Sunday, October 18, 2015

Run Cbus

Jeez, where have you guys been for the last year and a half?

Ok so maybe this blog isn't updated all that much.  Maybe I haven't posted since June of 2014.  Maybe I don't live in Virginia anymore. Maybe I have a new job.

Who knows!? (I do.  I'll share more in the future.)

ANYWAY!  I ran a race today!  The Columbus half marathon, since I kinda moved to Columbus.  At the beginning of the year I signed up to run the Columbus marathon. It was going to be my comeback. Training, running, cycling, swimming, and healthy eating habits have kind of gone out the window in the past couple years.  By the end of 2015 I was going to be back on track!

Fast forward a few months and I hadn't trained, took up a new position, and moved to another city (kinda).  I ended up paying to switch to the half marathon, which ended up equaling the amount it would have cost to sign up for the half because I signed up for the full so early.  Surely I could find the time, and fight the excuses, to put in the necessary training!  

Yeaaaaaah about that.  I didn't.  I ran once every couple of weeks, with exception of the last couple of weeks when I went into race panic mode, and found additional motivation which will be shared at the end of this post (this is called "a tease").  When friends asked about the race I lowered my race expectations.  I would joke (hard to believe) that I wouldn't be "running" the race, I'd be completing the race. I shared that my longest training run was 5 miles and I may not make it halfway through.  I also shared my plan to run to each fluid station and then walk through.  Expectations were lowered to the point that passing out would be the only way to not meet them, and my body has enough reserves to stop that from happening.

Saturday my family and I drove down to Columbus for race weekend. We dropped the little one off at our sisters and the misses, oldest daughter, and I headed to the expo.  I bought some half off Nike structure 18s, picked up my race packet, and visited some booths. After our short stay we made our way to Easton town center to take my oldest out for her birthday.  We ate at Red Robin (see healthy eating habits going out the window) and took her to the American Girl store. Good times had by all.  

A couple beautiful butterflies!

Creepy lighting...

Dolls!

That evening I prepped my race stuff by pinning on my bib and placing my clothes in a pile in the order that I put them on (I'm a little superstitious).  We stayed at my sisters with her, her two sons, and her daughter. A good idea of having the girls sleep in the same bed was put into place. After a little over an hour of battling (who would have thought a 3, 4, and 6 year old wouldn't fall asleep in the same bed without a fight?) they were in slumberland and I laid in bed telling myself I'd never fall asleep.  Even with the only expectation being to not die I was still nervous...

More on the Team Dork stuff in a later post.  Runners seem to enjoy the shirt.

I ended up sleeping well, except for a span of ten minutes at 3 AM, and woke up ready to get the race over with.  

When I arrived it was over an hour and a half till race start so I huddled around a heater. After ten minutes of awkward silence with 3 other people a volunteer came up and I had my first human interaction of the day:

Volunteer: nice beard!

After a few minutes of beard grooming talk I felt much more relaxed about the day.

About ten minutes before race start something cool happened.  In a sea of thousands of people an old friend walked up to the same heater. The same friend that I ran the Columbus half marathon with four years ago!  I approached him and within about ten seconds he knew who I was (I didn't have a beard four years ago).  After he finally recognized me he complimented my beard and we got to catching up.  I'd been wanting to run Columbus again since 2011 but other races came up, or I moved out of state, so seeing him at the same race, four years apart, made the days events much more memorable.  

The starting gun fired and off I went. My pace plan was to slow down anytime I thought about pace. So far so good after the first few miles.  At mile four I went through my second fluid station without walking. I felt alright so I threw that plan away.  One item to note about Columbus' race is that every mile has a different patient from the nationwide children's hospital present. Kids that are mostly 6 and under with life altering diseases.  This was extremely humbling, sobering, and motivating. At every tent featuring one of the kids I would get choked up.  I thought about all they go through (and not touching on how hard it is for them) and the fact that my kids are healthy. Having a bad race is a joke of a problem compared to these kid's and their family's struggles. 

I wasn't going to stop. The last five miles I had my first mocha caffeine GU (and loved it), saw some co workers, and kept telling myself I could handle another mile.  I finished in 2:16, my third fastest half marathon out of seven.  Ten hours later and I'm feeling good!  We'll see how that changes tomorrow...


Finish!

Race shirt to the left.  The shirt to the right was a gift for purchasing shoes at half off retail price..

My intention is to get this blog going again.  I like sharing different race and training experiences with you all (all three of you).  I haven't had many races to share about but that's going to change. What races you ask?  Just one. The Ironman 70.3 Ohio.

I'll share more about next years goal and some other running related stories from the past year and a half in the coming weeks.

Thanks for stopping by!  Don't be a stranger.

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