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| The length of my run can be measured by the position of the sun. This was a 3 hour long 18 miler in November. |
I turn 35 in 4 days. Over a year ago I set a little goal for myself - to celebrate this milestone birthday, I want to run a marathon. Not just any marathon, the happiest place on earth Disney Marathon. Oh, and I want to do it 4 hours or less. Because I'm crazy, and I don't want hubs to have all the bragging rights, since he will likely accomplish that goal. In November I managed a half just shy of 1:55, so it's not completely impossible, the stars would just have to align for me to be feeling good physically, mentally, and emotionally the day of the race, which is a week from Sunday.
The journey to this race has been anything but easy. I started out a year ago with a stress fracture and tendentious. After some rest and healing, strength conditioning and cross training, I got myself a treadmill and a good pair of running shoes and got to work. The shoes have since been replaced twice over due to my sensitivity for wearing. I began training for the Broad Street run, a race I've done twice before, in order to get a decent qualifying corral start for the marathon. I began rewatching How I Met Your Mother on Netflix while the treadmill whirred, and as soon as the weather broke and it was light before 6am, I ditched my basement and took off into the hilly streets near my house.
I finished Broad two minutes shy of the my seven year old, pre-baby PR and 90 seconds behind my husband. These 90 seconds have us seeded in two different corrals for the marathon, mine slated to finish between 4 hours and 4:10, so I'll have some catching up to do if I want to make goal. At this point, I was running with Superfeet insoles in my shoes as well as a lift in my right because I have a leg length difference. Not quite the bionic woman yet.
I took it pretty easy in the summer just maintaining mileage and building strength, then ramped training back up in August. Every couple of weeks I seemed to be plagued by some ailment. First came a bunion, so my foot doctor applied a dancer's pad to my left orthodic. That caused my tendentious to flair up so I ditched that and added a support sleeve to my big toe instead. Then came the shin splints. I took a week off and worked on calf and hamstring strength and added compression sleeves for my legs. Shortly after that came runners' knee, for which a bought a support band that didn't seem to work, so instead it was on to therapy and Naproxen. I managed to wean both of them by mid-November for the half, and continued on my long training runs without incident. You know, besides taking up hours upon hours of my life running around all of creation.
December brought the 20 mile runs and freezing temperatures, leaving me soaking in a tub for post-run relief. I got my last period 4 weeks to the hour before the marathon, so I know that will be factor #1 that I'm up against on race day. #2 came last week, just as my taper began. And boy was it #2, along with vomiting, the stomach bug that daycare had been passing around finally landed on me, run down and stressed out. I managed to be ok by Christmas; however, I still had a dull stomachache. After a week off of running because of the bug I attempted my 14 miler on Saturday and almost vomited after 5. Same with 4 miles on the treadmill yesterday, so off to the doctor I went. Gastritis. Wait any longer and it's an ulcer. So my taper is no accompanied by two different medications along with a bland carbo-load and no alcohol (which could be a good thing). The long-term weather report is currently showing rain for race day, and I'm just hoping God throws me a bone.
Despite all of this, I am anxious and giddy to get down to Orlando and finish this race with a smile on my face. My playlist is ready to play specific songs as I run through the parks. I'm still in the midst of deciding whether I should Disney-fy a run outfit to go with the spirit or just go with my typical gear for efficiency. All I know is that I better decide soon, because those start-line fireworks are ready to go off, and I'm ready to scratch this off my bucket list and never do it again :)
I might have missed logging some treadmill runs, but for 2014 my runmeter says I've spent 91 hours, 59 minutes, and 36 seconds running 578.8 miles. Yes, I definitely could use a nap.
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| Before the half |
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| After the half. Did I mention I peed myself? Really, not even just a little bit. But in the last quarter mile my body just lost all control. and now the whole 4 people who read this blog know it too. |
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