Too Tired to Think of a Title

Went to the gym yesterday, it's been raining a lot. Tried running but the hip hurt, so I walked 2.5 miles. Pretty discouraging—after running 13.1 miles and surviving, I'm ready to run again. I never thought I'd say it, but I really want to go run 5 miles right now!

Owie

I rode my bike with Andy on Saturday, but other than that I hadn't exercised since running the race. I was ready last night, got on the treadmill, and the hip that has been nagging me since the race was just killing me. I ran for an embarrassingly short amount of time and then gave up. I've tried stretching it, but I can't seem to make it any better. I'm going to try again tomorrow, and hopefully it's just a kink that needs to be worked out... If it isn't better by Monday, I'm going to the doctor. Unfortunately my WebMD diagnostic skills aren't helping with this one.

Fortunately my training schedule says today is a rest day anyway. :)

Lovely.

If you think this is good, check out Sexy People—I think I might fit into their category... :)

Early in the race

Pouring Rain!

Downtown Fredericksburg—a lot nicer than I thought

This looks like the speedwalking championships or something...

Almost there! Dragging myself to the finish...

And the lovely finish shot.

Tin Man Syndrome

Still recovering... I like to call my current state "tin man syndrome" because of the way I am walking. :) Surprisingly, the shin splints are still not back... I must have been doing something right. I think that I stretched my lower legs plenty during the race, but didn't stretch my quads once—and those are the muscles that are killing me. Also need to learn to stretch my hips without laying on the ground... or suck it up and just lay on the ground in the middle of the race. Hmm... could be an intimidation technique? :)

Gimpy

Good thing I took today off--I can barely walk! I am trying to get up every few hours just to keep the muscles moving, but apparently I didn't stretch enough yesterday. I still don't have shin splints though! A miracle!!!

I'm already planning on another race, I want to do at least a 10K later this summer. I think I could do pretty well! I always have been a sprinter... if I keep running after the marathon I'll probably do shorter races and work on bettering my times.

Yes, I realize how silly I am, that 2 days ago I was scared and didn't want to do it, and today I'm plotting my running career. :)

Done and done!

5K = 3.1 miles; 10K = 6.2 miles; 15K = 9.3 miles; half marathon = 13.1 miles

10K is almost halfway, as you can see I lost some energy on the second half of the race—I especially tanked in the last 3 miles... my hip is killing me and I need to figure out what that's all about. No shin splints yet, YET being the operative word.

But I was aiming for around 3 hours and I did it! Imagine what I can do after many more months of training, especially with a coach and a team... I'm very sore but I'm so glad I did it. Hooray! I'm calling in sick tomorrow. :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

Knock on Wood

Oh yeah... it's definitely like thunder and lightning from this afternoon all the way through 10 am tomorrow. I'm secretly very happy—I really don't want to do this half marathon. I guess that's not a secret anymore...

I'm being a baby about it: I don't want to go by myself, I don't think I can run 13.1 miles, I'm just not there yet in my training. I'm scared of failure, but I don't even know what constitutes failure in my mind—I just know I don't want to be struggling and have people passing me all the time. It's all very cowardly really. Not to mention that GK are having a graduation party since Galen just finished his Construction Management degree. So I will have to go home early and go to bed while everyone else is having fun, just so I can get up at 5:45 to go running in the scary weather. Blargh.

I'm going to Fredericksburg this morning to pick up my race packet and information, and I'll ask more questions about the weather policy then. When it comes down to it, I know I should race. It will be good practice for the marathon and just good to push myself to that distance that I haven't reached before. But... the thought of the horrendous shin splints that will come after just makes me want to stay home and bundle up and stay warm and dry and pain-free. :-p

I promise I won't be this way about the marathon. You can trust me for several reasons:

1. I told my grandma I am doing it for her.
2. I am asking people to donate money in conjunction with me doing it. (See sidebar!!)
   
3. I will have LOTS more training before doing it.
4. I have made up my mind that I am doing it no matter what.
5. Everyone I know will give me shit if I don't do it.