Myrtle Beach Mini Marathon Race Report

I had a great weekend and enjoyed getting to race with Cathy again. I love starting out with her. I know I cannot keep up with her because she is faster than me but I enjoy starting our race out together! She also gives me that nice kick in the butt I need on race day (literally!)

I have to admit that I started this race out once again stuck in my head. Lately, this has not been a great place to be. I continue to struggle with whether or not I want to keep racing, much less running. I also worry about this repaired hip and when and if it will ever be back to 100%. And for some reason, I keep fixating on whether or not I will be able to finish when a race sets a time limit on it!! Ugh!! So, going into a race with these thoughts churning around is not a great feel. Luckily, I also remember my friend, Ricky's last e-mail about my 10-k and his encouragement and I worked on re-focusing!

Saturday morning, I decided to focus myself on a thought from a good friend...”Shut up and run, woman!” LOL! It was a good focus. The morning was perfect for the run...great temperatures and a great course. I was running with a brace on the left knee and a knee strap on the right knee because I had been fighting a little bit of knee pain. I was a bit concerned since I had not run with either of them on before but I had worn them prior to the race to get used to them.

I was on my own for the first 4 miles...I ran as much as I could and then walked in between and kept a really good pace. I refused to look back to see if there was a shuttle following because I knew there was nothing I wanted behind...my medal was at the end of the race and ahead of me. So, I kept my focus on a couple of ladies who were running a similar pace to mine. The first 4 miles were mental for me again. I struggled with just giving up and accepting defeat around mile 2. Somewhere around mile 3, I remembered that I have everything in me to complete this. I have done my mileage and my long slow distance days. The only thing I needed to do was get out of my head and in to my run. So, I decided to kick my own butt. It was also around that time I saw a shirt that read “Dead Last Finish is better than Did Not Finish” So, I knew that I was in it to finish no matter what.

Around mile 5, I ended up running and walking with the ladies that I was following. Of course, I enjoyed some great conversation and made the miles and the time pass quicker. I started feeling some real pain in my left hip around mile 8...I started walking a bit more at that point but did not slow my pace. I also started to feel some blistering happening on my feet. And of course, I felt the urge to pee early in the race. I decided unless the urge became overwhelming that I would not be making a port-a-potty stop since every time I passed one, there were lines. One of the ladies decided to pick up her pace, so the other lady and I continued our race together. It was a good choice because it was her first half and she was struggling. So, we encouraged each other.

I could have left her around mile 12 but she started to really struggle around then and I wanted to help her cross the finish line. She kept looking backwards, so I re-focused her and then we began pushing each other to the finish line. When I finally saw the finish line in sight, I knew I was home free. I had reserved a little energy for my finish. I wanted to make sure I could run across this finish line! So, I took off and finished it strong. I was sore crossing the line but my knees and my hip were not dead.

There were about 4000 people registered for the race. So, I feel pretty great to be one of the 2699 runners to finish the race!

I learned a lot too. I know that I am not 100% recovered from surgery yet and cannot expect to repeat my best time just yet. But I was thrilled to finish this race in 3:16:11 since I finished Nashville this year in 3:19:25. So, with a repaired labrum in my hip and a lot of hard work, I knocked 3 minutes off my time. I figure there is only a matter of several more months and training and I will be hitting under 3 hours since my best time was in Columbia (February 2010) at 3:07. So, I have a goal in mind and that gets me more focused.

In the next couple of months, I will be working with my friend, Chuck, to improve my form in running. Before I tore my labrum, I was on the track to running better. And now, I am struggling with overcompensating for injuries and I am back to square one. Now that I have a good half under my belt and the confidence to head towards my goal of under 3, I will get some great training in and some refocusing and my next half I will be pushing myself even harder across the line!! And I will be reminding myself yet again, that I am so not done with running or racing.

Overall, I felt that they did a great job with the race. Absolutely no safety concerns while running. The police kept the roads clear and I didn't have to worry about being run over. There was also plenty of water and gatorade on the course (and not red gatorade! LOL!) It was a pretty flat course too. I really enjoyed it and am considering running it again next year. I hate the technical shirt...the design was just dull. The volunteer shirt looked much better. But the medal was huge and really heavy! So, I guess they spent their money on the medal. All in all, I felt it was a great race and will likely do it again.

Doing What I Can....

"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do" -John Wooden

Love this quote that I just found. And it is so fitting for where I am right now in my running. I admit that I don't like the fact that I have had to start over in my running. I liked where I was prior to hip surgery (minus the pain/frustration with my hip). I was becoming a much stronger and better runner then and injury really has completely sidetracked me and forced me to start all over. Ugh! But with a repaired labrum in my left hip, I have to be careful about overdoing it and I need to challenge myself too. It's a strange predicament to be in! I mean, seriously, how do you challenge yourself without pushing yourself a bit further? That's where I am and what I am working on though.

I did get a really cool present for my birthday from my dear friends, Cathy and Robert...a Nike Ipod Sport kit. Here is a pic of the sensor that goes in your Nike shoe or if you are like me and have another brand, in your shoe adapter that attaches to the front of your shoe by the laces. There is another piece that you plug into the bottom of your iPod and you use it when you run.

You start your workout. As your run or walk, the sensor sends information to your device, tracking your time, distance, pace, and calories burned. If you choose, real-time, spoken feedback can even alert you to milestones throughout your workout. Then you download the information back to the Nike website and it gives you all your workout details. You can track all your info. At the website, you can set up for coaching for certain goals or races. You can also join challenges or set goals for yourself. All in all, I am pretty impressed with this. I have used it multiple times and it is such an awesome tool to aid me in my return to running!

I will also be getting another new tool in my training. Tye informed me this past week that he will be leaving the gym for a better job offer. I am so happy for him and very excited about his opportunity. However, I am terrified about what this means for me. I still have 4 months of training left. I am going to try a new trainer out on Friday and feel him out and see if it is a good fit. I really hope that it is, because I would prefer to not have to cancel my training contract early. I already knew I was not going to renew when it was over, but I wasn't prepared to lose Tye this early. So, I will keep you posted on how the new trainer and I work out. I have always said that choosing a trainer is similar to dating, if you don't get a good feel for the trainer, then you are not going to work hard for them. I am very apprehensive, but I also feel this may end up being a positive thing too. So, for now, I am reserving judgment. We shall see!

Today, Cathy and I got together for our long slow distance day. The original plan was to shoot for 8-10 miles. We ended up doing 11.5 miles. And some of those miles included some insane hills!! I felt pretty good about today. I worked hard not to overwork the hip but also challenged myself too. This week, I am hoping to get 3 days of running in with about 3-4 miles each day. And then on Saturday, we will be doing another long slow distance day and our goal is going to be 12-14 miles.

And after our mileage today, I was a good girl. I did a long period of stretching to help ease up the muscles. Tonight, I am icing the hip and my knees to relieve any stress and inflammation. And I took some Advil to ease the irritation. Hopefully after a good night of sleep, I will be recovered and ready to hit some more mileage in tomorrow.

Anyways, my new goal for the half in Myrtle Beach is no longer trying to beat my times from previous halfs. I am no longer stressing over time or trying to compare myself to my pre-surgery running. For now, I am relearning my love of running and rebuilding my endurance. Any other races that I do this year will go in the same category. The past 10k and 5k, I pushed myself harder trying to compete with my pre-surgery running and it didn't work as well. So, I decided to be more realistic. Also, Chuck has been coaching me some on my running and has finally beat that into my head! I am relarning running strategy and building endurance. And I am excited about Myrtle Beach at the end of the month! Now, I just have to get my mileage in every week and plan for some recovery miles each week too!

Well, it's been a long weekend and I am so ready for bed!! Time to let the body get some recovery in!!