...and I'm one sore mama! I wish I could say this weeks long training run was "invigorating" or at least "exciting", but sadly it was neither. I knew I was in trouble when my knees hurt during my short 3 and 4 mile training runs during the week. Trouble is exactly what I found myself in out on the trails this week. One near asthma attack (no, I've never had asthma EVER in my entire life) & a limping left knee is what I ended up with by mile 17! Mile 18 was down right UGLY...but I finished (many thanks go out to my mentor Jodi for that)!
The Friday night before my long run I was in a bad mood because NOTHING in me wanted to get up at 4:30 a.m. Saturday morning and subject myself to such cruel and unusual torture. Yet, there was this deep sense of duty I was struggling with that just wouldn't let me entertain thoughts of sleeping in, and skipping the torture that awaited me on the trails. I knew I would have to get up at the insane hour of 4:30, even though the rest of the world lay sleeping in their cozy beds. With the call of "duty" weighing heavy on my shoulders, I finally rolled out of bed at 4:45 (no, those extra 15 minutes didn't help me any) & stumbled to the kitchen to begin my Saturday morning "routine". Oh, how I wish that "routine" involved coffee...but sadly it does NOT!
The run started off good, I kept doing a mental body check... "knees...good - breathing...good - no cramping - no weird aches - no unusual pains" & I was pleasantly surprised to find that all systems seemed to be in good working order (the 2 ALEVE I took at 5:00 a.m. were probably playing a significant role here). I'm even happy to announce that everything was even looking good around miles 6, 7, and 8! I think it was around mile 10 that I began feeling my knees say "NO MORE"! What! "They CAN'T be doing this to me now...I still have a LONG way to go"...(I'm pretty sure I said that out loud). I think you get the picture from here. I tried adding a few more walking intervals to "rest" my knees a little more, but that didn't really do jack-squat to relieve the pain.
Oh, and the weird breathing thing hit me around mile 17, just before I was finished. Out of NO WHERE I started wheezing and gasping for air! This was something completely new to me, as this has never happened to me before & it took me completely off-guard. Luckily, it only lasted a couple of seconds & I was able to just "walk it off" & finish the run, but man that was scary!
So, there you have it! My not-so-heroic 18 mile story. Oh, and for those of you "Nosy-Nelly's"...it took me every bit of 4 hours to finish that run. Although, A LOT of time was spent lingering at water stops & looking for Porta-Potty's along the way. For the most part, the actual running times were pretty average. SO... the lesson I learned from this weeks torture...er, I mean training run - "Sometimes finishing doesn't look pretty...but it always feels good".
*Does anyone want to offer me a free massage? LOL!
11 comments:
wow. i really admire what you're doing. inspiring.
Our pastor always says that we don't get points for style. It's staying in the race that's important. God isn't looking for perfection, just progress!!!!!
Hang in there!!!!!!! I feel like I need to do a cheer and some splits for you!
Sarah-
Aww, thanks! I don't feel like I'm doing anything "inspiring", but I do feel good about what I'm doing. I keep telling all my friends that ANYBODY can do what I'm doing. I may even be crazy enough to do another marathon...as long as my knees agree to that-LOL!
*R.E is such a cutie! I love your newest post of him in the cow costume-what a hoot! Zion was a monkey for Halloween & it was way too cute!
Jules-
It's a good thing I don't have to worry about points for style-LOL! Lord knows I'd be given a negative balance for that catagory! I'm just in this thing to finish. At first I had all these visions of crossing the finish line in a victorious sprint...but now I'm pretty sure I'll be on my hands and knees crawling across that finish line-HA!
*If you can still do the splits then you need to be running this marathon with me!
Come over and I will give you a massage!! I owe you guys something for Jon coming to do my beadboard - yeah!
I'm proud of you, Amber. You do inspire me. I would have thrown in the towel a long time ago. You amaze me.
Come over and I will give you a massage!! I owe you guys something for Jon coming to do my beadboard - yeah!
I'm proud of you, Amber. You do inspire me. I would have thrown in the towel a long time ago. You amaze me.
OK....I'm coming over right now! LOL!
I'll take a picture of myself at the end of one of these long runs & see if you still feel "inspired". You might be more frightened than anything else-LOL! For the record...I don't think you would have thrown in the towel at this point. Anybody...A-N-Y-B-O-D-Y, can do what I'm doing. You just have to be crazy enough to do it. You're just not crazy yet (I'll try my best to get you there)-hehe!
No matter how hard you try, you will never get me crazy enough to run a marathon. My "running" is limited to staying in the game of life and not throwing in the towel on that one.
I don't know what happened with my post. It said it logged me out and then there were two! ha
Oh, come on! How about a half marathon?
*If I did the splits it was cause irreparable damage!!!
Amber, are you out there. I know you must be really busy. Just thought I'd say, "Hey!". I hope you are doing well.
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