More Thoughts On ES6

After getting some sleep, lancing a few blisters (ew), and looking over the preliminary results from yesterday's Endless Summer 6 Hour Run, I realized that there's another blog post I need to write.

Yesterday's post gave the bare bones, "this is what happened" version while my body was still reeling (lack of sleep, lack of food, not to mention while I was typing there was a 5 year old tugging on my shirt since I'd been away most of the day).

Today I've got a clearer head and I'm realizing how truly awesome yesterday really was.   Not so much because I hit my goals (yay me!) but because it was once again a reminder of how freaking awesome the human race - and runners in particular - can be.

Wonderful things I observed/experienced yesterday, in no particular order:

• Constant "way to go, ladies!" and other words of encouragement every time someone passed us (that actually sounded sincere!)
• Amazingly nice and encouraging volunteers, even at the end of the race when I'm sure they were tired and sick of standing in the sun
• A woman spectating who offered me a band aid when she overheard me mentioning a blister problem. 
• A gentleman with a prosthetic leg, volunteering and encouraging people along
• Volunteers anticipating the  needs of runners and going out of their way to be helpful (many thanks to those who took care of Michelle when she decided to stop!) 

Actually, I'll stop with the bullets there because the rest of them would be about the volunteers.  Holy freaking moly, were they amazing.  Seriously cannot stress that enough.  I wish I could thank each of them again.  I'm pretty sure I said "thank you" 100 times yesterday, and each time it was truly sincere. 

Another amazing thing about yesterday was just the atmosphere in general.  Since this was my first timed event, I went in feeling like a bit of an outsider.  I'm far from an ultra-runner, and heck, yesterday I wasn't even planning on running.  Yet I never felt like anyone was judging me or thinking "Who is this chick?"  In fact, in the final minutes of the race when I was walking just waiting for it to be over (LOL), I was chatting with a girl who was part of a relay team.  When she found out that I was NOT doing a relay, she said "Wow!"  

Huh.  Pretty sure that's the first time I've ever gotten a "Wow!" in response to anything I've done since I began this crazy running (and now walking) adventure.  That felt pretty good.  (Of course, I won't think about the fact that she probably did her 12 miles in half the time it took me to do my first 12 miles of the day) 

Anyway.  I'm digressing.  Or rambling.  Or something.  (Cut me some slack, it's been a long weekend!)  My point is, yesterday was amazing.  It was fun, it was challenging, and it made me feel something I haven't felt in a long time.   Pride. 

Weird, right? ;-) 

So, congrats to all those who kicked major butt yesterday (in other words, all who participated!), and kudos to the ES6 "cast and crew" for putting on such a great event.  

Oh! Almost forgot.  Unofficial results state that I did 5 complete laps (20.5 miles) plus an additional .246 miles for a total of 20.746 miles.  That puts me at 57 out of 73 participants (not counting the relay teams).  I'll take it! =) 

My Aching Feet!

In the two and a half years that I've been running, I've never gotten a blister.  Two black toenails, but no blisters.  In the month and a half that I've been WALKING, I've gotten more blisters than I care to count. Holy moly.  Today was no different.

Actually, today was wildly different because it was . . . RACE DAY!

Check out that loot! Tank (singlet?), sticker, cool flexible cup, and a $1 beer coupon (not pictured) that I gave away because I don't drink beer. 

So we got our swag, put our bibs on, chatted with George (the gentleman who encouraged me to do this race after he did it himself last year),  took the obligatory selfie:

(Must learn not to have arm in shot!)

 and after a few words from the RD regarding the rules (full laps would be counted, then towards the end you get a little flag and you plant that in the ground when the airhorn goes off at the end of the race - or you decide to pack it in, whichever comes first), a little "motivational speaking," and the Star Spangled Banner, we were off.  For the first couple of hours, it was cake.  We were going a lot faster than we'd expected, we felt good, it wasn't too warm, etc, etc. 

The somewhere around 3 and a half hours, the wheels feel off a little.  Michelle wasn't feeling well and my feet were not happy (I found out that one of the gel insoles in my left shoe was shredded, causing me to walk on a weird bump until I was able to dump it out into the trash).  We stopped for a minute or two, and then decided to proceed slowly until we could reassess.  After a little while, with some fuzzy math regarding timing and goals and the day getting increasingly hotter, Michelle decided she wasn't going to continue on after the end of the lap.  There was some back and forth but she convinced me to just go ahead with out her, so I started running.  It felt odd to run after 4 and a half hours of walking, but it felt good, too. 

Until it didn't.  

I finished the 4th lap feeling good and then once I was into the 5th lap, I started feeling awful.  My feet hurt, my back felt weird, it was hot, I was tired, blah blah blah.   I'd picked up my flag after the 4th lap, thinking I would not make a full 5th lap before the end of the 6 hours.  I had over an hour (laps were 4.1 miles) but I couldn't do math by that point and couldn't swear that I'd be able to keep up any kind of decent pace, though I was going to try. 

Michelle and I had set out to try to get 20 miles, so I kept thinking I HAD to do it, since I'd left her behind.  I was not allowed to quit.  The funny thing (or not so funny, really) is that my last run/walking miles were actually slower than our beginning walking pace.  I did not realize how flipping tired I really was until I was out on that 5th loop by myself, with the sun beating down and my feet screaming at me.  

When I hit the last mile, I just kept slowing down and then I'd speed up.  I was completely unable to figure out if I was going to make 20 miles (my Garmin was "off" of the official race measurements, but I never could figure out by how much), or if I was going to finish the lap,  all I knew was that I had to keep moving.  

I powered (as much as I could!) up the last hill to the start/finish area and I still had 5 minutes on the clock! Now, I think that's great, but at the time, I was so defeated.  I had to KEEP GOING?   I considered stopping, since completing the 5th lap meant I'd hit our 20 mile goal, but everyone was so encouraging I just kept going.  I ended up slowing to a walk, and then almost to a crawl.  I think the last bit that I walked was at almost a 22min/mile pace.  Snail-like.  I was just DONE.

Airhorn blew, I planted my flag, then I made the slow journey back to the pavillion.

I did it.  I made it through all 6 hours, and I made our goal of 20 miles.  I was happy, but practically whimpering, wanting to get my shoes off.

I will spare you pictures.  They are not pretty.  Oh my goodness.

I won't know my official results for a few days, but since I did 5 full laps plus a little, I know I did at least 20.4 miles.  Previously, my longest race ever was a Half Marathon, and my longest training walk was 14 miles.   I am super happy with how this all turned out (though I wish I could figure out my blister issue!), and I am so grateful to Michelle for allowing me to be selfish and continue on.

There are so many things in life that I have allowed myself to quit on - I am so thankful that this was not one of them.  6 hours, relentless forward motion.  I'll take it.

"Finish" line - where I didn't get to stop! 

Me and George after the race. 

Walk the Line

A few months ago, way back when I was suffering from temporary insanity more confident in my running abilities, I signed up for the Endless Summer 6 Hour Run.   Then I gained some weight, stopped running, blah blah.  In short, I did what I always do.  I gave up on myself.

(Remember this?  Apparently, I don't.)

Fast forward to today.  Today I woke up at 4:30 (why is it that when I have to get up ungodly early, I end up waking up even earlier than planned? My alarm wasn't set to go off until 4:45!) and got dressed in the dark, trying not to wake my husband.  Puttered downstairs, got some coffee and breakfast, and now I'm sitting here, wishing I'd had more faith.

I'm still headed to Endless Summer.  And don't get me wrong, it's going to be fun.  Well, as fun as walking in a circle all morning can be.  But a little part of me does wish that I was going to be running it instead of walking it.  BUT.   If I were running it, I would be alone, and walking it allows me to spend 6 hours with a good friend.  So really I can't complain.  Besides, we're going to rock it - and that's always a good thing, right?  =)


So here I go.  Off to my first ever timed event, my first non-ultra ultra.  Let's do this. 

Walk This Way

I may be a slacker when it comes to running lately (though I am getting back on track!), but you can NOT say that I was slacking today.   Behold.

Yes, that says 14 miles, and yes, that says 4 hours and 3 minutes.  Michelle and I walked the crap outta that park! =) 

While we were walking, it was just nonstop movement - some miles faster than others, but go, go, go the whole time - and I felt fine.  Then we finished and I kind of just wanted to fall down a little bit.  I did not realize how tired I was until I got home.  Thankfully my kids are still little enough that we mandate "rest time!" in the afternoon.  Once they were ensconced in their rooms, I pretty much turned into a slug, and even napped a bit, which I never do.  I will say I'm a tad bit worried about how tired I'm going to be next weekend after an additional 2 hours, but whatever.  I'll caffeinate more or something.

My feet held up, which is good, because since I started this walking endeavor, I've been getting blisters.  I never get blisters running, so I'm really not sure what the deal is.

This is also new:

You can't quite tell as much in the picture as in real life, but my feet are super red and blotchy - and this picture was taken hours after we stopped walking and I had cooled down significantly.  It's not sunburn, since obviously I had on socks and shoes, but they were kind of hot to the touch earlier.  And splotchy, like I said.   This happened 2 weeks ago when Michelle and I did our 3 hour walk, too.  Only two times ever that I've had weird reactions on my feet.  So. Strange.  

Who knew walking would make my body fall apart?   Ok, ok, I'm exaggerating.  But the blisters and the splotches are weird and I don't like it.  Knock it off, feet! 

That being said, I am soooooo looking forward to next weekend and the Endless Summer 6 Hour Run (walk).  We did 14 miles today, and I solidly believe we can do 20 on Saturday.  Fingers crossed the weather doesn't get super hot like in past years.  

It sees surreal that we did 14 miles today.  Previous to this, I'd only ever done 13.1 - and that was in races.  This was just a Sunday stroll in the park.  Felt good. =) 

I Am What I Am

I'm feeling a bit like Popeye today.  Minus the muscles, pipe, and spinach.  So, really more like Olive Oyl. Except with a gut.  And slightly smaller feet.

Apparently I am really bad with analogies today.  Goodness.  Moving on.......

I had a craptacular run today.  It wasn't even a run, really.  It was mostly a walk.  Partly a shuffle.  Occasionally, I think I actually did something that could qualify as running.  In the hour that I was out at the park, walking and shuffling and running, I was doing a lot of thinking.

Most of the thinking went like this: "I SUCK at this! I've been doing this for over two years now, you'd think I'd be better at it by now.  I mean, really.  Oh, crap, here comes a runner.  Should I speed up, or would that be totally obvious? She's not looking at me anyway, and oh - she passed me already. Right. Because she's running.   What am I doing? How long have I been out here?  God, only 40 minutes?  No way am I making it to two hours today.  As soon as I get to the car, I'm done.  I'm not doing another loop.  I can do a two hour run on Saturday.  Or Sunday.  Sunday is Mother's Day.  I get the day "off."  So I can go for a two hour run and not feel guilty, right?  Or I could just sleep in.  Sleep is good.  Holy hell, where is the damn car???"

When I got home from the park, I made myself a huge salad and sat on the couch, eating and feeling sorry for myself.  Then an old friend called and while we were chatting, I started to feel better, until she mentioned these "crazy people" that were doing run/walk intervals during the half marathon she just did.  I spoke up, trying to explain that it's actually a valid way to race, and that I've done it.... but my heart just wasn't in it.  I was feeling so crappy that I couldn't even defend myself, so I just shut up.

Last fall, I ran 12 miles with only one (60 second) walk break.  Lately, I can hardly run 1 mile without walking.  I've finished two half marathons, two 10 mile races, a bunch of 5Ks.  I've run over 900 miles since I started running, and yet today I'm sitting here feeling  like a fraud for calling myself  a runner.

Why?  Because I walk sometimes.

Then I got to thinking.  Jeff Galloway has a bajillion followers (give or take a few gajillion).  That means that there are plenty of people out there running races using run/walk intervals.  Fast people, slow people, old people, young people.

There are also people who run Ultras - people who can run 50Ks, 50 Milers, 100 milers.... and they walk during them, sometimes.  When the terrain is rough, or when they just need to give their minds and bodies a break.  Could anyone dare say those badasses are not runners because sometimes they walk?

So what's my problem, exactly?

I guess I'm just having a bad day.  I'm hoping that tomorrow I'll wake up and feel differently about things, because I certainly don't enjoy feeling this way.  Maybe I'd feel better if there was another term I could call myself instead of a runner.  Maybe ...  endurance athlete?  Idiot ? Either of those could probably apply.  

Either way, as Popeye says, I am what I am and that's all that I am....   Whatever that may be. 

I'm Making It Up As I Go Along

Week 1 of my completely made up and likely-to-be-changed training plan for Endless Summer is in the books, and I am freaking tired.  Granted, it doesn't help that I've been sick for the past couple of days (allergies + a cold or just allergies or maybe it's the black plague, who knows).

What does my made up training plan look like, you ask?  Well, it looks like a whole hell of a lot of running and walking and very little time for things like naps and piñatas.  To be more specific, my week looked like this:

Monday - Rest
Tuesday - 1 Hour Run
Wednesday - Rest
Thursday - 1.5 Hour Run
Friday - Rest
Saturday - .5 Hour Run
Sunday - 2 Hour Walk + .5 Hour Run

Saturday's run and today's run were supposed to be an hour each, in theory, but with the way I was feeling, it just wasn't going to happen.   So all told I spent 3.5 hours running, 2 hours walking, and covered roughly 24 miles.

Going forward, the runs will increase and the walks will increase and hopefully my tolerance for a piñata free life will increase.  (Please, don't ask what's up with me and piñatas today, because the truth is I have no idea.  Sometimes a word just gets in my  head and since it took me entirely too long to figure out how to type a tilde on this stupid laptop, I'm just going to keep using it, mmkay?)

Though I'm not exactly sure how it'll all flesh out, I think that my training will peak at something like 11 hours of running and walking per week.  After Endless Summer I'll probably scale back for a week or two and then ramp back up even higher before I get to North Coast.

Or, maybe I'm completely full of crap and have no idea what I'm talking about.  This, truthfully, is much more likely.  Fortunately I have lots of very smart friends who have been at this way longer than I have, and I can pick their brains when I realize mine are falling out of my ears.

Aaaannd I have a 5K next weekend and a Half Marathon 2 weeks after that.  I keep forgetting about those races. I am NOT looking forward to the 5K, but the Half Marathon in St. Michael's should be fun.  Or at least that's what I'm telling myself.  We'll see.

I also just registered for another 5K that's in August.

Hey, it's cheaper than gambling, boozing, or doing drugs.  (And better for you, I'm told.)