Rock n Roll USA 2013

Nearly every weekend since January, I've met up with my friends, Sarah & Nikki, for long runs as we trained together for the Rock n Roll USA Half Marathon that took place on March 16, 2013.  We'd also loosely meet up during the week to workout together as well.   It makes such a difference with the level of motivation to workout and train when you have friends to do it with!  I looked forward to my long weekend runs, as I knew it would be a good time catching up with my friends and we'd cap off our runs with a hot lunch afterward.

Toward the end of January, I got the flu.  It knocked me out for about 5 weeks.  In that time, I ran twice - the first run was only 3 miles a few days before the flu hit.  The second time, I attempted to run while the flu was in full force, and I only made it half a mile.  I had to drop out of a marathon relay race I had signed up for in mid-February because my body still was not back to normal energy-levels.  I didn't run again until Feb 24th.  And for some insane reason, I thought it would be ok to log 9 miles.  NINE miles, after running nearly nothing for 5 weeks and my body being super weak.  It was not the smartest decision.  My body HURT.  It was not ready to jump back in with that sort of demand.  I should have started off easier and worked my way back up.  The problem was that I didn't have much time!  I was afraid that if I didn't put in the long miles, I wouldn't be ready to run the half marathon in a few weeks. The next weekend, I put in nearly 12 miles.  This time my body really let me know that it was not happy with me.  My left knee started hurting a LOT.  And my ankle/foot.  And my right hip.  Oh my.  I had to limp for a few days.

The next weekend (the weekend before the race) I only put in 5 miles.  But those 5 miles were brutal.  My knee started hurting almost right away, and it was a slow, painful 5 miles.  Again, I had to limp around for a few days.  Now I was really nervous about the race.  I decided to make 2 appointments with my sports doctor (who saw me regularly through 2012 as I trained for my half ironman) so he could hopefully work his magic on my knee and make me better for Saturday.  Unfortunately for the both of us, he got the stomach flu and was out for my Thursday and Friday appointments.  I saw some whack-job physical therapist on Thursday, who could somehow diagnose things that were wrong with my body just by touching certain areas.  For example, she was touching my shoulder when she asked if I had twisted my right ankle at any point.  Uh, yeah.  That is the ankle I had achilles problems with a few years ago.  Then she asked if I had been coughing a lot - which I had (for days and days) when I had the flu.  It was truly bizarre.  But a little bit awesome.  The only problem was that she didn't really fix any of the issues.  She just told me that they were there.  Friday I saw a regular chiropractor and he cracked my back, then worked on my IT band a bit.  But that's it.  He told me I could wear an IT band strap to see if that would help during the race..

Here's me demonstrating to Sarah (in white) what Dr. Booker did to my thigh

I felt I was ready for the race, if my knee would just hold up.  I decided to stick to Sarah's pace and run with her (Nikki was on bedrest; she was about to give birth at this point), as I didn't want to go too fast out of the gate and cause a problem.  I felt AWESOME.  We kept up a conversation and I was sticking in my Zone 2 heartrate.  Well, around mile 1.5, I started feeling my knee..  Uh oh.  Then mile 3 it started to really hurt.  I kept up with Sarah until around mile 5.5, when there was a hill.  Then it was just way too painful and I had to walk.  I stopped to stretch, then walked the rest of the way up the hill.  I would try to run once I crested the hill, but wouldn't make it very far before I had to stop to walk again.

Cruising at about mile 5

Me totally oblivious to the camera

Turns out I would end up walking the rest of the race.  SEVEN and a HALF MILES.  I don't think I've ever hated walking so much in my entire life.  It is truly frustrating when you have properly trained for something and cannot do it.  There were times that it was so painful to even walk that I wondered if I would be able to finish the race at all.

I had a bad attitude and hated my body for the rest of the race.  I got mad when somebody would cheer, "You are looking strong!"  Uh....  no I'm not.  Why would you say that?  I'm obviously limping and scowling. But then I would be surprised by the kindness of others who asked if I was ok and if I needed anything.  They would tell me to keep with it, and good job for not giving up.  Those were the comments that really meant something, and that gave me a shot of feeling good.  I really struggled with holding back the tears of frustration and disappointment each time I had to completely stop walking due to the pain.

Walking.  Walking.  Walking.  More Walking.

 When I finally DID cross the finish line, I didn't feel any sort of accomplishment.  I was glad it was over, and relieved that I could finally stop.  My overall feeling was of annoyance, and the same question was asked over and over in my head: "WHY?!"

WHY?!

My grimace as I cross the finish

 My official finisher's photo really speaks volumes about how I felt about this race.

Ridiculous

I have the Cherry Blossom 10-miler (3rd year in a row I was selected out of the lottery!) in less than 3 weeks.  We'll see if my doc can work his magic in that time so that I'm ready for it.  Crossing fingers!!