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
