RunValpo13.1

Us....another half marathon is done and officially in the books.



Chris --showing off his 'tough'


Me....showing off just how tough I am (not!)


Me.....just so you know, putting 20 ounces of Coke on top of a banana and a cream-filled doughnut is NOT the way to properly fuel for a half-marathon :-/

Saturday, November 13, 2010

This was such an emotional day for me. A very best friend of mine (Jody) was having an adoption fundraising dinner this night to raise money to bring her little boy(s) home from Ethiopia, and Chris and I were running another half-marathon in the morning!!!!
I wanna start this race report by griping about how COMPLETELY untrained I was!!!! Chris's job decided that he needed to work Saturdays for a while, so I lost my long run days, and there just isn't time to squeeze it in anywhere else, especially since it gets so dark so quick now :-( I had done a total of *2* long-ish runs, but both of those were back in early September!!!! And, they were only 9 mile runs! I have a good, solid base of about 5-6 miles, but a half-marathon is 13.17 miles, not 5! And, as a side note, Chris had done *1* training run, all of 3 miles, about 3 days before the race.
Saturday morning dawns nice and pleasant. It is fore casted to be in the 50's and overcast, rain is likely to begin at 11am. Race starts at 8:30...if we run fast enough, we can cross the finish line and zoom to the car before the rain hits!!!! Most excellent, that was my plan!!!!
We had a new sitter coming, and she got there early, which was really nice for us!!! After giving the poor girl about 9,685 directions, we headed out the door. We had plenty of time, so we stopped at Wal-Mart for breakfast....I was so busy talking to the sitter, I had forgotten to eat!!!!! So, I got a banana and a doughnut at W/M and was able to 'use' the bathroom too!!!!! After parking and packet pick-up we had a bit of time, so we putzed around and pottied....I was freezing and content to sit in the car till start time, but Chris wanted to stretch and jog, you know, all that stuff you really should do before a run :-)
I was really nervous and not feeling very confident at all....I was terribly untrained, and un-prepared for this magnitude of a run :-(
The race started, and we were off. The first mile, I could tell Chris really wanted to stay with me, to slow himself down, but I pretty much ignored him, I'm not a social runner, and I REALLY needed to focus on Julie for this run, and I did not want the guilt of bringing him down on this run, so after mile 1, he took off! He was trying to break 2 (his last (and only) half was a 2:07, so we were all really pulling for him to break 2) Mile 2 went by pretty quickly, but I could tell I needed to hit a groove and lock into it for about the next 8-9 miles....so I started some labor contraction breathing...the type of breathing where you really focus on filling your lungs and just breathing while counting...as opposed to focusing on the running. It works great for me, but I AM a number nerd, I usually add weird numbers on long runs to pass the time!
Before long, we were at mile 6 and I was definitely in a zone, and pretty happy with my time, I was hitting each mile about 7-12 seconds ahead of schedule, and things were going really well.
BAM.
I realized that I was half-way done, and what kind of time I would get if I kept this pace, what would happen if I added 8 seconds to each successive mile, numbers, numbers, numbers.......and I lost my groove. Completely lost it. I also realized I was thirsty. It's not good to be thirsty on this kind of run......At the 8 mile station, I got a Gatorade and Water, and walked while I drank them.....then, got right back to running. I thought if I could trick myself into believing that I only needed those 4 swallows to finish the whole run, it would work, and I could really hydrate AFTER I crossed the line.......nope.
I made it to 8.8 before I had to walk, and I had to walk b/c there was just nothing left in me. I was drained, my legs felt like rubber, and my hip joints felt like they were just clogged and couldn't actually lift my legs anymore. I walked for about .2 miles, then resumed a slow jog.....I just wanted it to be faster than a walk, and it was...barely. A little while after I started running again, my 2 swallows of Gatorade and my doughnut and my banana decided something needed to leave. So, on the side of some country road behind Route 30 behind the small airport in Valpo, I puked all of that up! Several people asked if I was OK, but at this point in the race, it's every man for himself, and us slow folk at the back of the race are all just trying to find where they put that finish line (cuz, it should be right HERE) Shortly after this, I realize that the insanely chapped lips I have been developing since the run started, well, they are now bleeding. So, I have little splatters of puke all over me, and bleeding lips (which hurt SOOO bad)and, I realize, that no one is FORCING me to do this, I volunteered to do this. Wow. Then, I realize that some people are jealous of me. Some people are jealous that they can't run like me (ohhhh, that really tickles me, why would ANYONE want to run like me??? I am so pathetic at running!!!!) But, for my fans and loyal blog readers(;-)) I decide to run. I ran/walked to the 11 mile mark, and realized I was NOT gonna make my goal of 2:07:59, so I momentarily gave up. Then, I realize, that Chris should be finishing really soon, and that my incredible little sister and her super-fun dog are waiting on me, and I needed to get there fast before it started raining, and Lambeau got cold. So, after the 11.25-ish mark, I started to run again, )and ran all the way to the 12.9 mile mark.....quite a long ways for a not-properly-fueled or hydrated girl to run!!!) I ran for the things in this world bigger than me. I ran for those who believe in me, and can't run, I ran for those who don't even know me, but know that I really wanna run, I ran for Jody's little man/men...those boys may not be able to run, they may be so nutritionally deprived, so exhausted, so limited, I ran for Jody's love of these children -- her unlimited faith in our God to provide those children with what they need until Jody has them, I realized during this 1.65 mile run that I am a very selfish, self-absorbed person....and I really need to try to fix that.
Eventually, I did finally finish the never-ending race, and I was REALLY happy to see my sister and my husband, and I was glad to be done with the race.
I was, however, really disappointed in myself. I should have done better, I could have done better. I should I eaten my steel-cut oats and soy milk, I should have slept better, I should have had more water on Friday, I should have trained harder/better/more.....I am still (2 days later) really un-happy with myself, and I feel like I really let a lot of people down (aside from just me) I hate that I 'messed' up and I hate that it won't stop me from doing it all over again in a few months......I know I'll never run the perfect half-marathon, and I think I am scared of doing a full until I am happy with my half, so.......until then, I suppose I will just dream about the day I can walk away from a half-marathon with a positive feeling about that monster, regardless of my time. This was not that 'perfect' race.

Official Times:
Chris
2:04:59
9:32 mile
15th out of 27 male 30-34
252 out of 447 runners overall

Julie:
2:17:48
10:31 mile
29th out of 35 female 30-34
362 out of 447 runners overall

Crazy Sunday 10-24-10

Sunday, October 24, 2010
Double Trouble 5k-Day

Run-Climb-Crawl
Valpo, IN

We had two 5K's scheduled for this day....and, yes, we MEANT to do that....we thought it would be *fun*....the only problem was that we hadn't really realized the severity of it being 2 back-to-back trail runs!!!!........and, as usual, my mom messed things up ROYALLY!!!! Mt mom was supposed to babysit the kids that day, well, they were supposed to spend the night at her house on Saturday night, and we'd go get them Sunday after our runs. NOPE. FAIL. Mom calls me on Friday to let me know that she can't....I'll spare you the agonizingly lame excuse she gave me.....so, anyhow, and thank God for 'em, Chris's parents immediately volunteered to have the monsters spend the night with them, and take them to church on Sunday, and we'd pick them up from mom and dad h's after our runs. Problem (and, mini-crisis) averted. After taking the kids to mom h's, we decided to play hooky, and head to M'ville to go see a movie, then head home for a pre-run dose of Cap'n :-)
Sunday morning arrives all too quickly. It is dark and cold. We actually leave on time, and get to run #1 on time. It's at some park in Valpo. Now, the name of this run is the Run-Climb-Crawl. We paid handsomely ($25 EACH) for this run, but it is advertised as a mudless Warrior Dash....so, we are pretty excited to test our phyical abilities aside from running our 3.17 miles! The packet pick up was quite a joke....great packet, just NO, ZERO, NADA, NOOOOOO organization amongst the volunteers, noone had any clue about anything, and they couldn't find our names anywhere on the 'master' list...yet, we had packets WITH our names, age, DOB and shirt size on them!! After a little while the oh-so-knowlegeable volunteer FINALLY let us have our packets and we headed back to the car to warm up. The race begins at 7:30, and it is not yet 7, so we have some time to kill.....we walk around hunting through the dark for the bathrooms, and mostly putz around till the sun comes up. This run is advertised as "old-fashioned"....and we slowly begin to see why. There is no 'start line', nor is there any timing, at all. We finally figure out where we are starting and (12 minutes LATE) they make an announcement about getting a numbered popsicle stick when you finish -- you are to take your stick to the right table (male or female) and they will place your # from your stick beside your name so you know how you did.................*seriously*
Oh well, at least we get to run, climb, and crawl.
So, the race starts, and about 2 turns into the field, there are the hay bales they advertised.........wait, what????? At Warrior Dash, it was a HUGE wall of hay we had to climb up and over (super fun) this, however, was about 8 bales spaced like this hay hay hay hay hay hay......yeah, you get the point, the really FIT people walked over them, the not-so-fit people walked around them. Then, we continue running through this field for another mile or so, before we hit the open grass. This 'open grass' was actually the break in the field due to those MASSIVE power line tower thingees.......nothing but a hill up to the metal tower, then run through the valley before you crest another hill to the next tower!!! I believe there were 8 towers in the open grass, and (I can't find my Garmin report on it) but I think it was something like a 642 foot ascent to each hill....that was rough!!!! After finishing the tower valleys, we round a corner back into the park where they have place 2 tubes. Yup, this is the whole, entire, whopping, mega 'crawl' portion of the run -- 2 little tubes that are about 20 feet long. We had to crawl through them, which was actually really challenging b/c they were only a smidge wider than I am (which happens to be quite a bit SMALLER than Chris is), after crawling through one, you had to run about 15 yards to tube #2, then run down a small hill to the finish line (where you got your popsicle stick)We were both really dissapointed with the advertised vs actual run, adn with the amount of $$ we paid, they could and SHOULD have made a much better run out of this!!!!
Neither one of us placed and we only lingered for awards b/c there was hot cocoa and a TON of door prizes.....which, coincidentally enough, were only won by people who went to the tae-kwon-do school sponsoring the run......hmmm, sure smells suspicious to me! We will NOT be running this one again next year, so, Team O'Connell will NOT be getting $50 from these people :-)

Our times:
(this was a trail run, so time are expected to be about 15-20% longer than a street 5K)
Chris:
29:16
32:16
(there was no age group, or overall placings, and these are the times from our own personal watches, b/c they didn't record any times there!!!!!)

*************************************************************************************

Haunted Hustle
Portage, IN

After leaving one run, we immediately headed to the next. There were quite a few (25-30) people who were running both runs, so it was kinda fun to see everyone at run #2. The Haunted Hustle was a costume run, so we dressed up a little......we still wanted to be able to run too. After a quick, easy, adn efficient packet-pick-up, we headed back to the car and off for a real bathroom!!!! Feeling better, and, a little emptier, we went to mingle with the other runners for a bit. We saw some funny costumes, and some weird ones too. Everyone seemed to be in a great mood, and the whole feeling was just nice and easy.
We were given a brief speech about how to run on a 'real' trail, and we were off. I was a bit tired from having JUST run a trail 5K, but felt pretty good right off the bat. The run started on a trail that was single-file.....so, for the first .4 miles, you were literally stuck at the mercy of how fast the pack was going, it opened up a bit in places, but not enough to pass anyone or to be passed either! At about the .5 mile mark, it was passable for a little while, I did my fair share of passing the older folk, and passing the fancy-nancy's who just couldn't bear to get their precious running shoes dirty (ugh)...and, I got passed, alot!!!! There was one REALLY annoying woman who was pacing off me, but she refused to run the tangents....she'd pace me, then see a 90 degree turn ahead with a tree marking the turn, so she would stop about 20 feet from the tree, wait till I had run down and around the tree, and once I got to the trail, where she had stood, she'd hop back in line behind me!!!!!! HOW IS THAT FAIR WOMAN???????? It put me in a really bad mood! She did this about 5 times through the race!!!! This trail was steep, and tough! I mean, this was REALLY tough!! The majority of it was single lane, and just completely infested with roots, rocks, shrubs....all sorts of hazards! The trail itself was well marked, and there were volunteers at the few places that were really tricky to navigate, and that helped alot! The entire elevation for this race was in the 800 foot chunk of the Garmin graph, it was a lot of long steep hills, with loose sand at the bottom of them, before climbing the next one. It was the kind of run that leaves you drained, but filled with pride for having done it! (Oh yeah, and it leaves you REALLY sore the next day!!!!)

Our times:
Chris
31:18
Julie
34:34
(again, no group or overal placememnts here either :-(





(I can NOT get these pics to post right at all -- the costume-y ones are from the Haunted Hustle, the other two are from the Run-Climb-Crawl)