2014 Christie Clinic Illinois Half Marathon

Before I get down to race recap business, a short update on my week:  I've been a busy worker-bee at the office in hopes of keeping slightly ahead of things before Busy Season really gets rolling next month.  But I picked up a head cold somewhere along the way, and stayed home sick yesterday.  Feeling MUCH better this morning and headed back to work.  I'll plan to keep it low-key today and tonight so I'll be refreshed and (hopefully) not too sick tomorrow morning for the Lake Run 12k. 

My nutrition has been a mix as usual.  Great, mostly-healthy dinners courtesy of my awesome husband - he's been off work all week due to his back injury and entertaining himself by making delicious foods.  Breakfasts / lunches no quite so healthy, but par for the course.  No major food junkie meltdowns, so nothing horrific to report.  My weigh-in on Sunday (day after Race Day) showed me up 2.2 lbs in comparison to the stunning 4.3-lb loss of the previous weekend.  I'm attributing that mostly to post-race swelling and water retention, but I do hope to maintain this week.  Cross your fingers for this Sunday morning.  It'll be another post-race weigh-in and with this week's food intake being a bit off, could probably go either way.

So last Saturday was the Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon event!  With more resolve than anticipation, I got up a little after 4am and went through my race-day routine.  I had a short list of things to grab and put in the car, but of course all of my clothes were already lid out and ready to go, including my super-awesome "It's my First Half Marathon!" shirt - which I put stickers on to edit so that it said "3rd".  Those Wal-Mart stickers have really come in handy and made it so my custom-made shirt wasn't useless after wearing it just once!  As I'm getting ready to head out the door with yogurt and giant water bottle in hand, I thought to myself, Funny how at 4:30 in the morning, there aren't any dogs pestering me to take me with them (since I'm wearing their favorite outfit) - this early in the morning, they could care less about going for a walk - "you're on your own, crazy woman!"  Of course, as I'm thinking this, Coty pads down the stairs and noses me in the back of the knee.  "Whatcha doin'?"  I let her out in the front yard by herself while I got my coffee ready.  (Louie heard this and came out of hiding as well... but after a moment of consideration, he gave me a look that said "Damn it's too early for this shit" and went back upstairs.)

I double-checked that I had my bib (mistakes happen once, but paranoia lasts forever), put Coty back in the house, and hit the road.  I was early enough this year that I got a good parking spot (one I thought I'd be able to locate after the race) and at my yogurt and protein bar.  The race started at 7am, and I'd arrived by about 6:15am (thanks, Cheryl, for checking on me!)  I had 45 minutes to find the truck to check-in my gear bag (with post-race change of clothes, snack and shoes), stretch, find a porta-a-john and get into my corral.  I congratulated myself on having exactly the right amount of lead-time.  Just as I got out of the car to gather my gear, I ran into two awesome ladies from my running group!  A round of pictures was in order.

Julie and Caitlin and myself

We chatted for a while and talked about our plan for the race:  it was the first half marathon for each of these ladies!   They headed off to hook up with some other friends and I went looking for the gear-check.  I was so busy drinking my water, I forgot to put it in my bag before I checked it = one giant water bottle, gone forever.  Oh well, I drank as much as I could, did my stretches while waiting in line for the port-a-john, found my corral entrance, and had time for one quick pic before they called "GO" for the first corral. 

 

Corral wait time was about 20 minutes or so, but too crowded to do any stretching.  I talked with the runners around me - several first-time half-marathoners and MANY first-time marathoners!  Most of these had little orange signs on their backs saying "my first marathon" so you could cheer them on as you approached (or maybe even passed) them in the corral and on the course.  It was really inspiring starting the race with all these marathoners and being able to encourage those on their first time.  Marathoners come in all shapes and sizes and I love seeing that diversity at big races like this one.

I mentioned before, I've been trying to figure out how to work around this foot pain that I've been experiencing.  It's prevented me from doing any real training for this half-marathon and left me convinced I wouldn't be able to finish this race, but here I am at the starting line, with a walk/run interval plan and enough GU to get me through 3 hours of running, and the resolve to do whatever I can, no more, and certainly NO LESS.  Foot pain or no pain, I'm going to give it whatever I've got.

 

So I run for four minutes and it's time for my first walk break.  I stop.  This feels SO WRONG.  But I have a plan and by god, I'm going to stick with it.  If I end up running 15 minutes at a time and then quitting at the 6 mile mark because I can't take the pain in my feet, I will regret it.  So, even though I'm expecting someone in the cheering, super-supportive crowd to yell "Don't quit now, you just got started!" I stop and walk my one minute and then pick it back up.  After a couple miles of this, it feels a lot less wrong.  After 6 miles of this, it starts to feel RIGHT.  But I'm getting ahead of myself. 

 

I'm reminding myself to have some fun.  In a way, every race is about finishing, but some are about finishing fast, or finishing well.  All other goals were out the proverbial window for this event and it really was ONLY about finishing.  That frees you up to focus on all sorts of things:  how many tutus can I count in Mile 3?  (Fourteen.)  Trying to read as many of the signs on the side of the road as possible.  Making a point to say something encouraging, give a high-five, or a pat on the back to every person I see wearing that "My First Marathon" tag on their back.  Say "thank you" to as many volunteers as I can make eye contact with.  Sing along with Pat Benatar (in my headphones) saying "Hit me with your Best Shot" - you know, general long-run self-entertainment.  It was getting warm -I got my little towel out and took a couple extra water cups at one of the hydration stations to get it wet for future use.

 

Somewhere between the 4-and-5 mile markers I realized my feet were starting to tingle.  Not bad, but not a good sign.  I came around a corner and decided to text Jason and let him know I was still in it.  I had some trouble getting my phone out of the pocket of my Batman Utility Belt.  (This thing is awesome and sits really well without chafing or riding around like some do, but having the big pocket on the back side makes digging around for things a little bit of a chore.  On the other hand, I can carry my GU, phone, iPod, plastic dog-poop bag [yes of course I always need that but rarely have one with me], gum, chapstick, credit card and ID and not notice any extra weight or bulk.)  Anyway, the point is, I was struggling with getting to my phone while running, so I pulled to the side and stopped for a minute to sort things out.  Once I texted him ["5 miles in, still ok"] and started back into the race, I almost absent-mindedly turned around to the group of volunteers/ community cheerleaders / supporters there and said "Thanks for being out here, you guys are awesome!!"  I turned around and started to run when I heard, "CHRIS!!  IT'S YOU!"

 

Me and Haley from RGX

Well looky here I found RunnerGirlX!!  Check out her Facebook page - she's funny and articulate and occasionally posts video "Confessions from the Road" - plus she's local!  Definitely check her out!  I had told her I'd be running and what I'd be wearing and that I'd look for her, but in all the chaos I was sure we'd miss each other.  What a treat she saw my shirt before I took off!  At this point I stopped my Garmin and we talked for a few minutes without me having a running clock in my head.  As I said... today is ALL ABOUT FINISHING and giving my feet an extra break is just fine by me.  Enjoy the journey and make it to the end, that's my motto for the day.
About this time I realized I was about 1 hour into the run and it was time for my first GU.  OK, got that done.  So off I go, 4 minutes run, 1 minute walk, repeat.  When I came across a hydration station, I walked.  If that meant I was walking during a "run" interval, that's OK.  Depending on where that fell in the intervals, I may pick up and run some more before the next scheduled walk or I might not.  I was really intent on being as kind to my feet as possible until I figure out what's causing this awful pain.  I just ran until the time on my watch read a minute ending in either a 9 or a 4, and then I walked until it hit either a 0 or a 5.  Take it easy, keep the math simple. 

It was a little after the 10k mark that I realized my feet weren't hurting anymore.  This came as quite a shock.  My feet were hurting, and then they weren't. I don't get it. But I sure was happy about it.  My feet don't hurt anymore!  [They got pretty achy and started complaining again around mile 11, about when I'd normally expect it, but that searing shocking pain never returned.]  I had now surpassed every training run I'd done so far.  This is my longest run of 2014, whether I finish the race or not.  I kept on with my 4/1 intervals. 

Around 7.0 miles, I saw a GREAT sign hanging in a tree - I didn't get a picture but it said simply "TRUST YOUR TRAINING."  No one holding it, just tied up on each corner to the branches of this tree at the side of the road.  First, I wanted to cry.  I got a little teary, actually.  This sign sort of hit me in the face that way.  Then I started laughing because the first coherent thought I had was "WHAT training?!?!?"

Next I saw this sign, which also made me giggle.  There was a large group of people in front of the neighboring hose, cheering and possibly already doing a little day-drinking...The really funny thing about this sign is that the race ends at University of Illinois, which is a DRY campus and there IS NO beer at the finish line.  Tricksters!

This is about when I decided I wasn't having as much fun as I ' been having earlier.  I sent a text to Jason... "7.5.  Still in it.  This is less fun now."  and snapped a selfie.  OK my intention was to be sticking my tongue out like I was pooped... but the picture somehow came out really flattering.  I didn't realize it until later, when he texted back "You still look fresh.  Get home and walk the doggies.  They are very confused."

He's right, I look FINE here!

I had been keeping an eye out for an open port-a-john.  Maybe a little TMI for my readers, but I drank a lot of water before the race and I was hydrated as hell... and I really had to pee.  But not so bad I would stand in line for it.  I'm only here to finish the race, but let's not be ridiculous about it.  (Yeah, I can't justify this line of thinking at all, but it was really important to me that I don't waste time standing in line.  Stop to chat with fellow bloggers?  Of course.  Stand in line to pee?  No fucking chance.)

This is about when I realized my ankle was bleeding.  What can I do about it?  Time for another photo.  This one I sent to the Hubs back home.  "8.0.  Now THIS."  [Response:  "Ew.  Ur gross.  Go away!"]  And then of course he suggested I locate a medical tent and a bandaid.  Good advice which I promptly ignored.  Because as soon as I turned to get moving again, I saw this:

I did find a port-a-pottie with no line just after the 8-mile marker - SCORE!  I was excited enough about this that I posted it to my personal Facebook page while peeing.  (Again, TMI??  Sorrrrry.) 

 

There's not a lot to say about the rest of the race, except a few funny sights, a shirt I really want to buy for myself, but in the meantime had to spend about 30 minutes chasing it so I'd get close enough to snap a photo.   

 

 

 

 

"Faster than your average sloth."

 

Time passed.  4 minutes run, 1 minute walk, repeat.  4 minutes run, 1 minute walk, repeat.  Two hours in, I had my other GU.  The foot pain never really came back.  I have nothing to back it up, but I wonder if the pain might be fuel-related??  I haven't used any GU since last year, because my runs haven't been all that long.  (With the exception of my 10k, where I SHOULD have used GU but had completely forgotten to stock up on the stuff.)

 

Me at Mile 9.  Photo proofs from MarathonFoto.com

I was somewhere between 10-11 miles when I suddenly began to comprehend what was happening.  I was over 10 miles.  I have less than a 5k left to go.  Even if I WALK the whole way it's less than an hour, and my feet feel good enough to run at least some of it. 

 

I'm going to finish.  I'm really going to be able to finish it.  Once again, I get all teary.  That was an emotional realization for me.  I had to take a moment to let that sink in, take in that reality.  I was surprised, grateful, proud.

 

So that's pretty much it!  I finished the race - and had a blast doing it!  My third half-marathon is in the books.

 

Crossing the finish line.  Photo proofs from MarathonFoto.com

After crossing the finish line, I collapsed on the turf and cried a little.  Called the Hubs and talked to him a bit.  I wanted to thank him for his comment the night before - I really don't know if I would have been able to finish without his support and telling me he believed in me.

I asked a woman nearby, "Could you do me a sort-of-gross favor?"  And she agreed to snap a photo of my mangled ankles.  By the time I'd finished, both had gotten pretty torn up.

Here's how bad my ankles got by the time I finished.

 

 

Photo proofs from MarathonFoto.com

 

My Garmin (which I stopped while talking with RGX and again at my pit stop, had a time of 2:56:37, 8 minutes slower than the half last September, 13 minutes slower than my time in Ventura.  (But it's not about speed today, Chris.  Today is about finishing.)  My official chip time came in at 3:03.  Full Garmin Stats can be found here if you're interested.

A few post-race photos:

My BodyBugg was exploding.

I was feeling "SUPER"!

 

 

FINAL THOUGHTS:

 

I hate to reiterate a cliche, but sometimes it's less cliche and more truism:  If you believe you CAN'T, you WON'T.  And at least this time around, knowing that someone ELSE believed in me, helped me to believe in myself, or if not to believe I COULD, at least to believe I could give it my all.  Looking back, I can hardly believe I actually considered not even showing up for this race, because I was certain I wouldn't be able to finish without injuring myself.  Self doubt, now and always, is my worst enemy. 

 

UPDATE / side note:  I later discovered some serious chafing on my torso that afternoon as well. Haven't worn this Awesome Bra in such a long run before. LOVE the bra, but may need to invest in some Body Glide.

 

Race Recap: 2013 Run River City Marathon Relay

OK I swear I started writing this post about a month ago, but craziness kept interrupting!  Here is how I started it off... 

So this is LONG overdue, and my memory is fading, but I still want to share what I can about the incredible experience that was Run River City.  This is Peoria's VERY FIRST marathon event, and I was really proud to be a part of it!  I ran the fourth leg of the relay:  the last 7.5 miles.  But I'm getting ahead of myself. 

It turns out, the hardest part of running a marathon relay isn't the running.  It's not even the WAITING for your turn to run, which a number of people (collectively referred to as "They") warned me about.  It's not getting up at 4am to drive an hour in order to meet your team members. Not even the part where you need to get creative and figure out something like a "team uniform" for four relative strangers to wear so that you can recognize your fellow teammates when they're heading down the final stretch to hand off that baton. 

Nope.  It's getting four people to agree to run a race together.  And KEEPING those four (or getting replacements) so that on race day, you still have a team to race with!

This whole thing started with me and Liz.

I've known Liz since college, circa 1996; we had ECON 101 together and we were both obsessed with Ani DiFranco.  I was wearing one of her concert tees (likely a version of this one), and, as if we shared a secred code-word society, Liz said, "Nice shirt."  The rest, as they say... is way to complicated to get into.  Suffice to say we were fast friends and fell in love, they way girls do, and I hope that never changes.

Liz and I cooked up this idea of running the relay, mostly because the Run River City event didn't offer a 10k, and a 15k seemed more than either of us was prepared to take on.  We christened ourselves "TEAM FOLKIN' YOU UP" - a reference to how we met.  (Ani created her own record label, Righeous Babe Records (RBR), whose one-time slogan was "Folking You Up Since 1990.")  So I roped a couple of running friends into running with us.  One dropped out but we found another.  Then the other dropped out and found her own replacement.  Then that replacement dropped out and two days before the event, we found it was just me and Liz again!  Oh, the DRAMA!  I put out an emergency call on the Lake Run Club Facebook page and two people VERY GRACIOUSLY agreed to join in the fun. 

Our team was set:  Liz, Ray, Anne, and myself.  I had met Ray once before, actually just a couple of weeks before - we had worked a finish line together - but had never met Anne.  I don't think Anne and Ray knew each other at all, and of course, being from Chicago, Liz didn't know either of them.  After some debate and uncertainty, that was the order in which we ran:  Liz, Ray, then Anne, with me coming in as "anchor". 

Liz came up with a general uniform for us to wear (bright yellow shirt!) and made us these awesome tutus and headpieces.  The tutus served so very many functions!

Sadly, the one thing the tutus couldn't do was help us to identify one another on the morning of the race - there was a very hectic and stressful time when Liz and I were together, and we knew that Ray and Anne were here, somewhere, but we couldn't locate them.  And Liz and I had all 4 tutus.  Eventually, we did find eachother and here's where our story begins:

 

Obligatory pre-race, near-dawn photo, HAD to take it in front of the Army of Port-a-Johns!

I think Ray got the best compliment while running in tutu: a woman shouted encouragement as he passed, and he overheard her a moment later telling another spectator: "Now it takes a REAL man to run in THAT!" He did look mighty spiffy..

 

I don't know about everyone else, but I found the tutu very useful in dealing with the baton.  I was wearing my normal fanny-pack to hold the normal race gear:  ShotBloks, gum, ChapStick, phone, iPod, etc, etc, etc.  On its own, there was no way I could fit the baton in there, but it turns out I could sort of wedge it in there and pull the tutu over it to hold it in place.  This was great because it was so terribly hot and humid, my hands were really sweaty and gripping that plastic tube was a pain!

 

So after all our preparation and all the emergency get-a-replacement-runner drills, the race was finally ON and the gun goes off:  Liz was up first.

I was easily entertained/infatuated/slightly obsessed with my tutu.  Also, I hadn't really had my coffee yet and we had over an hour to kill while Liz ran her leg.  So... THIS picture exists.

We were able to wait along the course at about the 2-mile marker - I took these as she passed us.  It's easy to find her:  just look for the tutu!

Then it was time to pass the baton:  Liz handing off to Ray.

From there, Liz, Anne and I walked to Ray's car (and just missed seeing him on the way - we could here people calling out to "that guy in the tutu!" darn, those things were GENIUS!  Thanks Liz!), and drove to the next exchange point.  Just enough time to use the facilities and get some water after we parked the car, and here comes Ray:  just look for the tutu!

Fun fact:  Ray had run a 10-mile TOUGH MUDDER race the DAY BEFORE this marathon relay!  The one where they ELECTROCUTE the participants!  How's that for commitment?  This guy is a BEAST!  And so generous of him to do this with us!  THANK YOU, RAY!

Ray passes the baton to Anne:

Once Ray got some water and hit the head, he, Liz and I got back in his car and drove to the final exchange point.  Again we had some time to kill.  (The race organizers provided really great directions between exchange points so it was really efficient.)  We parked at a Walgreens and I was disconcerted to realize I hadn't taken any photos of me in the lovely feather-boa headband that Liz had concocted for me!  This is the best I could do:

I was NOT winking!  The sun was in my eyes!  I swear!

My friends Heather and Chuck and their son were waiting for us at the third exchange point.  We got to visit with them for a good 20 minutes or more while we watched for Anne's approach.  Anne is fast, and this was the shortest leg - 5.75 miles - but it seemed like it was taking quite a while.  Probably because I was expecting it to go so quickly, and the anticipation of starting my leg was killing me!  "They" were right; that part is hard.  I kept yelling, "Where's my TUTU?!?  I wanna see that tutu come this way!"  (Look, I said from the outset that I am slightly obsessed with the tutu... You were warned.)  Evenually, she did - and made great time, too!  I told the team they could expect me in about 90 minutes, and headed out on my own.

 

I didn't get any pictures of the hand-off from Anne to me, because... well, I was running at the time.  

I won't go into great detail about the specifics of my leg, but here are the highlights.  It was really hot and humid.  I had run the Lake Run 12K just two weeks before (about the same distance) in two-mile intervals and hoped to do the same with this race, but it was not to be.  By the time I started running, it was after 10am and quite warm.  I was struggling to finish a half-mile at a time throughout.  Plus, Peoria is a hilly place.  None of the hills on this leg were terrible, but more elevation changes than out at the Lake, certainly. 
I knew early on that there was no way I was going to finish in my planned 90-minute timeframe.  I was walking too much.  (You may remember, this was my 4th race week in a row and equal to the longest race just 2 weeks before.  That's a LOT of racing for me and my body was pretty well worn out.  I'm never doing that again.  If I'm going to do all 4 of these races next year, I'm going to need more conditioning.)  Enough with the excuses - my speed was pretty decent, when I was running, and I was so excited to finally be doing my part, I just wanted to finish happy and strong and without injury or incident!
As planned, about the half-way point of my leg, I took a couple of ShotBloks and two waters from the nearest stop.  Those help so much!  I use the ones that don't have caffeine, just electrolytes and whatnot.  The "Performance" ones, not the "Energy" ones.

About 4 miles in, we took a turn onto this lovely paved trail.  Lots of shade, no wind.  This was one of those good news, bad news things... lots of shade!  but it's still hot and humid and now there's no wind.  I used the talk-to-text feature on my phone to send Jason a message:  "I am at Mile 23" (Sidenote: I love that my phone keeps all this stuff.  I can see now that I sent that message at exactly 11:00am.) Another mile, and my feet were KILLING me.  (This foot issue was what got me into the PT office; it was getting worse, but I didn't want to see a doctor until my spate of races was done.  Dumb, I know.)  Mile 5 or so, my hip was feeling stiff and beginning to feel sore. I was feeling pretty low.  I took my last ShotBlok and waited for the boost that was sure to follow.  

This is where the volunteers and organizers became AMAZING.  I can't tell you how great it was to hear people shouting "Go tutu!"  "You got this, ballerina" (Yes, that's right, I am a dainty ballerina, a fairy, even...  light as air, and that means I can run forever. Oh HEY, there's that guy who's dressed like a fairy!  Running the whole marathon in that outfit, now THAT takes some eggs... and he's passing me after 20 freaking miles - that is SO badass! wait, where was I, have I slowed down?)  Overhearing little girls asking their moms o the sidewalks... "Is she a princess?"  "Princesses can run too?"  (Oh, HELL yeah they can, little Padawan, yes we CAN.)  (Yup, that was a Star Wars reference.  I'm THAT geek.  I thought you knew this already?) 

There was one guy, not sure what he was doing, maybe adjusting orange cones or road blocks or something, but he was in a golf cart, and at one intersection, he noticed me and made a point to make eye contact and yell something.  (I have no idea what he said, and it probably doesn't matter, but whatever it was, I was really soaking it in.)  Five minutes later, I was walking and massaging my hip, trying not to limp on my stupid foot, when the golf cart passed me.  He got out to do whatever he was there to do, noticed me again, and again made a point of eye contact and cheering me on.  Maybe he was doing that all day, maybe I really looked like shit beat, maybe he made a point to do that with one runner at every stop, I don't know, but I found the energy to yell back at him and tell him how much I appreciated it.  Of course, I think all I could muster was a hearty "YOU are AWESOME!  Thanks!"  But sometimes, that's enough.  I started running again.

At 11:35am, I sent another talk-to-text message: "I am half-mile out" - this must have been just a few minutes before that next picture was taken.

Jason made the trip over the Peoria and met up with my team while I was running my leg.  He took these when I rounded the last turn and approached.  

That's me, that speck in the back there.  Just look for the tutu.  :-)

Getting closer... never mind that woman with the blue hair.  :-)

I don't mind telling you, I nearly burst into tears when I laid eyes on those bright yellow/green shirts and pink & black tutus!  And then again when I saw my dear hubby.  I wasn't feeling broken but I sure was beat.

 



 And here I am! 

 And off we go - the whole team runs the last quarter-mile ...

 

And crosses the finish line together!!

I will DEFINITELY run this race again!  Lots of fun and they did a great job organizing it.  Plenty of water stops, lots of GU and Shotbloks and candy on the course, and TONS and TONS of community support.  It was really great!! 

Signs I caught along the way:

Plus, this race had some SWEET BLING!  

Our results:  TEAM finished 90th out of 125, and I finished 65 of 73 women for the final leg.  As you can see, several minutes shy of my 90-minute goal.

Oh, and there IS one more thing the tutu is good for:

Drunk pics of my dog.  She HATES playing dress-up!  But I find it so VERY entertaining!