Let's start with the good news -
"C" and I did the 5K in FW called "Runners on Parade". Wow! What a fun event. Kudos to everyone who helped organize the event and to those who made the day such a HUGE success. High 5 to the awesome race director. Fantastic job!!!! "C" and I tried out the interval she dreams of using for the half-marathon, 3 minutes running and 1 minute of walking. It started off no problem. I think we began a little faster than we should have since our first mile was like 12:30 (way faster than I thought I could go). We did 9 intervals of 3:1 and 1 interval we walked - there was also about 30 seconds where we walked about a quarter of a mile from the end because I truly thought I was going to PUKE! I got it together and we sprinted (honest to God, sprinted) to the finish line. Our official time, 39:46 - - - my personal record (regretfully for "C" it was 3 minutes slower than her PR - she is just amazing!). In a race of nearly 985 finishers, we ended up 919th & 920th place! Not something to hang our hat on, but for me - it's as good as I could have ever dreamed - and most importantly WE WEREN'T LAST (though a 75 year old beat us by like 22 minutes - NICE!). I felt good about what I did. I was tired and now worry whether or not I'll be able to do 10 miles further than today's race (wow - that's a really long way!)
Now for the medium news -
My shoes. I used my Asics Nimbus 12 with heel levelers, insoles, and orthotics. They worked out pretty well. My shins are a little sore. My big blister is neither better nor worse (which is a good thing). I did end up with a few smaller blisters around my toes - I think these can be fixed by wearing toe socks. I do have a bigger issues with a blister type situation on my right heel. I'll have to see how it develops. The insoles have a lip on them and I think my heel was just sitting up on top of that lip. I'll see what can be done to limit the damage in the future.
Now for the bad news -
I was feeling pretty good following the race and the drive home so I decided that I had been lazy enough and really needed to knock out the long country run that "L" had done this week and that "L" & "C" had done 2 weeks ago - both of which, I did not participate in. It was 11 a.m. and 83 degrees and VERY sunny. I started off from downtown and ran out of town down to the first intersection in the country. That was at least 2 miles. I was still feeling pretty good at that point - hot, but pretty good. I go over to the next country road and along the way, I got terribly tired. I had been using the 3:1 interval thanks to "C" who let me use her countdown timer this week. I decided to walk through a 3:1 interval. I got to the next intersection and really wanted to go left to go back toward home, but decided to continue on the 8 mile course (fully knowing that I was biting off way more than I could chew). I get a 1/4 mile down the road and decide I just can't go the rest of the mile down (because that's also one more mile back plus that's not even the half way point of the route!). I turn around, stop in the shade, text "C" and say I'm a failure and head back for home. It's hot, I'm tired, and I walk pretty much the rest of the way back 2.5 miles at the world's slowest pace! Seriously! I had gotten to the turn around point in about 40 minutes. I got back to the car in 50 minutes. I had done some 2 minutes of shuffling then 2 minutes of walking, but those were almost too few to mention and the pace was that of my training partners' walking speed. My feet hurt, my legs hurt, my ego was really hurting. I was really depressed about my performance. Again, I'm super scared that in 2 months I won't be able to go 13.1 miles - seriously, I only made it a total of 5.3 in the training loop I did (in a total time of 1 hour 28 minutes). What am I going to do? It's not like I haven't been training nearly 3 months!!!!!!!!!!! I don't think this half-marathon is going to be a pretty picture AT ALL, but . . . I'm still committed to trying and will continue to work as hard as I can to progress, fight through, and succeed! After the pity party, I thought of a few things. First, I have NEVER gone that far all alone ever in my entire life!!!!!!!!!!! I have long said that I could/would never do this training if I had to do it by myself (thank God for my training partners). So for me to be able to do 5.3 miles out in the country (not even with the security of the greenway or park) is a pretty amazing accomplishment - for me, anyway. Second, 5.3 miles in the afternoon (no matter how ugly it was) + 3.1 miles in the morning (at PR pace) + walking about 1/2 mile-1 mile getting to/from event = 8.9 miles (not too shabby . . . for me!)
I'm hoping that my type A training partner "L" can somehow help me progress this upcoming week without killing me.
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