at Message Envy for a massage with Meg! She hooked me up again, fixing my post marathon aches and pains.

1st Marathon out of the way

My first marathon is over and done with. What an experience. We arrived in San Antonio Friday night about 9:30 headed to the hotel bar Mclods and had a few beers to take the traffic/drive edge off and then to bed we went. Saturday morning I meet up with Althea and Judi to take the trolley ride from hell to the expo. Without getting all bent out of shape I will just mention what should have been 15-20 mins at the very most took 1-1/2 hours to get to the Alamodome. Once we arrived we meet up with Najat and Special K, Robin was on her way out so we chit chatted with her for a bit and then got our packets and went shopping. Unfortunately the race committee or whomever was responsible for ordering merchandise did not plan for 30,000 people wanting souvenirs from the Inaugural RnR San Antonio Marathon. I got a magnet from the expo and I have ordered on-line my finishers shirt- which I really hope I get since this was my first marathon.After the expo Donna got us a reservation at the Hard Rock Cafe on the riverwalk for dinner and to hang out the night before our run.

Dinner was fun and yummy of coarse. I am sure Bill talked to all and tried to calm some nerves. Mine were horrible I was worried about catching the bus, I was worried I would not wake up in time, I was worried I would not eat enough, I worried about not finishing, etc. I think it all finally came clear with what I was about to do is when Bill told me.. "You know tomorrow you are going to be a marathoner" Coach (you) made me realize it was going to be ok..

Sunday morning up at 4:30, got dressed, took my meds for my nasty cold, ate my breakfast. My mom went down to the lobby with me to meet up with Althea, Judi, Donna and Rick. We got in the shuttle line and waited for our bus. It was a cold wait temps were about 37 degrees, thank goodness we were between some tall buildings to block that blocked the wind. When we got off the bus we fought the crowds to get the ups bag drops and at this time I made the decision to remove all warm layers and just deal with the cold. Luckily my great runner girl Althea gave me an extra garbage bag to block some of the cold air. After we dropped our bags I went to find a RR, Bill and Special K (Robin).

Standing in line at corral 19 I found Robin and as we moved up we found Bill and Jon Walk at corral 15. We slowly moved forward and Bill wished us a good race. Finally at 8:13am we were going across the start line.

Without going mile by mile (I will try to make this quick). It was a crowded run for a while, but the corral system was nice, there were very few times we had to weave around other runner/walkers. I saw my family at mile 2.7, got to give my hubby a quick kiss. Stopped for a clean bathroom break at a park (San Juan Park) that Robin and I kind ran off coarse to get to, but hey they had toilet paper and running water. Added about .3 to the Garmin so yes a little to much time was wasted there. But they were clean. Saw some funny sites along the coarse. The bands, cheer squads, spectators and volunteers were all awesome and made my race a fun one. About mile 16 Robin and I decided that we had got each other that far and we separated. Mile 18ish I saw Robin's husband and son and I waved at them. Shortly after I ran to nothing-nobody, just a bunch of participants and grass. This was a very difficult time of the race until about mile 22. Yes there were water stops between these mile and a cold sponge stop but i hit my wall during this 3.5 miles and kept reminding myself that I trained for this and I could do this. Coming up on mile 22 there was a golf coarse and I see this guy coming toward the fence and I realize it is my husband- first response is "I can't believe that SOB is playing golf during my first marathon"- then I realize he paid for 9 holes of golf so he could get a cart and ride the fence with me from mile 22 to mile 23. Awh how sweet is he? he also had chap stick which was nice. 35K mark.. my husband took this from the golf coarse, I am waving good bye because the fence ends and I am on my own again until the finish. By this time my feet hurt and i am doing a walk run pattern. Just past the 24 mile marker I left out a gasp and start to cry and I just want to be done. Then I hear "Don't stop this close to the finish that would be dumb to stop running now". I look at this guy with tears in my eyes and start running side by side with him. We chit chat and are both in pain, but of us our first marathon. When we round the corner and I can see the finish line I take off in a sprint and yell back at him to follow me in, I see my family, runner girls and Coach to my left and they are all cheering for me. I throw my arms in the air and I am done. I cross the finish line and a tear rolls down my face. I did it.. 5:39:28. I am a marathoner- a slow one but I did it.

47 hrs 50 mins

So it is 47 hrs and 50 mins until the gun goes off in San Antonio. Am I nervous? yes in fact I am a little nauseous. But that's ok I guess it will go away eventually.

Thank you Meg

All I can say is Thank you Meg. When you released my sciatic nerve last night during my massage I wanted to kill you. But yesterday when I came to see you I was in pain and could barely walk. My legs were tight, my hips, knees and ankles hurt. And today no pain. So my hat is off to you at Massage Envy in The Woodlands at Market Street for hiring Meg. Tonight an easy run at the waterway and finish packing for SA..

Easy Track Workout

Well it cleared up enough to get in a light workout at the track. 1 mile warm up.. 4 X400's average pace 10:15. Parts of the track were underwater, it was a little chilly and off and on sprinkles. The workout was nice, Coach Kim and Coach Bill gave us a pep talk and words of encouragement. Thanks to both Bill and Kim for all the encouragement and advise this season. I would not be doing my first marathon if it was not for you.

Rain Rain Go Away

Ok I know we need rain but come on already.. I feel the need for speed work out tonight. With 5 days until RNRSA I want to get out and run a bit. Last night it was pouring rain so I did not get out and run, the paths were slippery and very dark at 5:30 when I got home.

6 days and counting....

Sunday November 16th will be my first full marathon in San Antonio. A couple people have asked me if I am nervous yet and when I am awake I don't think I am nervous, but it is something about going to sleep and dreaming. I have dreamt that I got the stomach flu and could not race, I have dreamt that I had the regular flu and could not race. It seems since last Thursday when I ran the waterway with Fast Robin (aka Special K), Judi, Donna and Althea, I have been dreaming really strange dreams that in some way have prevented me from running in San Antonio. So I guess I will just go with yes I am starting to get nervous. I am starting to get the saliva thing in my mouth. I here of people getting sick after running long distances or after a triathlon, so I am think it could happen to me- possibly maybe before too. After the run around the waterway Thursday we cruised over to Luke's Locker for a 4 year anniversary party. Ate some snacks and drank a couple beers. Friday was my day off so I went out to help Pamela so she could get some much needed rest. Pamela had her first round of chemo last week and it does not agree with her body at all. Hopefully next week won't be as hard as this last one has been on her. Anyway I got to play all day with my favorite 5 month old twins.
I think we were watching Dr. Phil.. hum who knows.
Saturday morning got to sleep in a bit, we had a 6:30 start time it was our last long run before 26.2. I ran just short of 10 miles.
Saturday night we had our pre-marathon party at Judi's. Lots of fun and lots of laughs. Coach Bill packed a sample bag of what he takes to a race to share. One thing in the bag that I never thought of was Vaseline. I always have used body glide but I here Vaseline is much better. I guess I need to go to CVS this week. Coach gave us all a nice pep talk and told he knew we would all do fantastic. Sunday SHOPPING!!

Thursday 2.7.. Saturday 9.78..

Mom's Getting Married

Last night my mom calls and announces she is getting married. Of coarse I am so excited for her, but I am in shock!! My parents separated in 1999, they were married for over 30 years (33 i think) when they did finally divorce. My mom always has said she was never getting married again- so maybe this will explain my shock, because what mom says usually goes. I absolutely love her boyfriend. He treats my mom very well and takes care of her. So it looks like in December when my brother and sister-in-law come home for Christmas there will be a wedding too.

Tuesday

Track was awesome last night 6 x 400 at comfortably hard pace w/200 recovery. First a 1 mile warm up. 1st 400 1:57, 2nd 1:59, 3rd 2:00, 4th 2:01, 5th 2:03 6th 2:00. Fast Robin, Jimmy(winter group) and myself paced each other. Great pace felt great when we were done. I was so happy I was not having to do the Strive work out, it was 4 miles and LT. Yuck!! Kim's athletes amaze me, with how hard they work and how fast they are. They were lapping me in my 400's and they kept a very fast pace the whole work out. I like to call them "machines". Mosquito's were out again last night attacking all of our group. I brought my bug spray to share with all, but after you start to sweat it does not seem to work.

After track I raced home to see what was going on in the election. At first I had high hopes that John McCain could pull it off, but it quickly became a slaughter and before I went to bed it was clear that Obama would be our 44th President. A very historic moment.

Lack of Running

It seems that I have had a major lack of running since hurricane Ike. Yes that was August and I have no excuse but I have been having a hard time getting out there and running. I have been making it to track on Tuesday's and my long runs in the weekend but that is it. So not a whole lot to blog in the running department. Wed, Thur, Fri and Saturday no running. Friday was Halloween, went to a get together at a friends house for a few hours. That's me in the red race girl costume with some crazy ass thing walking the neighborhood. The lady in this costume was my height- don't know how see walked around with this gigantic thing on. Saturday morning Logan and I went to the Texas A&M/Colorado game. Game was awesome, TAMU won of coarse. Sunday met up with TWRC at Starbucks for a long but tapered run. Fast Robin and I ran 11 miles. we took it slow and stopped to wait for a few other that we got separated from but could never find them. We went back to Starbucks had a coffee and waited there. Sunday afternoon I started my Christmas shopping. Monday a couch potato again. Tonight track. Plan's to run Thursday before the 4th anniversary party at Luke's in The Woodlands. 12 days until my first full marathon.. Whew Hoo!