Hello Everyone, and Happy Thanksgiving! Today I am thankful for the love and support of my family (official and unofficial). I am also deeply thankful for the US troops around the world who risk their lives everyday for my freedoms.
So this week has been one of many workouts. We flew from CT to SC on Friday Nov 16 arriving at my husbands family home just after 1am, and I layer out my running gear and quickly went to sleep so I could wake up at 4 to drive out to Beaufort, SC to run a Half Marathon at the Mad Marsh Ultra.
It was a very cool experience, trekking out early in the morning to run in a strange place with strangers. The drive out was beautiful….I do not think I have ever seen so many stars. Passing Parris Island during per dawn was awe inspiring. When I arrived we were lead down a dark path to an open field, where I parked and picked up my packet. Lots of headlamps and flashlights, and all those marvelous stars! The race was an ultra marathon with options to do a half, full or ultra distance, and I was here to do the half. It would be my 1st race offload on trails, and was also going to be my longest distance since hip surgery in Feb. it was honestly one of the hardest runs I have ever done, and I did take quite a few walk breaks. I also realized that the loops were plotted to be 4.5 miles but were closer to 4.6-4.7 in practice , and as such I ended up running ~14 miles! I was at the end with less than a mile to go, and felt near collapse, when a fellow runner came up from behind and asked how I was. I stated I was really glad it was almost over because I was dying. He responded with “I know….I pulled my groin last week and just caught my foot on a root which exacerbated it……and I still have a half marathon left to do. ” not complaining, just going on. So of course , I picked up tempo and finished strong. It was really hard and a give a lot of credit to trail runners….it’s hard work!!! This race was so great…I small crowd (~35 racers). But it was a very well run race and I would recommend this to anyone in the area next year!
I finished in 2:58, stretched, snaked a bit, then got in the car to head back…dirty, sore but happy!
I felt awesome (aside from being stupid sore). I definitely worked outmuscled that had previously been in hiding, and my IT band reminded me it was there and was unhappy.
Back at my mother-in-laws she told me that there was a Turkey Trot in the plantation on Thanksgiving , if I was interested. I pondered it.
On Monday, I went beyond pondering to investigation and found there was a 5K and 10K offering, and everyone gets a medal. (In case you did not know I am a sucker for Bling), and even convinced my husband, who has never gone more than 2.5 miles, and has never run anywhere expect the treadmill to join me.
Tuesday I knew I needed to log 4 miles to stay on path with my training, and he decided he needed to be sure he could do it, so I plotted us some courses (4 for me, 3.1 for him) and we went out for a run. I was sucking wind and sore, and had to walk a few times. This Turkey Trot was going to be a nightmare!
So this morning we woke up early and headed over to the starting line. The started the race and a mere .5 mile in I tapped my husband on the shoulder and waved…..there was no way I could keep up with his pace and finish 10K. I also forgot to charge my phone and forgot my earbuds. This would be a REALLY long run. As I approached the 5K turnaround point I caught sight of my husband, so I bursted up to say Hi and cheer him on. Then I continued on with the surprisingly spare crowd of 10K’ers. I was luckily to encounter a mother and daughter that was running a pace similar to me. They “adopted” me and keep me going even when I was ready to walks bit, because they were willing to wait for me. As a result I never stopped or walked, and even had a nice burst at the finish. I finished up at ~1:10.
I am now really body tired, but totally read for some Turkey!
The fun part is that I fly home tomorrow at 6:30 am which means we have to leave around 4:30 am, and I have to run 14miles Saturday as a training run, and then fly to Japan Sunday.
SLEEP…..What is this SLEEP you speak of?
