Predictions

We're less than 2 months from D-day, 53 days to be exact, and I have a number of long runs under my fuel belt now so I thought it would be a good time to revisit the predictions I made several months ago about how this marathon training business was going to go. Back on May 14 when I wrote about committing to the Dopey Challenge, I listed several things I expected to happen during the course of training madness. Let's take a look and see how accurate I was back in the innocent days of 3 mile runs. You can re-visit that entry here.

Love Boat Carnage

Prediction #1: I will want to eat all the food.
True? Yes. Oh my God, yes.
Yesterday was a 17 mile day. The only things I did yesterday were eat, run, eat, shower, eat, nap and eat. I actually stopped on the way home from my run to get a doughnut to eat while I figured out what I was going to eat for lunch. My Goofy friend (as in she's doing the Goofy Challenge of a half marathon followed by a full marathon) Ashley met me for lunch minutes after I got out of the shower. Seriously. My hair was still wet when I arrived at the restaurant. We split a Love Boat - a literal boat full of sushi - which we demolished in short order. This was after we eat ate a bowl of miso soup and a small salad. I then went home to nap and woke up several hours later to the sound of my stomach gurgling demanding to be fed again. I answered the call and ate half a pizza. 

Jeffrey and Jane made this run fun!

Prediction #2: I will wonder why I thought this was a good idea.
True? Yep - this was my attitude most of last week.
I had a lackluster 16 mile run that included 2 bathroom stops and an emergency run to a drugstore to buy a granola bar. In the days after, my runs were colored by this sub-par performance. I did not want to get out of bed early. I did not want to go out in the pre-dawn morning when I could have been sleeping, and just about the last thing I wanted to do was run. One. More. Mile. I was simply over it. I had already put in hundreds of miles and dozens of early mornings and yet I had oh so many more to go. It got overwhelming. Luckily, I have friends who showed up to run with me and a Dopey mentor that talked me off the ledge. Things went better this week and I might just be starting to see the light at the end of this many miled tunnel.

The "What Died in Here?" pile

Prediction #3: I will be doing laundry like it’s my job. 
True? Abso-stinkin'-lutely (emphasis on stinkin')
Laundry piles have quickly taken over my house. I usually have 3 of them: 1) The 'regular' dirty laundry in the 'regular' hamper. This consists of my work clothes, pajamas, towels, etc. It's pretty harmless and can be done under regular conditions. 2) The clean-but-I'm-too-tired-to-fold-them-and-put-away clothes. More times than not, I pull clothes out of this pile to wear again and they never see the inside of a closet or drawer. 3) The "what died in there?" pile. These are also known as my running clothes. Fairly soon after I started training, I went out and bought a separate laundry hamper for these clothes and these clothes alone. I did this for 2 reasons - sometimes I need to wash running clothes before I have a full load of the 'regular' laundry, and they reek of a funk that can only be accomplished by running in them for 2-4 hours at a time. This laundry requires a special kind of detergent (seriously) and should be done wearing a hazmat suit. It should also be noted that this hamper lives in a separate room from where I sleep.

Prediction #4: It’s very possible I will lose body parts.
True? Not yet.
Every full marathon I've ever done (all 2 of them) has cost me at least one toenail. Typically I keep hold of the nails all the way through the race and lose them weeks later, but I can usually tell when I'm going to lose it way before it actually happens. And so it's no surprise that "Toenail Watch 2015/16" has already begun. They are all hanging on for now but I'm concerned about #2 on my left foot. It's a problem nail - it has a history of abandoning me. I've learned to not get too attached. Literally.

Prediction #5: People will call me crazy. 
True? You betcha.
I've lost count of the number of people that have called me crazy, rolled their eyes or shook their heads in disbelief about what I'm planning to do. Some people have called me inspirational but they're easily outnumbered by a 2-1 margin by the first group. That's ok though. If I wanted a truly conventional life, I'd have done a lot of other things differently too. Years from now (hopefully lots of years), I want to screech into my grave with my body all used up and saying "Man, that was a wild ride!" I think I'm well on my way.

With 4 1/2 out of 5 correct, looks like I pretty much nailed my predictions. Maybe I should head to Vegas.

Marathoners Are Like Small Children

My friend Jennie is always in my corner cheering me on even when she doesn’t understand why I would do the crazy things I do. This Dopey Challenge business is just the latest thing she shakes her head about but offers her support.

Jennie and I were talking one day about how one’s life changes while they are training for a marathon. I was describing a few things that are going on in my life during training and she said “You know, marathoners are a lot like small children.” As an aunt to a gaggle of nieces and nephews, she knows a thing or two about small children. And as we talked more about her comparison, we realized how true that statement really is.

I delved into the idea more and came up with a partial list of how marathon runners are like small children.

1.       1. We eat lots of soft foods. Like kids cutting teeth need to slurp on soft foods like applesauce, pudding, yogurt and bananas, so do marathoners need fuel sources that are easy to eat. Though most of us have our own teeth, when you’re on the 3^rd hour or so of a long run, you need to conserve all your energy for putting one foot in front of the other. Chewing is wasted effort. For that reason the running world has created all sorts of things for runners to eat while they are literally on the run. One of the most popular products on the market is called Gu. The product is exactly what it sounds like. This pudding-like substance makes up an entire food group for marathoners in training.

2.       2. We need to eat often. Much like babies need to eat every few hours, so do we. Instead of breast milk and formula, we tend to gorge ourselves on carbohydrates. When you burn through 2500 calories in one run, it’s necessary to fuel up often. During marathon training I can find myself doing one of four things at any point in the day: working, running, sleeping or eating. Sometimes I’ve woken up from sleeping just to eat. Often I’m eating while I’m working. And as you can see from the point above, I’m often eating while I’m running as well.

3.       3. We require early bedtimes. Anyone with a small child knows their life revolves around the sleeping patterns of said child. Late nights out are a thing of the past. Heck – even being out past the dinner hour is a foreign concept. Similarly, a marathoner in training schedules weekend activities around getting their long runs in and this means getting to bed at an early hour so we can wake up at oh-heck-no-o’clock the next morning for our run.

4.       4. We produce an obscene amount of laundry. Small children tend to be messy and are often in need of a wardrobe change. Marathoners tend to be smelly and are often in need of a wardrobe change.

5.      5.  We have a hard time with staircases. It’s cute when you see small children trying to tackle a staircase and have trouble because the stairs are too tall for their short little legs. It’s slightly less adorable to see runners struggle with stairs because of their tired, wobbly legs.

6.       6. We have to get new shoes every couple of months. Much to the lament of their parents, small children need to get new shoes every couple of months because they grow so fast. Much to the joy of running stores, marathoners have to replace their shoes every couple of months because they put so many miles on them in a short amount of time. A pair of running shoes should be replaced every 300-500 miles. For a marathoner in training, it doesn’t take very long to hit that mark. And we don’t even have the option of the fun light-up versions.

7.       6. We get cranky when things don’t go our way. Conjure up an image of a toddler having a meltdown because he didn’t get the color crayon he wanted to use. You now have a vague idea of how a marathoner behaves if a race course is mismarked, there isn’t enough water at an aide station or they missed running their goal time. We can be a cranky bunch, but it’s probably because we need more sleep. Which brings me to…

8.       7. We need our naps. Getting up before dawn. Running for hours. Cramming our workouts into already busy days. These things tire us out much like the rigors of preschool can tire out a spunky child. Therefore it is in everyone’s best interest if we nap. Unlike the small child, we won’t fight it when it is suggested.

Marathoners might need the extra care that is usually reserved for small children but take heart, we can easily be made happy much like small children are - by dangling a shiny object in front of them.  Usually a finisher medal does the trick.

Back-to-Back-to-Bed

I'm not gonna lie. This week was rough.

There comes a time in all marathon training when you feel like you're just over it. You're tired. You're grumpy. You're in desperate need of sleep and you become keenly aware that you'll never be a foot model. That time came for me this week.

#beechstreetstrong

This was another back-to-back long runs week. I started out the weekend with a 7 mile run with my friend Lauri. Lauri is trying to make me a morning person. That's never gonna happen but she has helped me get used to getting a workout done in the morning. I have even managed to not strangle anyone at that hour. Granted most people aren't up yet, but I still call that a win. We got our 7 miles done by 7:00 am and I found myself done with day 1 of the back-to-backs.

Unfortunately later that day I found out that my training partner would not be running a long run with me again this week. Our training schedules just aren't syncing up like I'd hoped. It looked like the long runs I had planned with her were probably not going to happen, at least not for a while. A 16 mile run was on the schedule for the next day and I was alone. And terrified. I've never run that far by myself and I didn't really want to now. So in addition to all the other stress of training for a challenge like Dopey while balancing 3 jobs, now I had the stress of trying to find people every week who would be willing to run part or all of my long runs with me.

Thankfully I have some awesome friends. Two of them, Jeffrey and Jill, answered the call and joined me for the first half of my run. It was great to have the company, and even though I knew I'd be alone for the hard part of the run, it helped my mental game to know that I'd only have to do half of them alone.

Thanks Jill and Jeffrey!

So for the first 8 miles I had company. The next 3 miles went well. But by the time I got to mile 11, I knew I had made a rookie nutrition mistake. The stupid thing was that I knew I was doing it while I did it. That morning before leaving for my run, all I had to eat was a single banana washed down with some water. I knew I needed more calories than that but just couldn't force myself to do it. I'd worry about the consequences later. Later came with a vengeance. Suddenly, and with 6 more miles to go, I was famished. I had taken 2 gels but knew that the paltry 100 calories in each was not going to do much for me. I made a quick decision. I was fairly close to where I parked my car so I ran there to get my debit card and then ran to the closest drug store and bought a granola bar. I can honestly say that was the first time I've gone to a store and bought food mid-run. Might not be the last time though.

The last 5 miles seemed interminable. Having to make 2 bathroom stops and the run for emergency rations, I felt like the last part of the run would never end. But finally it did. And not a moment too soon. I mustered up the energy to smile for a selfie that I could send to my mom to let her know I was alive and then I headed home.

I looked way better than I felt...

After a run like that, I typically have a hard time deciding if I'm more hungry or tired. This time tired won out. So after my shower, I crawled into my bed. And stayed there. For 3 hours. When I was finally able to get up, my feet hurt so bad that I couldn't bear the thought of wearing shoes. The only thing I was able to put on my feet was my Oofos sandals and since it was pretty chilly out, I had to wear socks. So this is what I looked like when I ventured out of the house to scavenge for food.

Always the fashion-forward runner

Maybe it's the fatigue or maybe it's the remnants of a less-than-ideal run, but I gotta say, after this weekend I've been less than enthusiastic about this whole endeavor. I'm giving up a lot to do this thing. Sleep for one. Several times a week I get up and start running before the sun comes up. My social life is suffering too. I find myself having to turn down invitations. It makes me wonder if I turn down enough of them if I will stop getting them altogether. And for the social events that I do go to, I regularly have to leave early so I can get up for a run the next morning. 

I'm sure it's just a down week. Looking on the positive side, I have friends who rally around me to help me run long distances or who stop to ask me how my training is going, or just put up with the fact that this challenge is never far from my thoughts. I get to see myself making progress every week and that brings a certain satisfaction. And I have a trip to Florida in January to look forward to as a reward for my hard work. 

So yeah, this has been a rough week. But the good news is that tomorrow starts a brand new one.

  

Welcome Back Long Run

Milestone time. I have now successfully completed my longest run since 2010. Sunday's run was 15 miles. It went pretty well. After a rainy Saturday, Sunday was beautiful and I convinced a few people to join me for part of my distance. Since it was Halloween weekend, I figured it was as good a time as any to do a "test run" in my Mickey costume. (Oddly enough, I didn't get any strange looks. Not sure what that says about our running community....) You can all rest easy knowing the outfit got passing marks. I had no problems with any part of the costume so I will be dressed as Mickey Mouse for the marathon. I mean, seriously, how cute is this?

At this point in my training, I've discovered a few new things.

Hunger is now starting to be a real thing. I've started getting hunger pangs, as in my stomach physically hurts, at completely random times. Once last week, it was an hour and a half after I'd eaten dinner. I tried to ignore it because I was getting ready to go to bed but it wasn't long before I realized that there would be no sleeping until I ate something. So now I keep graham crackers on hand for these emergency munchies that spring up. They are easily portable, have a satisfying crunch to them, are conveniently portion controlled and are a lower sugar/calorie/fat option than a lot of other convenient foods. 

My cheap sports bra has a distance threshold. And that threshold is somewhere shy of 15 miles. I mostly wear good-quality Moving Comfort sports bras but I also have one cheaper brand I got at TJ Maxx a while back. It hadn't steered me wrong in the past but in the past, a "long" run was only 8 or 9 miles. I now have a couple of lovely strawberry-colored reminders to wear only the good stuff from now on.

For the first time ever, I kind of like that Daylight Saving Time has ended. I'm new to this whole morning running thing and I've been running in complete darkness during the week for the last month or so. This morning was the first time in weeks I didn't have to bring my lights with me on my run. Small things make me happy.

Sometimes the 5:40 freight train is more like the 6:25 freight train. As I mentioned several entries ago, unbeknownst to me before this fall, there is a freight train that comes through Uptown Normal at approximately 5:40 in the morning. How soon I get to the train tracks determines which direction I can run. This morning I crossed the tracks with no sign of the train and didn't give it much thought as I ran another 2 miles. And then on my way back home....stuck. Thankfully, I wasn't on too tight of a schedule because I stood there waiting for the darn thing to pass for a good several minutes.

The schedule this week is a little tough. I work 3 weeknights at Fleet Feet instead of my normal 2 and 2 of them are later nights than normal. I'm supposed to do another back-to-back set of long runs this weekend but I have to both attend a departmental retreat and a facilitate a focus group on Friday so I won't be able to go in late. It's "Suck it Up Buttercup" time!

The Lull and the Rain

We're 10 weeks out from Dopey. This is where I find myself in an odd lull between "Oh, these runs are getting easier," and "Crap, I have to run HOW far?" So as I slogged through a week consisting of sudden frigid weather and a seasonal cold that took me out for a day and a half, I was thoroughly aware of what was to come in the near future.

Weather had not yet curtailed any of my training plans, and given that it is nearly November in the Midwest, that's fairly impressive. But my luck ran out this weekend. I generally do my long runs on Saturdays because I work Sundays and doing a multiple hour run without the chance of an afternoon nap and periodic intake of ibuprofen seems a bit like pressing my luck. But this weekend there was something like a 90% chance of rain for Saturday so I weighed the discomfort of running for hours in the rain (and the possible subsequent blisters and/or chafing) with the discomfort of running for hours the same day I work at the store. The dry and fatigued option won out. It appeared, at least as of today, that I made a wise choice.

So as it turned out I have a little free time today as I watch the rain beat against the window. I decided it would be a lovely day to do some reading. This book seemed more than appropriate given what my training schedule looks like.

I also managed to check another task off my to-do list. This particular task has been on my to-do list since early 2010 so I figured today was as good a day as any to finally take care of it. See, back in January of that year I ran the Walt Disney World Marathon and bought a shadow box to display my new favorite medal (and item for which this blog is named). Today I managed to actually put said medal in said shadow box. Better late than never, right?

And while we're talking about medals...runDisney released this year's WDW Marathon weekend medals this week. Assuming I'm successful with this Dopey madness, I will earn the 6 medals in the middle.

So it is with mys eye on the prize(s) that I prepare myself to tackle the next very challenging 68 days. 

Lord help me.

36 Hours Later...

I ran again this morning. Ideally, I would have given myself another rest day after that whole 4 races in one day thing from Saturday, but my schedule did not allow for a Tuesday run, so this morning it was. I figured my quads were going to hurt a lot. After all, that's really the only thing that bothered me during my epic 5K tour of Bloomington-Normal. But on this morning's run they actually didn't hurt.

Everything else did.

Well, that's probably hyperbole. It's more accurate to say everything else below the waist hurt. My shins. My calves. My hip. Even the tops of my feet, which I didn't know was possible. I was barely a half mile into my "run" this morning when I realized it was not going to go well. I hung in for a mile before I allowed myself to walk for the first time. But it turned out that walking hurt almost as much as running. So there I was at 5:45 am thinking if I at least ran with my phone I could have tried to get a Uber ride back home. Since I was phoneless, my only choice was to keep running moving.

And then I realized...this is what I signed up for. Quite literally. I signed up for a challenge which included runs that would be done on tired legs. It is a 4-day challenge that I won't be halfway through until mile 3 of the marathon on last day. So this little 4 mile jaunt this morning was nothing in the grand scheme of things.

It was suck it up Buttercup time.

So I continued on with my run, avoiding temptation to cut it short. I plugged into that part of my personality that my mom calls stubbornness, but which I prefer to call determination. I made it back home an embarrassingly long time after I set out. And for the first time in my life I seriously considered how I could make an ice bath happen.

I Did Something Crazy...Again

I was going to start off this post with the line "I did something crazy," but I'm pretty sure that has already been the first line of another post, which tells me 2 things: 1) I'm already running out of witty lead sentences for this training blog, and 2) I should have my mental health checked by a professional. That is all to say, I did something crazy this weekend. 

But let's start at the beginning. This weekend of Dopey Challenge training called for my first back-to-back long runs. That's a big enough challenge for anyone, but when you run the, uh, shall we say leisurely pace I do these days, getting long runs in on a work day is especially tricky. Luckily, I think ahead. Several weeks ago I alerted my boss that I was planning on taking a couple of hours of vacation on various days to accommodate some extra mid-week long runs, and this was the first time I was putting the plan into motion. 

My friend Sarah has Fridays off so I coerced invited her to get up early and bike alongside me for 7 miles. She showed up wearing 2 coats and was still cold. But she did get the benefit of seeing a glorious sunrise.

Little did I know when I invited her along that she was going to make me work. At various times during the run, she'd say, "We're gonna race. Ready, go!" and she'd take off yelling for me to stay on her rear wheel. There were several times during that run that I questioned our friendship, but she did carry my bottle of Powerade in her backpack so I guess she's still OK. 

Me and my torturer friend Sarah

The next day I was supposed to do 15 miles. But a little challenge from a friend changed that. And this is where the crazy part comes in. You see, it was apparently possible on that day to run 4 different races in town. All in one day. My friend Julie, and owner of the local Fleet Feet store, thought someone ought to do it. She tried to convince me that it would be better training for Dopey than a simple 15 mile run. I hesitated at the idea. Then she sweetened the pot by offering a $25 gift card to anyone who did all 4 races wearing a Fleet Feet shirt. I was in. I found 2 other crazy ladies, Jane and Erin, to take on the challenge with me. So our Saturday would look like this:

8:00 am - Town and Gown 5K 

9:00 am - Wishbone 5K-9

3:00 pm - Heart of the Eagles 5K

6:00 pm Dusk to Dark 5K

Jane, me and Erin - the 4 race challenge 'crazies'

Ashley agreed to run the 1st 2 races with me. A decision she probably later regretted.

Race #1 was on the ISU campus to celebrate homecoming. The trickiest part of my day would be running this race, getting off campus through parade road closures and getting across town all in less than an hour. My friend Ashley took on the challenge of the first 2 races with me. We finished within 30 seconds of each other. As I waited for Ashley to come across the finish line a friend grabbed me a bottle of water and a banana and told me to get out of there. We hopped in the car and took off.

Nothing like having to race across town in parade traffic.

After getting stuck at a couple blocked-off streets we were on our way. We pulled into the parking lot at race 2, had time for a quick picture and were off on our 2nd 5K of the morning.

Let's do this...but first, let's take a selfie.

Jane, Erin and me happy to have finished race #2

After race #2, I had the luxury of having a couple hours' break. I went home and showered and then had a bite to eat. Intellectually I knew I probably needed a decent amount of calories but I didn't want to eat too close to race #3 so all I ended up eating was some of the post-race snacks and a bagel about an hour later. I spent about 30 minutes with my foam roller willing my muscles to loosen up enough to make it through the last half of the challenge. Soon enough it was time to put on a new race outfit and head out for race #3.

The Heart of the Eagles race was at Evans Jr. High on the opposite side of town. I still needed to register for this one so I left early. The race organizer learned I was doing this crazy 4 race challenge and offered  me a discount for the race, which I gladly took as this day was becoming very expensive. By this time in the afternoon the wind had kicked up considerably. I spent the majority of my pre-race energy worrying about the crazy wind and the fact that almost a mile of the course was off-road (the threat of injury is ever present for people training for marathons). Given those preoccupations, I completely forgot to worry about whether the course had any hills. It did. 

I was doing pretty well, if I do say so myself, when I hit the 2nd sizable hill and my quads began their protest of what I was asking of them. It was at this point somewhere in mile 2 that people started passing me. Consistently. At one point a little girl, who looked about 8 years old, ran past me. Only a good deal of self-restraint and the inability to form complete sentences prevented me from yelling at her, "Oh yeah? I bet it's your FIRST race of the day. Let's see what you could do after 6 additional miles missy!" Turns out she won her age group. But the big surprise was that I got 3rd place in mine. Who woulda thought I'd place in my 3rd race of the day? Fellow 4 race challenger Jane also placed, as well as our friend Denise who would be running 2 races that day. And not to be outdone, our friend Meta got a PR on that crazy tough course.

Erin, Jane and I met up with Denise at race #3

Look at that - we placed!

Three races down and one to go. It was getting colder and I knew it was going to be rough to get myself out of the house again for the last race of the day. I drove back to my side of town, stopping at the packet pickup for race #4 before heading home for a little bit. By the time I got back there I didn't really have time for a shower, and even if I did I feared getting all nice and warm and clean would negate my ability to go out again. So I changed out of my sweaty running clothes into a new outfit, hit the foam roller some more and headed out again.

At race #4 Jane, Erin and I knew several other people running so we had a nice little group to see us finish our challenge. By now it was getting cold. I knew it was still good short-sleeve running weather for me so I grabbed a cover up for post-race, along my knuckle lights. It seemed that we waited forever for the race start. I was cold. I was tired. I was hungry and I was ready to be done. 

Last race - Meta, Judy and Denise joined our trio.

The three crazies before race #4

The horn went off and we started the race. From step one, my quads made it very clear they were losing patience with me and were screaming in protest. It turns out having a little bit of rest between miles is worse than having no rest. Every step of that race was a battle of wills. Thankfully, the course was near my home and I knew the trail there very well. One of the things I knew about it was that it was downhill after the turn around. Thank the Lord for small miracles. 

I finished, went to find Jane and waited for Erin. Our celebration for completing this task probably would have been more spectacular had we not been barely able to move at this point. So we stood around eating the 3rd set of Avanti's Gondola sandwiches presented to us that day. (I have no idea if the race #1 served them as well - we had no time to enjoy post-race snacks there.) We had done it. We had survived 4 races in one day. And. I. Was. Done.

So. Done. What's to eat?

And so after 19 miles in two days, today I unabashedly wore compression socks all day for recovery even though I looked like this.

Such is the price of glory.