The first five miles...
Lately I have been breaking my running down into increments of 5 miles. Either at the reservoir or on the boardwalk or tackling 13.1 miles it's all about each segment of 5 miles. Usually it takes me about an hour to run that far and in the morning that usually coincides with a very important bathroom break. And no matter what, the first 5 miles are usually the worst.
This time, however, it was the first mile that was the WORST. I didn't even get 1/2 mile in before I had to stop and fix my iPod. (Learn from this... Just use the lock feature from the beginning...) I started running and the volume sky rocketed into my ears! I couldn't get it back down so I had to stop, adjust, get it back in the stupid back pocket and continue on. I took off like a bat out of hell too in an effort to make up lost time and attempt to catch Paul whom I told, "Just go ahead!"
It also dawned on me, during mile 1, that my ever important bathroom break was upon me. But it's mile 1!! I still have time.... Oh that hurts! My belly was not happy. But I just couldn't bring myself to stop and wait on line so I kept going. I was miserable and beginning to change my plans of finishing for time and even finishing at all. I did not feel well.
I skipped bathroom stop #2 as well because of the line. I had decided, "the next bathroom should have less people... just stop at that one..." but the line was 10 people deep so I forged on. (Stubbornness does not help in this situation.) Running up Front St. I was begging to see anyone I could connect with on the sidelines and request to use their bathroom. It didn't work out. I considered using the diner on South St. but something inside said, "just keep going". I ended up having to walk on South a bit. I can honestly say I haven't felt this bad in a race in a long time. Nothing was going according to plan. I was becoming defeated when the water stop around mile 5 appeared as a beacon. “Ok. Water! There HAS to be another row of Porta Johns here. WHERE ARE THEY? You HAVE to stop at this bathroom!! THERE!!” I don’t usually talk about using the bathroom in any great detail so I’ll just say it was the happiest I have ever been to see a row of Johnny-On-The-Spots and 1 person in front of me.
I was now ready to continue my quest of a 2:30:00 half marathon. Let me just get some hand sanitizer like any good, semi-germ-phobic person. “Oh, that’s sticky… THAT’S NOT HAND SANITIZER!! THAT’S SOAP!!” The phrase that goes with the acronym, AYFKM, was repeatedly going through my head as I ran back to the water station to rinse.
On the plus side, I was feeling MUCH better now.
And then my iPod died…
I hit Chestnut St. with renewed energy. I was back!! I was going to destroy the next 8 miles and hit my goal time. One of my Jersey Girl’s song choices came on. I thought it was going to be “Click, Click, Boom!” by Saliva. (This is one bad ass song BTW.) However, it was actually Linkin Park’s “Runaway”. Followed up by Rob Zombie’s “Never Gonna Stop”, Florence and the Machine’s “Dog Days Are Over” and Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” and I was rolling. People lined the street, all cheering for the runners. “Go Jersey Girl!!” I was passing 11th, 12th, & 13th streets. This is my old neighborhood! I’m feeling good. “Go Jersey Girl!!” I hit the bridge into west Philly. And then silence in my ears. “Maybe there’s just some dead air after that last song… Or maybe I can’t hear the music lead up to the next song…” I was thinking in my head. But a minute goes by and I find myself reaching back to the pocket for my iPod. I get it and the screen is frozen at the beginning of The Rolling Stones “Sympathy for the Devil”. I begin pressing all sorts of buttons. I’m holding them for 3 seconds, then 6 seconds and finally for what seems like forever. (And I’m pressing with all my might now since harder equals better, right?) It won’t even shut off. Just stuck at the beginning of a song… Tantalizing me… I looked for the all-powerful “reset” button. I couldn’t find it and officially gave up on the iPod. But giving up on the iPod pretty much meant giving up on my goal time as I realized I was 98% relying on my music to get me through. Epic iPod fail.
My Garmin…
It seemed my Garmin was .1 - .2 mile off of the race course flags. That was just annoying. But I did, and do, love knowing my pace. I knew what I needed to average to hit my goal and the Garmin kept me on track. But I hit “lap” instead of stop at the bathroom break. I hit “start” to keep going before I realized I had soap in my hands and had to hit “lap” again after rinsing and apparently, since it’s set to “lap” every mile, it just picks up from where it is and every mile will tell you the “lap” time. I had to reset it around mile 7, and then realized I was confused so I reset it and restarted at the mile 8 flag. It still seemed “off” though. This is something that just needs some learning and practicing though. An easy fix.
The Knees, The Toes, The Pain and Only 2 Miles to go…
Knowing you only have 2 miles left in a 13.1 mile race is a strange feeling. Because it’s 2 miiiiilesssss… But, only 2 miles!! And really, maybe 25-30 minutes of running after 2 hours? No sweat right?!?!
But my knees hurt worse with each step, my toes are numb (and painful) and I’m questioning ever doing a race longer than a 5k ever again in my life. But I’m SO, NOT going to WALK!! Lincoln Drive is curved in this area before the Art Museum. I have to run on the center lines, using the raised paint to act as a metatarsal lift. Weird, I know. But it seems to work. I rotate my legs so my feet are landing in an upward slant. Again, weird, I know. But it works. And it takes my mind off the knee pain. I know I need to move faster to make any kind PR. So, I do.
The kick…
I don’t know where my kick comes from but at the end of every race, I have “kick”. I’m dead tired and don’t want to run anymore but I finish with, in my opinion, amazing speed. Maybe I just want to be done sooner than later. I don’t know. But I kick. And I finish! The clock reads 3:03:??. I know I was about 23 minutes off that time so I figure I PR’d at 2:40 (confirmed later).
The End…
I don’t know how I felt at the end of the race. Good about the PR but disappointed about missing my goal. Even now I just don’t know what to say about it. I feel good today, albeit a little sore. But… Another story for another blog…
Happy Running!! J
