Night Before the Race

Tomorrow is the big day.  Tomorrow, I'm running my first half marathon - the Wineglass Half Marathon.

I can hardly believe I signed up nearly a year ago, and I've finally made it here.

I wish I could say I feel ready, and that I'm ready to take it on.  I would have said that a week ago.  I had just done many long runs.  I was feeling confident, excited, and strong.

Things change fast, though.  I had a lot of exams at school and it has been a very, very tough week.  I thought the timing was fine at first - I knew I wouldn't have time to run, but I needed to rest before the race anyway.  But, I didn't have time to eat properly, or sleep either.  I abused my body this last week, and now I'm paying the consequences.  I'm having headaches, I'm having stomach troubles, and emotionally, I'm not where I should be.  Right now, my main focus is trying to rest and getting enough (bland) calories.  I know I will get better, and I really hope that will be in time for the half marathon.

But if not, I'll still be thrilled to walk Wineglass.  There are always more races.

Pre-race Ginger beer to soothe the stomach.

I have a 5k I still need to recap, and then hopefully, I can report back on Wineglass soon!

Oak Tree 5k Race Recap

Location: Geneseo, NY

Date/Time: September 6, 2015

Size: 333

Weather: 70s, sunny, slight wind (perfect weather!)

Course: Road race with a slight hill at the start, and steep hill at mile 2

Charity: Geneseo Valley Conservancy

Time: 26:05

Rank: Overall: 96/333; Age Group: 5/12

Effort

I'm sitting up in bed right now with a pillow against my back.  I would put a heating pad on it, but I'm already sweating just lounging around in my home, and I don't have air conditioning.  I think I strained something right in the curve of my spine - nothing too serious, I'm sure, but it's making me think nonetheless.

This is probably the first time I have ever had a backache, and I think it's correlated to my run this afternoon.  It was hot, but the humidity was the real killer today.  I didn't take this into account, or rather, I chose not to take it into account.  So I would have to put int a little more effort to keep a pace I liked - working a little harder won't kill me.

After the first mile, I realized my pace was almost a full minute slower than what I wanted to maintain.  I was already really uncomfortable at this point.  My stomach was queasy, and my quads were unusually tight.  But my lungs were still feeling good, so I did the rest of my run at a much faster pace, trying to make up for lost time.

As soon as I got into my car, my back spasmed.  I was still able enough to run the rest of my errands for the day, but I definitely had a hunchback doing them.

I think I overdid it.  I think I am overdoing it.

Training for a half and summer goals

Summers are gorgeous in this area, and it seems like everyone has come out of hibernation and laced up their shoes.  Running culture is pretty prominent here, and I am constantly hearing my coworkers talk about their race schedules and how they are training for their next event.  They are using apps, books, online coaches, etc.  My company blog has even started a "Get Fit Series".

And everyone once in a while, someone will stop by my cubicle and say, "I heard you're running Wineglass!  How is training going?"

Cue the crickets.

The truth is that I'm not really training.  I'm not following any plan.  I just run when I can, and I trust that by the time Wineglass rolls around, I'll be fit enough to finish.

Body running amok

I've always prided myself on having a very strong immune system.  During college, I got sick once, maybe twice.  And if I did get sick, I just denied, denied, denied until it went away so I couldn't remember if I was ever sick in the first place.

This has not been the case this week.

One of my favorite sitcoms to air was Dharma and Greg and this episode describes my situation to a T.

Ok, so I don't have gout.  But in the last week, I've had 5 migraines, 2 sore throats, a cough, a runny nose, a 24-hour fever, 2 cases of pinkeye, 1 puffy foot tendon, a persistent case of the hiccups, some mystery face bruises, and approximately -100,000 hairs on my head.  Not to mention I was just sick little over a month ago.  All minor things, but this is coming from someone who worked in an ER in the midst of flu season without even catching a sniffle.

I'm getting worried, not because being sick is so terrible, but because I think that I brought this illness onto myself.

Being proud

I am done with the semester!  I can't even express how relieved I am, because it has been a very hard semester.  I was a straight-A student right up until I graduated high school, and even though I got a "B" here and there in college I finished my first (very tough) degree with honors.  One would expect college 2.0 would be pretty effortless for me.

Not the case.  Last week, I went into one of finals feeling adequately prepared.  When I looked at the test, it was like it was in a foreign language.  I don't know what was going on with my brain (anxiety attack, maybe?), but I couldn't understand a thing.  I turned in the final three hours later and begged my professor not to fail me.*

Yeah, I'm one of those students who always leaves a test thinking that "I failed" when I probably got B.  Only this time, I was pretty sure I actually failed, as in F.

And yet, I can't regret what I did this semester.  I put in 100%, and while it's frustrating to get such mediocre results, I know I could not have possibly put more effort than I did.  Maybe I took on too much.  Maybe I'm getting too old to compete with the youngsters (I'm only 22, but if you're 18, enjoy it while you can cause it all goes downhill from there).  In any case, I'm proud of everything I did, even if I don't have anything to show for it.

Another thing I'm proud of?  My run last night.

6.1 miles.  8:54 min/mile.

It was long.  It was fast.  And I didn't feel like I was going to die afterwards.  I probably could have gone a couple extra miles, but it was already 7:00 pm  and I was hungry.

Honestly, I don't always love running, but I love seeing these achievements.  Not everyone can run 6 miles, especially the girl who couldn't run the mile in gym class.  Now if only that could get me into graduate school...

*I didn't fail!  Now, wish me luck in organic chemistry...

"You look like a bagel."

That's what my mom said to me today.

I was trying on some dresses from her closet, and she made a comment about how she didn't understand why I still had some belly fat even though I'd been running more.  I mentioned that I thought it was because I had eaten a bagel earlier in the day, and that I was bloated (I think I have issues with gluten).  She laughed, saying, "You look like a bagel."

And people wonder why I moved out of her house...

Even though I told her multiple times, my mom doesn't understand that she hurts people with the things that she says.  Whenever I tell her I was hurt by something she said, she refuses to listen, and somehow ends up blaming me for being too sensitive and restricting her freedom of speech.  But, if I could talk to her, these are the things that I wish I could say: