Back to Normal...

So I think the word we're all looking for is WOW.  I am certain I will have some more thoughts to share on last week and the events after Aubrey's death.  But not now.  Right now, I'd like to get back to normal.

Now returning to regularly scheduled programming.  

Sunday before last, I ran the Cowtown Half Marathon.  

And it was excruciating.  I made every rookie mistake possible.

Before the start of the race, the announcer, an Olympic marathoner, told us only half of one percent of the population ever completes a half marathon.  I find that unreal.  Considering the number of people standing around to run this half.  It was a little crazy.

That also seems unbelievable because all kinds of people ran the race.  Old. Young.  Over-weight.  Under-weight.  All muscle.  No muscle.  People pushing strollers and people pushing wheelchairs.  Sequin skirts and knee socks.  All black compression.  People wearing backpacks with fluids and belts with Gu in every pocket.  Others without any fluids and zero snacks.  

Anyone.  And everyone.

Which brings me to that annoying thing people who exercise regularly say (and especially runners):  Anybody can do this.  

Seriously.  

Of course, there are some folks with major medical issues and they know their limitations but for the rest of us, who just like to make excuses, we can do this.

Because if I can do it, you can do it.  I swear.

Now.  For those rookie mistakes.  Because I checked ALL THE BOXES.

I had to get up about 4:30 am to get down to Fort Worth.  And I slept not well in anticipation.  Sometime around 2:15 am, I woke up in a panic that my Jawbone wouldn't actually buzz to wake me up.  So I set my phone alarm.  And laid awake waiting for it to go off.

Not really a good thing to be exhausted PRIOR TO running the thirteen miles.

Rookie Mistake #1:  Too tired and too nervous 

Once I actually started running, around 7:30 am, I was a little tightly wound.  I started off feeling pretty good.  About two and half miles in, I started feeling pretty winded.  I looked at my TomTom to see my pace and, well, I was running about two minutes faster than my pace time.

Two minutes.

No way I could maintain that.

For non-runners, those two minutes could have cut off 26 minutes off my finish time.  No one just DECIDES to run a half marathon almost a half hour faster than their training pace.  I'm not even sure that would be physically possible for most humans.

I was finally able to get my pace under control around mile three.

Rookie Mistake #2:  Starting the race off too fast

At that mile three marker, I drank a little bit more water from my now second water station.  It was warm and muggy and I didn't want to get dehydrated.

HOWEVER...

I don't normally run with that much water in my tummy.  And it revolted.

Since no one sets up water stations every mile and a half during my runs, I generally stopped to drink about half way through.  I'd drink and eat a Starburst and then finish.

For most of my runs, which are usually five miles or under, I don't drink or eat at all.  There's no need.  I had spent some time training my stomach to actually accept food and water while I was running.  It was part of the training process.  But I'd never had that much fluid.

I ended up having to walk off some serious stomach cramps.

Honestly, I'm grateful I didn't throw up.  

Rookie Mistake #3:  changing something during the run instead of following my normal routine.

After my stomach recovered, I made the wise decision to drink at only every other water stop.  That eliminated the cramps.

Once I'd fixed that mistake, I was able to run my way through the Fort Worth Stockyards.  Which was kinda cool.

Although, running on cobblestone is not the most comfortable and I was nervous about tripping but it turned out fine.

After the Stockyards came this gigantic hill up to downtown Fort Worth.  

People were lined up on the hill with signs I can't repeat but the general idea was...

"You own this hill!"

Which was a LIE.

Because 112%, that hill owned ME.  

I walked it.  I couldn't run it.  I'd already run more hills in this race than I had in the past two months of training.  My hamstrings were barely hanging on as it was.

There had been lots of hills in Alabama when we were home for Christmas but almost zero out here.  My hamstrings were angry at me for those runs in Alabama and it took me weeks of delicate care for them to stop screaming at me.  But there aren't a whole lot of actual hills out here.  My usual long run course was the road around Texas Motor Speedway.  And while it was a gradual rise for about 2.5 miles around it, there was nothing like a real hill.

Clearly, that was a mistake.

Rookie Mistake #4:  Not enough hill training before the race.

Then came the run through downtown Fort Worth where we all got to high five Mayor Price.  She's a rock star.

And then another hill.  

People were hollering, "It's all down hill after this one!"

Which was kinda true but it didn't matter.  My body was barely hanging on.  That energy I'd wasted on the first three miles were what I needed to finish the last three and I just didn't have anything left in the tank.

I ended up having to walk far more of those last miles than I would have liked.  My body just couldn't do it.  I did manage to run up to and across the finish line but my feet were barely coming off the ground.  

I crossed the finish line and all I thought was, "This is NOT AT ALL fulfilling."

Rookie Mistake #5:  high expectations.

Not sure exactly what I was expecting but it was something along the lines of feeling like I accomplished something big.  Maybe something about telling my 19 year old self I could do anything and to stop thinking you are the most worthless human being alive.  Possibly exhilaration over being done but being ready to tackle another half sometime soon.

I kept telling myself throughout my entire training all I wanted to do was finish and I'd done that but it wasn't exactly HOW I thought I would finish.  

All I really felt was PAIN.

Just past the finish line was another line.  The line to the food.  And it was the longest line.  A line not at all moving.  How people finished their race and then just STOOD STILL I have no idea.  I bypassed the line to walk and stretch.  By the time I'd done that, I got my tee-shirt and walked the half mile back to my car. 

Y'all, I missed the Blue Bell ice cream.  

I was that DONE.

Once at the car, I stretched some more, ate and drank some water.  Then I headed home.

While I was driving the 40 minutes back home, Chris texted to tell me Rhys had a fever.

So I came home to this...

Bless.  Rhys has been known to get a random fever with no other symptoms.  Normally, he wakes up the next day totally fine.  And that's what we were assuming would be the case for this one.

That night, I was hosting the small group ladies for an Oscar's watch party.  I'd had grand plans but I ended up spending a good bit of time snuggling a sick little man.  So the set up ended up being pretty plain.  

The food was yummy though and we had a great time visiting.  

Rhys, however, had a horrible night.  I ended up sleeping on the couch and taking care of Rhys.  All four times he got up.  

In case you're keep track, I slept almost none on Saturday night, had my tail kicked by a half-marathon on Sunday morning, snuggled and held a fever-ish little man, prepped and hosted a girls' night and then slept almost none again on the couch.

My body was not all that happy with me.

Rhys ended up having the flu.  He was so sick Monday and Tuesday but his fever finally broke Tuesday afternoon.  He still couldn't go to school on Wednesday and he doesn't have school on Thursdays.  By then, he was back to his usual self.

Which was, of course, the perfect time for AK to come home with 101.5 fever.  She'd been at school Thursday.  All day.  I felt horrible but apart from a bad mood that morning, she didn't have any symptoms.  

So Rhys went to school on Friday and AK stayed home with me.  

By Sunday, she was feeling better and that was the day I left town for the memorial service.  

Thanks to the flu, I only got to run once last week.  I should have been doing more recovery runs and stretches but there was no way to do that.  I was and have been waking up all night long with leg pain.  It's fine during the day but man, once I get still at night, it's awful.  Hopefully, I'll be able to get in some runs this week and work out this soreness.  

Chris even offered to let me sleep in this morning.  Told the kids to come wake him up in the morning and leave Momma to sleep.  But my body hurt too much.  I literally could not lay there anymore and hurt.

As I was driving home from the race, my only thought was I AM NEVER DOING THAT AGAIN.  But with some time to reflect, I have to say, I will absolutely do that again.  That race cannot be it.  I just refuse to let that be the only half I ever run.  I need to get back on the training schedule and find another to run.  

I will say having the training schedule was a huge help.  Gone are the days of only having 45 minutes to get a workout in before heading to the office.  There's a great deal of motivation in a time limit.  Now, I've got more time and less motivation.  

So if one of your excuses for not exercising is not enough time, from my seat, having more time does not offer you any more motivation.  You have to find the time and get the most out of what you can give.  

Both kids are flu-free now and it looks like, miraculously, Chris and I will not get it.  

Which is good because a high-fever makes a body hurt and thanks to all those rookie mistakes, my body already hurts.  Let's say I'm not interested in ADDING to that.