Crunch Time

Monday - nothing

Tuesday - Team in Training Fundraiser at the Dock restaurant, a little wine, a lot of fun, a long night, a successful fundraiser, but no running

Wednesday - nothing

Thursday - Ran 6 miles with my trainer/friend (moving more into the friend than trainer realm at this point, but both terms are still being used loosely), then did my Core Strength Training class at the gym

Friday - nothing, and ate a greasy bacon cheeseburger from Five Guys for dinner (clearly did not learn my lesson the first time I made this mistake...remember - faster, not smarter...)

Saturday -

This was "The Day" as far as training for the marathon goes. Our Team in Training group run was scheduled for 20 miles, and is intended to serve as a mock marathon for the real deal which is less than a month away. This was the longest run scheduled before the race, to be followed by a month of tapering down and allowing the muscles to repair before the big event. I am somewhat self-aware at this point, and did realize it was way too far to run on my own, so I decided to take part in the whole National Capital Area Team in Training group run. Making this decision easier was the fact that I knew my mentor was going to be there, which is always a huge help to me, and the run was scheduled for Reston (so not preceded or proceeded by another type of marathon around the beltway.)

I arrived at the training site by the W&OD in Reston (by mile marker 17) and there were at least 100 other TNT runners from Virginia, Maryland, and D.C. already there. The plan was to run west for 5 miles (to mile marker 22), turn around, run 5 miles back to the starting point, pass the starting point, run another 5 miles east (to mile marker 12), turn around, then back to the starting point, for a total of 20 miles.

The first 5 miles felt great. I was running with Caroline (my mentor) and we were aiming for a 11.5 minute mile pace, but I have picked up speed over the past month or so (I don't know how) and kept falling into what I now believe is my natural pace of 10.5 minute miles. We actually had to keep making a conscious effort to slow down. By the time we reached mile 8 I had to pee. I should mention now that I was also on my period and had an extremely upset stomach from the aforementioned bacon cheeseburger. I saw a 7-11 just a bit off of the trail, told Caroline to keep going, and ran over to the 7-11 to use their restroom facilities. The person working there refused to let me use it. Great. Now I needed to pee, change my tampon, had an upset stomach, and Caroline was way ahead of me at this point. Then someone told me that there was a community center up ahead about a mile. I ran to that. I couldn't find the bathroom. I ran back to the trail and kept going. Internally, everything between my rib cage and thighs was in a serious state of turmoil at this point. Finally I made it back to the starting point (so 10 miles into the run) where Caroline was waiting for me, and she informed me that I hadn't even lost much time despite all of my legs off of the trail in search of a toilet. We kept going.

Apparently I missed the next opportunity for a restroom at a McDonald's just past the starting point. Awesome. We kept going. Finally, around mile 12, there was a water stop and a port-a-potty. Even better. I tried to take care of all the issues affecting my stomach, but was not all that successful. I won't go into the details. We kept going, for about another mile, then we stopped to walk. And that was all she wrote. Once we started walking my legs cramped in a way that I did not know was possible. The run was over. We went out to mile marker 13 (so stopping a mile short) and turned around. We walked all the way back, except for the last quarter of a mile, which we hobble/jogged, simply to save face. In total, I made it 18 miles, only the first 13 of which were running. So, another miserable failure.

I cried and sulked around for the rest of the weekend. I felt guilty for eating any morsel of food that entered my mouth, even salad. This run should have resulted in the confidence needed to make it through the race. Instead I am now questioning whether or not I will beat the bus across the bridge, if I can make it past mile 16 or 20 or 25, if I will even survive the endeavor, and honestly why I ever thought I could do this in the first place.

In the words of Eleanor Roosevelt, "You must do the thing you think you cannot do." I am going to re-attempt the 20 miles this coming weekend.

Getting Serious

For the Easter holiday in the Spring of 2009 I went to visit my grandparents in Pennsylvania, along with my mother and my kids. As I was changing clothes one morning my mother walked in, looked me up and down as I was nearly or completely nude, and at length commented "Well, you finally have a figure." As she said this, she simultaneously illustrated her point with some hand motion which distinctly went outward at what I must assume was supposed to represent my depression stage ass.

I was back in the gym the day after we returned.

A friend from work, a runner (with whom I indiscriminately shared my black toe story) suggested that I go to a specialty running store to get the right shoes. OK, first of all, who the hell knew that there were specialty stores for running? Obviously, as we all now know, not me. However, I was willing to do anything to avoid another 5 pedicureless months, and I went to the store. Potomac River Running. They are awesome. As I sit here sore as hell today, the only damn thing that doesn't hurt is my feet. They measure your feet, they analyze how you walk and how you run using a treadmill and some special video camera set up, they have you stand on this thing to see how your weight settles on your feet. They do it all over again with various shoes selected for your feet. Then they find you the perfect pair of shoes. I am forever in their debt. No, I do not own stock in their store, don't get discounts, and do not even know anyone that works there. I don't know anything, actually, which you may have concluded by now.

This same friend knew I wanted to run the marathon, which she had completed previously, and told me about this group she runs with, Team in Training. TNT (no, not TIT, fortunately) is a fundraising organization for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). Basically, they train you to complete an endurance event, and you fund raise a minimum amount of money for them to provide services to patients suffering from leukemia or lymphoma (many of which are children). For me this provides an opportunity of the best nature - I get support to accomplish a major life goal, and at the same time will contribute to the assistance of people suffering from these blood cancers.

After I got my fundraising website up (which TNT basically does for you) my first donation came in, $500 from the same friend's parents, her dad is a survivor. They donate to the LLS every year, usually through their daughter's races, but my friend is not running in a fall event and so they donated to me instead. My fundraising minimum is $1800, but it would be great to exceed that amount. To date I am halfway there.

Now that all the pieces were in place it was time to get serious. Unfortunately, I could not even make it around the lake once without having to stop and walk...the lake is only 1.25 miles...the race is 26.2 miles.