Philadelphia Half Marathon 9-18-2011

Here it is...finally, my race report. Wasn't sure it was going to get done until later in the week, but here you go....

So, before I give you my race report, I will give you an update on life for me lately. It's been an interesting year. It's hard to believe that I only have 2 more half marathons to complete before I can stick my tongue out at the naysayers who said I was crazy for doing 6 in one year. Yeah, I won't lie, it is part of my motivation :) As usual before I do any race, I somehow manage to injure myself or have some kind of crazy issue...I think that is normal for me. So, right now, I am under the care of the orthopedic surgeon again....Dr. Ekman is taking care of my left wrist. It has been bothering me for about 5-6 weeks and I was finally able to get in to see him yesterday. He believes that it has been injured in the past, though I am unaware of any injuries and so is my mother. In addition to it being completely abnormal (so were my hips! LOL!), arthritis has set in and made lifting and little tasks like opening bottles, driving, etc. painful. So, I am now in a wrist support brace for the next 30 days to try and get it back to normal and I am on anti-inflammatories!! I had gone to see a chiropractor that I could get in to see earlier than Dr. Ekman and found out that they couldn't do anything for my wrist but my back and neck are way out of alignment. So, now I am on the chiropractic route and in a wait and see pattern about the wrist.

So, that is what's going on with me prior to flying out to Philly on Friday. We got into Philly and were able to get our rental car and get to the Expo. And I shopped...found lots of fun stuff...like the perfect shirt for me that says "I Run So I Don't Kill People" and it has the chalk outline. Yeah, I couldn't resist :) The expo was fun. We headed to what Food Network says is the best place for philly cheesesteaks only to find out that no one agrees who makes the best. It was a pretty fabulous philly though! The day before race day, poor hubby forgot that a walking tour would be a bad plan and walked me to death which agitated my hip and legs and back. So, on race morning after standing in the forever long port-a-potty line (and I forgot to stuff my bra! Bad morning). I headed over to join in my corral.

I started off with a pretty good run pace. And then I spotted my kindred spirit. Deanna is a runner who also does the run/walk program and she was injured. She was doing this half marathon with a broken foot. She was only 6 weeks out from the break and was determined to finish. Luckily, she did not require surgery. So, I made Deanna my best friend and decided to do the smart thing and stick with her as she walked it since she was doing about the pace that I wanted at that point. I figured that my neck and back would be helped greatly if I took it a bit easier this early in to therapy. Deanna was a rockstar...we talked the entire time distracting each other from any possible pain. And yes, we finished and finished strong. I had fun. And I remembered my dear friend and ironman, Taz, telling me that I needed to stop pressuring myself and have fun. I never even thought about the time for a second. It was great. Beautiful course. It ended near the steps to the Philadelphia Museum of Art where Rocky ran the steps :)

All in all it was a great race. My post race recovery though was not up to standard. I did not factor in a recovery day, so we rushed back to the hotel, got me a shower and packed up and then had lunch and headed to the airport. We managed to fly out standby and got back in earlier than expected. I did not get much sleep Sunday night due to a neighbor whose car decided to have the alarm go off for 4 hours...yes, 4 hours. It was insane and kept me up most of the night. Then, I had to get up early and head out to see Dr. Ekman and then off to the chiropractor. Stop for a quick lunch where I forgot to eat a sufficient amount of carbs and then off to work for 6 hours. Work was fun...I have half marathon brain :) Then I headed to grab dinner quickly and got a post race massage. When I got off the massage table, my body started shaking uncontrollably. I went in to shock. I was able to get the shaking to stop and then headed home where my hubby and my friend helped me in. I got a shower, warmed up and my body began the uncontrollable shaking. I was also fighting a headache all day that wouldn't go away. After trying to go to sleep, I gave up and decided since I was now unbelievably hot to check my temperature and had a nice temp of 101.9. The fever finally broke around 2:30. And of course, after very little sleep, I was up early to get in to work today. It's going to be a really fun week of recovery!! I fully intend to listen to my body and go to bed when I get off work tonight...promise.

But next week, I am gearing up for Myrtle Beach in October. Then a nice recovery run in Savannah. Clearly even though I thought my body could handle what I was putting it through, it let me know otherwise which means I will plan for a much easier day after the race to recover better and much more sleep.

I loved the course in Philly and could absolutely see myself doing it again :)

Soreness and Motivation

I love this slogan I found earlier today when surfing the web and looking at a site my friend Laura sent me to!!

It's so true. I often find myself commenting on how sore I am or how tired I am from all the strength training and working out. But honestly, I never regret it. Never. I know that every step of the way I am doing exactly what my body needs me to do. I am pushing forward towards my goals and I am making myself stronger and more fit. These are things that are important to me. So, if I have to choose between being sore or sorry....sore will always win out!

Today, I got up really early because my friend, Cathy, texted me the night before to see if I wanted to hit a LSD (long slow distance) day today. I knew that Tripp and I had a planned strength training session but didn't know what time we were working out. But I also knew that I wanted the time with Cathy as well as the distance. So, in spite of the fact that my legs and glutes are still completely trashed from Thursday's leg day and Friday's cardio, I agreed. I do not regret getting up earlier and getting my 6 miles in with Cathy. There were a couple spots along the path where I hurt and my body questioned me, but I knew that I could and would finish what I started. And yes, the end of the 6 miles was a blessing!

After breakfast and a trip back to my house to shower and grab my workout clothes, I got my stuff ready to hit the gym with Tripp. Today's target was back, biceps and triceps. And though I may have been a bit tired. I gave it everything I had and then some. No excuses to back down or go lighter. Instead, I pushed myself and Tripp pushed me and we had an amazing workout!

Was it perhaps a bit much to do both a LSD and a strength training session in the same day? Maybe. However, my nutrition was spot on and there was enough time in between the two sessions which allowed me some recovery time. So, it was pure perfection!

Am I sore? Yes. I am not certain there is a day that goes by during the week that some muscle isn't sore! Is it worth it? Absolutely. There is no point in my training sessions if my muscles do not continue to get stronger. And stronger often means soreness. I feel more fit and much stronger than I have in a long time. I am gaining more confidence in myself. I am a lot more knowledgeable about why I do what I do and how to do the things I do. I push myself harder because I know that I have someone else who wants me to push harder even when we are not working together. And when my motivation and will try to fail me, I remember that I cannot fail Tripp when he believes I can accomplish this. So, I push through the BS (as my former trainer Jake used to say!) Tripp has been a great inspiration to me in that he has never asked me to do anything he does not believe I can do and he is always pushing me to push myself harder and reach for more than what I think I can. It's awesome! So, if the price I pay for feeling better about myself and being stronger is being sore, I will take it and then some. Bring it on!

Laura posted this on my wall on Facebook earlier today. I loved it! It is so true. I get up everyday and whether I like it or not, I have to think like this poster!! I challenge you to do the same! Don't let soreness or anything else get in your way! Just do it!