Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Running Sucks

It totally does.  It's become one of my biggest enemies.  Natalie and I participated in Grandma's Marathon Saturday in Duluth MN.  It's a spectacular race, absolutely beautiful road that follows along the North Shore of Lake Superior.  It really doesn't get much better.  Except it rained, and there was a cold wind and flags posted all over warning runners about a risk of hypothermia.

Natalie, of course, was miles ahead of me, but I was feeling pretty great about things until mile 7, when I felt totally and completely exhausted.  I wanted to curl up on the side of the road and take a snooze.  Then around mile 9 I started to get the dizzy feeling I usually don't get until mile 20.  Things cleared up around mile 11 but then in mile 12 I felt a pop in my foot and pain and I knew I had to pull out...ye ol stress fracture hasn't really bothered me in weeks.  I was so upset that I started crying.  I hate not finishing a race.  HATE IT.  So it looks like I'll be signing up to run that one again next year...sans injured foot.

Here are some lessons I learned with this race:
1.  don't start calorie restricting the week before the race.  I did and I could tell by the fact that I had zero energy.
2.  get plenty of sleep prior to the run.  I didn't and I could tell by the fact that I had zero energy.

So, including the half marathon I ran on Saturday I've done 31 more miles this month

June 4-20 = 31 miles

2 comments:

Angenette said...

Hey, 31 miles is 31 miles! Again, thanks for taking care of yourself and pulling out of the race.

Natalie said...

Yes, better to have a friend who can still walk than a friend who thought she HAD to finish the race on a broken foot.