TarHILL 10 Miler

First off, someone else coined the title of the post, but its more PG than what I wanted to call Saturday. Namely, its one vowel too far, but a lot of that has to do with how much I just doooon't like Chapel Hill.

Annnyway. Easiest race recap ever. Ya ready?

The more detailed version goes like this:

Lined up in the endzone of the field at Kenan Stadium, UNC-Chapel Hill (better known to everyone outside of NC as just plain "Carolina"), behind the 10:30 pace group sign. My goal was 11 min miles. Ran into a few people I knew and had last seen at the NC Half in Charlotte, which made me feel slightly less alone! I tried to ignore the people lined up behind me talking about hos compression gear was all a placebo effect, as I had my fancy hot pink compression sleeves on my shins :( Listened to Meb give some inspirational advice, and then, we were off!...sort of. I had to travel the from my endzone to the other one, around, and halfway back down the field before I hit the start line. It was quite an antsy while, which you'll see in my chip vs. gun times.

The course was pretty, well laid out, tons of volunteers making sure you were going the right place, and many chances to see other runners. For one part of it, the 2nd loop around was 2 lanes of the street and the slower first loop around was the other half of the street. I had to keep reminding myself to run MY race and also not get distracted looking at the form of the faster runners.

Water breaks were at the 2, 6 and 8 mile marks, with Gu at the last one. I made the mistake of taking the Gu last, so the last taste I had in my mouth was the vanilla bean Gu, which is a good taste, but I had to climb an evil hill- no really, they do a split time of just that 1 mile stretch because the hill is *that* evil- and finding water after the finish line was like hunting it in the Sahara sooo I should've rethought that strategy. Or they should've had the Gu lady first, not last at the station.

Anyway, I almost stopped at 3 miles in. Not because I hurt, but because a family member I haven't talked to in nearly 3 years called. Other people had been keeping me in the loop, but still, to get the call directly from them was enough to make me break down in tears on the side of the course. I read the Google Voice transcript of their voicemail and had this moment of "what the crap do I do?!" I could've walked back to the stadium, but the more I breathed and thought logically, the less good I figured that would do. I had trained for 10 miles, knew I had it in me, and I'm pretty sure that the way I will deal with this news is running, so might as well get used to it now. Besides, there was nothing I could do, so I might as well just keep running. Yes, the irony of getting a phone call 3 miles into a race that raises money for a cancer research center from someone calling to tell you they're dying of cancer.

I cried, a lot, and pretty sure between my already red-hot face, sunglasses, and my location solidly in the 2nd half of runners, people just thought I was tired and injured. What hurt first, however, were my hips. Just like in my half, I was super excited that what came to my "um...ow?!" senses first wasn't my shins or my knees. My shins felt fine and my knees weren't painfree, but whatever. There were hills, if I haven't mentioned that yet, and some of them were steep mofos, so I don't blame the hip flexors for hurting first. Later that day, my glutes would also scream their "hey, remember us?!?!" message :/

Where am I in this seemingly meandering race recap? Uh, how about if I just get to the end. I was running 10:30 miles until I hit the hill, and I just didn't have the mental focus to keep running, no matter how slow. Only a few short walk breaks, but dang, that killed my pace. My clock time had me doing 11:41 miles, but chip time was better than that :) You can see just how flipping long it took to actually start!

1:56 is my gun time, 1:47 is my chip time, 10:47 is my pace. First 2 numbers are start and end of the eeeevil hill!

I wasn't the happiest camper at the finish line. There was a pause in handing out the medals, so I had to wait on the field surrounded by other recent finishers, no water, no liquid refreshment, and seeing medals finally getting handed out halfway up the stairs with people completely oblivious to the horde waiting for them to MOOOOOOVE below. When I finally got my medal, I was still ready to strangle every volunteer who HADN'T run up Laurel Hill since the last time they had water and told me "oh its not very far"... If I can pass 2 tents of volunteers between you and the water, don't lie to me!

Good race, don't know if I'll do it again, just because its a weird distance, I detest Chapel Hill and UNC especially (hazards of being a State alum) and that hill is nothing but evil.

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

Mic check....

So… I’m back. And when I say I’m back, it should also be noted that I’m about to take it easy. Whiplash yet?!

Let me backtrack… when last we met, I believe I was still slaving away at the thesis, dating Fred, looking for a job and chilling on the running because North Carolina in the summer isn’t the best for avoiding heat. Now, the thesis is done, degree in hand, Fred… is still Fred but not mine, details on the latest version eventually, back to looking for a job, and yes, almost about to take a break from running because its already 60* at 7am nowadays.

I got back into running in September. Yeah, no clue why I got back into it when it was SEPTEMBER and still suuuper warm, but I knew I needed to get back into some sort of routine. Maybe there were even a few cooler days that gave me hope?! I stopped writing stuff down, so who knows. What I did discover was that I was faster! I hadn’t lost the “speed”, but I could go faster! I started back on KR’s 10k plan, and then got boy whiplash and thought that maybe I’d ratchet it up to a half marathon in…January?!

But FIRST! The roomie, the mom and I dressed up like fools for a Turkey Trot 8k on Thanksgiving Day. What better way to make sure you won’t gain as MUCH weight from the turkey and stuffing and pies than to rev up the metabolism before all the goodies?! I tried to rev up quickly for a couple of halfs in January, but shin splints, traveling for Christmas and the realization that apparently yes, at 25 is when your body decides it wants to break down led to 0 half marathons for January.

Except… you see… I’d done something crazy on Thanksgiving Day, darn post-race endorphins! But let’s keep this chronological! Having conquered my own 8k, I volunteered to mentor for Fleet Feet’s 8k Training group. Making it even more fun?! I knew I’d have someone to drag, I mean, keep my company twice a week. The roomie had gotten into running, starting with the couch to 5k plan and was ready to go be faster, stronger and generally more bad-ass!

So, with our first run a chilling 2 miles on a Tuesday evening in January, the roomie and I were off! We were both in the 11-13 minute/mile pace group. I started off being comfortable at the back, but as the weeks progressed, I sometimes had to be the mentor at the beginning of the pack. Those 11 minute miles got trimmed to 10:30s and shorter, while talking, and before I knew it, it was the last week of January which meant…

MY half marathon training started! On Thanksgiving Day, I’d signed up for the first NC Half Marathon at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. There were a few other races in that general time frame that I was considering. I figured late March would mean it would still be cool, maybe rainy, but warm enough to run without 50 million layers. The one I’d originally had my heart was soon ruled out. Never underestimate the power of bad word of mouth!

The roomie’s friends had heard that my “target race” was on a great course, but the people running it didn’t know what they were doing. Messed up logistics? Yeah, that sounds like a recipe for disaster at my first half. Plus, that was the race where KB got injured and was a hobbling fool for weeks afterwards. I started looking around and, having family near Charlotte, figured that driving 2 hours to go race was totally sane, so why not?!

I did the 8k with the training group, rocked it, but dear heavens, the HILLS around here! I realized I’d pushed myself more than I planned to or remembered when I went to go run the next day. It totally did not happen. I think I did 2 miles, and cried like a baby for the last mile. Always great walking into the house and explaining to your boyfriend that, despite being out for 25 minutes, you only went 2 miles and yes, your face is caked in snot and tears, Cosmo’s surefire way to attract men!

At this point, I had to juggle the Runner’s World half training plan I’d been following with what my body would physically allow me to do. I did most of my long runs, but my mid-week runs weren’t as long or as fast or inclusive of the speed work as I would hope or plan for. The two “perfect” examples were the 8 mile run that didn’t happen and the 10 miles of pure suck. The 8 mile was supposed to happen on a Thursday evening, about 2 weeks after the 8k. I’d run 2 miles on my shin splints the Sunday before and knew that if I could just get 5 minutes in, the pain would just be numbed and dull and I could power through.

Except… I couldn’t get out of my own head. This is a seeeerious problem for me, but that night, I just panicked, didn’t want to keep pushing through the pain, yelled at my training partner (aka dear sweet willing to mess up his workout schedule for me boyfriend) for always staying 2 steps ahead of me, not by my side, and other random thoughts just took over and I was DOA. I maybe did 2 miles? And that was it. Buried the thought of that run, shook it off, moved forward.

A trip to the beach that weekend threw a huge wrench in my 10 mile plans for that weekend, so I decided I was still on shin splint recovery rest, and had a much better and motivating 2 mile run with the bf and a dog that can actually run! (Yes, I still love Lucy, but the gremlin rebels at walks up hills, she can’t pace you for 2 miles!) There was still another weekend to do a 10 miler, so I marked on the calendar in Sharpie, planned out a challenging but scenic route, made sure the phone with music was charged and headed out! At 10 am... when it was really sunny…with plans to just get water/Gatorade at random gas stations and fountains along the way…and some darn evil hills…and a part with just the side of the road, no sidewalk…and one of the most stressing things that could happen to a girl less than 48 hours old … I did 10 miles.

Did. I didn’t run the whole way. Might not have run even half of it, but Huck (so bf has a nickname, its “Huck”…continue on) refused to let me turn around unless it was on the route. He let me walk some, took pictures of the snakes on the sidewalk near the arboretum, downed the world’s best Gatorade at mile 8, looked at me like a CRAZY person when someone that I knew (but didn’t explain to him that I knew) stopped to give us water, but most of all kept me moving and reminded me WHY I was doing this and that I was doing this for ME and HE was doing this for me, darnit! That’s love, ladies and gentleman.

They say awful training runs set you up for some pretty awesome races. You know, sort of like how awful dress rehearsals in band or for a play get out all the suck, so that all you have left when it counts is the awesomeness you have inside of you?! Well… today was awesome. There were signs that said “embrace the suck” but I didn’t, because there wasn’t any left. I’ve had some pretty awful days since the shin splints reared their ugly head, and not just because of running, but the kind of days where you have to consciously and deliberately remind yourself that its just a bad day in a good life, or an awful day in a flipping AMAZING life, focusing on the positive, working on the parts of your life that you CAN control. Today, I blocked it all out.

The butterflies grew noticeable as I was standing in line waiting to pee when it was 7:26 and the race was scheduled to start at 7:30 and I didn’t know exactly where to line up. Thank heavens for lightning delaying the start! Oh yeah, by the way, tooootally saw lightning driving into the speedway. Not scary at all! But, I peed like a champion speed demon, found Huck, and found my way to the start line, my pacing group and started the music, after taking a picture or 2, of course, and posting it to Facebook. Priorities!

There was a lot of “ok, run YOUR race, know YOUR goals, forget about the people around you, they didn’t train like you, their shins don’t hurt like yours, they might just be faster than you, this tank needs to last you longer than anything you’ve prepped for so its okay to be conservative now” running through my head for, oh, 2 miles?! I ran into people I knew at the first mile marker, had someone else talk to me shortly after that, and my mood was just ON!

The music was great, I ran into more spectators and runners that I knew, and at mile 6, picked up a running buddy. BJ was walking, but I told him to get back to running, he was almost through the worst parts! We ran into mile 10 together, when he peeled off for the bathrooms. He and I had the same goal pace, and were both super excited to not be crawling (yet…or do I?! keep reading!) and setting personal distance records with every step we took. Reason #918 I love running- you can make new friends mid-race and make 5 miles feel like a walk in the park.

Other highlights include:

    kid with the sign that said “slap sign for extra power boost”- I hit it twice!

    Running over US 29 on a pedestrian bridge that had some bounce to it. Later found out that a few years ago, one of those bridges collapsed! Seriously excited I didn’t know that before the race!

     I was on the 4^th mile when I saw the eventual winner, and he was in mile 9. Yeah…he did it in half my pace, but he didn’t look as happy as I did across the finish line and he probably didn’t get as many hugs as I did!

    I never. Stopped. Running. No walk breaks. NONE! I told myself to get to 10 miles, and once I got there, I pulled a mental switcheroo and said “enh, you only have a 5k left, no walking, suck it up!” and it worked! Personal pride, determination, not just to say “I didn’t walk” but also to just get this thing DONE with were amaaazing motivators!

     The course went around the NASCAR oval, then out around that track, around the dirt track and down and back over the drag strip, around the outside of the NASCAR track then, and this is the cool part, you ran through the tunnels to get onto the asphalt again. Something SUPER chilling about running through a tunnel, and then emerging to the light and lots more spectators and a finish line that, yes, is 2 miles away, but that you can at least SEE!

   

And last…but oh.my.goodness…not least. I smiled I ran across the line, and I cried for a second because I was done, I did it, in 2 hours and 27 minutes, without walking, and hey, here comes a super awesome medal. Seriously, this medal has cars that move and LED drag strip lights that do the countdown. I got my picture taken, grabbed food, found Huck, and just reveled in the glory that was my first completed half. Yeah, I said first. This might be a regular thing!

Every muscle in my legs is on fire, my upper abs even took a turn at being in pain, but the pride of what I did makes it all worth it. The medal is hanging on my door right now, but I need to find a place of honor to hang it in my room. Yeah, I’ve got my master’s, but right now, the accomplishment I’m the most proud of culminated with two and a half hours on a Sunday morning in Charlotte. Maybe it’s the post race endorphins, but dang they’re good and strong, and I wouldn’t trade my hobbling body for the world right now!

…pictures to come!

Here’s to the next TV timeout,

Syd

One

I had a random encounter at my running group today that seemed to tie together so many crazy thoughts I’ve had recently. With the help of quite a bit of wine, and without wine since, my roommate has noticed that her life is pretty much stress free at the moment. Her biggest worry was getting her super long hair cut, and that finally happened Thursday. Now? Well, the power and internet have been sketchy today thanks to storms, but we’re safe and sound, so in the big picture, her life is super blissful. She’s gorgeous, healthy, gainfully employed, and has wonderful friends and family.

There are times when I am stupidly intimidated by this, given the lack of permanent job (but huzzah for gainful summer employment OUTSIDE!!!), the last $3 in my checking account before payday this week, and, oh yeah, the molar I chipped about 1 hour after all my insurance-covered dentists were closed for the next 67 hours on Friday afternoon. The tension built up to a physical manifestation in me last night and carried through to this morning. I even woke up before my alarm, thanks to the overactive mind.

In this state, I went off to running this morning. By doing training for obstacle course 5Ks with a group, I’ve gotten to talking to more and more mentors during the pre-run times. One guy, let’s call him Tim, and his wife are both mentors and in the obstacle course prep group. Tim’s wife is off to a cruise, so I naturally ribbed him about watching his wife go on a tropical vacay without him, which is when he told me how they can’t afford a trip, so she was actually filling in for someone who had to drop out last minute and didn’t have to pay for it. We started swapping stories about how we earn a paycheck. I realized just how I look up to elite runners. I think of them as machines- if they can train their body efficiently, push through the pain I hit when I go too fast with KR, then I just presume that they’re college educated, run as their distraction from the corporate world.

I don’t know quite what I’m trying to say, but running, for as individual of a sport as it is, has drawn me in to more and more people. “I’m a runner” is such a conversation starter, a sort of secret handshake, but we’re all human. The simplest form of transportation and exercise unites the Olympian, flailing grad student, equestrian, interior decorator, project manager and unfulfilled produce man. I get why people who run are drawn to each other, because even thought it might just be something you do for 30 minutes, 3 times a week, it takes heart, soul, strength, discipline to go pound pavement in the calm of the morning, rush hour sidewalk, or hidden trail.

As my right IT band makes my right knee creak (it’s a Powerstroke diesel to the left knee’s 2mph Prius), I remember why I run and long for a run that feels good inside and outside, that feeds my soul and recharges the endorphins. If I wasn’t a mentor for this running group, I would definitely take Dr. KR’s recommendation and just take off 2 weeks from running completely, but I just do intervals on Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings. The people are catching up to me as they get better and I fade, much to my chagrin. I hide it cleverly with funny stories, energy during the walking intervals, and the sly smile that asks if they want to run it in when we can see the finish line, but I can feel the “blegh” settling in. Am I still a runner if I’m injured and fading?

I get to see my mom and Charleston, SC next week. Maybe a change of settings with the mom who is just awesome will clear my head and heal me- inside and out.

Here’s to the next TV timeout

-Syd

I still exist!

I do still exist, I promise. Its just that, as KR put it, I 'have blisters on my fingers from the thesis' and all the mind-melting that comes as a result. I won't bore you with those details and other stresses, except to say that worrying about that has definitely not been awesome :/

I'm finally un-bruised and un-sprained, but I got so out of the rhythm of any sort of work-outs between injuries, traveling and the thesis that getting back into that habit is definitely not easy to overcome. I should get over that this week. Running always made me feel a bit more clear in the head, which is definitely something I need! Hmm... gave me an idea :)

My usual running routes outside intimidate me because Raleigh got Illinois cold! FOR REAL! Its currently the same temp in Raleigh as in my hometown- and we've had an extra hour of sunshine!!! 22* is not human running weather. All that time I wanted it to be colder? Ugh, I officially have thin Southern blood :(

For as awful as the thesis/no-running has been, I've definitely been super lucky to be surrounded by people who really support me. I've got some crazy deadlines and scary life changes happening, if only I knew how they'd end up, but through it all, the roomie, KR, Fred, my mom and so many others have been my sometimes-lacking confidence! The roomie has positive affirmations in her office-space, which I used to mock- and first-time visitors always question- but I took a page out of her book yesterday and put up my own post-it notes on my work computer. We'll see how those help me out.

On two random not-related to anything subjects...

With the cold + Christmas decorations at the house, Lucy's usual cage spot was overtaken by the Christmas tree (Lucy stays in the cage when nobody's home. All she does is sleep, and this way, if she's home a little bit too long, the mess is easier to find and clean up). Finding a new spot that wasn't too drafty was a couple days figuring out, but the roomie figured out just how to make sure the spot wouldn't be too drafty or cold for Lucy.

Yep, even Lucy's giving the roomie the "Mom, what are you doing?!?" look!

Finally, in the spirit of Christmas, I will warn you that this will make you cry. The video explains most of it, but Dax's mom and grandmother are closely tied to my church back home, so I read along with the blog as Dax underwent two bone marrow transplants. Julie, his mom, is such a loving woman and was born to be a mother. My mom sent this to me, but I saw it posted on a friend's Facebook wall this morning, so I thought I'd pass it along. The warning my mom sent definitely applies- have a few tissues handy!

Here's to the next TV timeout

-Syd

Scary Skies

Scary scary tornado-ready skies today as I went out. I figured the worst thing that could happen would be getting rained on, in which case, I'd run FASTER, and put my phone and iPod in the shorts closest to my body to keep them protected from the rain. Somewhat unfortunately, the only moisture came from me! Its downright sticky here :P It hit 80. Does the world not realize Halloween is right around the corner? Oh the childhood trick-or-treating memories I have, ruined by the coat I needed to protect myself with! 

I'm a bit off the plan, so I ran 1.1 miles, walked for a song, then ran another .5 miles. I realized I do much better when there are other people around. As I was going *down* the evil hill, I ran into a suuuuper toned girl and her dog (poor furry dog, probably made for Alaska, not neverending NC summer!) running *up* the hill! Feeling her plight, I told her "good job" and got some extra spunk in my step :D My normal sprint down the hill was derailed by PINE NEEDLES! I was so scared of stepping on one, having it be so wet that I would lose my footing- have I mentioned my parents gave me the middle name of "Grace" as a cruel joke???- and lead to a hobbled me. Instead, I slowed down, carefully picking steps, losing my momentum. Ugh, I should never stop for walking, even if my abs do start to hurt during the run.

On a much more personal note, one of the main reasons I've always been intrigued by running is because of a dear friend I had in high school. My typical teenage job was working at a Midwestern food chain called Culver's. Oh the weight I gained with free/cheap burgers and ice cream! I knew some of the people that worked there from high school, including one girl, Laura. She played girl's soccer one year, until she moved to track as her spring sport, so I knew her briefly from JV soccer. Laura was a natural at running, kicking butt at cross country meets in the fall, and dominating long distance races for spring track. Her true mettle came out one day, tho, after she ran a half marathon. We'd been swamped at work, and were constantly texting and calling her, BEGGING her to come in and bring us to full staffing. After going and running 13.1 miles, she came in at noon and closed, roughly an 11 hour shift, all on your feet, all having to be nice to customers, not an easy feat, even on your best day. 

For as happy-go-lucky and schoolgirl cheerful Laura could be, she was often deeply sad. Of course, there were the many times I let her copy my AP/IB Bio workbook because I knew she'd worked an evil shift the night before, but she would still be sad beyond the level of a girl as gorgeous, talented and smart as her should be, even if she hadn't done her homework or studied for a test. A few conversations I had with her were depressing, but having had a great life, but still had things that made me depressed and sad in high school, I thought nothing of it. After all, we both had great friends as support systems, and despite the divorced parents, we knew at least one of them would always be there for us (thanks, Mom!). 

On October 28, 2005, however, the entire world realized just how sad this young woman had been. Her car was found at the bottom of a cliff in my hometown. The little red car she'd worked so hard to buy had literally split an oak tree in half as it sailed off the road down the ravine. If the impact hadn't killed her, the coroner found a lethal dose of cough syrup in her system. The opening manager at our work called her parents when they found what seemed like a goodbye from Laura on the front counter, only to have her parents discover she hadn't shown up for school, either. A hiker in the woods on the morning of the 28th found her car and alerted authorities. 

Much publicity has been made about the "It Gets Better" project, with prominent gay figures pleading with LGBT teens to keep on living through high school because it gets better. While I realize this is a message aimed at LGBT individuals, I think it would resonate with so many teenagers contemplating suicide, for whatever reasons. At 17, Laura hadn't yet gotten to experience truly falling in love, crazy fun parties in college, conning a boy into asking you out, Facebook stalking said cute guy who asked you out, landing an amazing job, graduating from college, getting married to the boy who keeps falling for your traps, making him the proudest man alive with your new baby, traveling the world, and so many other milestones, interspersed with sweet little memories, and yes, some bad times that, like all things, pass.

From the Journal Star : Laura Craig had everything to live for. The 17-year-old Richwoods High School senior was an honor roll student and a champion cross-country runner who also had an artist's hand in ceramics and sculpturing. But beneath the polished exterior was a troubled teen. Craig, who authorities say had a history of depression and had been treated for it in the past, was found in her mangled car at the bottom of a ravine in Detweiller Park on Oct. 28 "


It gets better.

-Syd