Regardless, I pulled a "Do as I say, not as I do!" this last weekend. If any of my fabulous blog, Twitter or Facebook followers would have came seeking advice asking ever so coincidentally,
"I just came from the doctor with an antibiotic prescription for bronchitis & laryngitis. Should I run a half marathon tomorrow morning? I've been coughing my lungs out non-stop for a week, have absolutely no voice, & have been exhausted. Oh yes & don't forget, I haven't ran a mile since last Saturday, one week from tomorrow's race". I would have answered so sympathetically with a "Seriously, brainiac! Are you out of your mind? Take your rear end back to bed & stay there & forget about tomorrow's race."
It takes a lot for me to see the doctor, being sick is usually not one of them. Me just being there indicated I was feeling near death. In fact, my knee injuries dwell for a week of wobbling & pain before I drag myself there. He stated he was surprised to see me for any other reason than a grapefruit size, swollen knee, herniated disc, etc.
When I was leaving the Dr.'s office with my prescription, he asked me if I had a race that weekend. I've been seeing this particular Dr. for years and with my lack of fabulous knees, he's quite familiar with my running endeavors. After a diagnosis & a prescription, he slowly asked me if I would be cancelling my racing intentions. Ok, it was more like a "You will be cancelling this race, won't you?" I gave no definite answer knowing good and well I had no intentions of cancelling any race.
Besides the excessive coughing, I woke up the morning of the race not feeling too bad. As usual, I went back & forth with what to wear. I have yet to accomplish dressing just right in the cold so that I'm not too cold or too hot. Maybe I can get a lesson from Goldilocks.
I headed for the race a tad early to try to meet up with a couple of fellow running group members. Once I got there, the race registration area was a lot more crowded and there were more runners than I remembered from last year. I did my usual "go to the bathroom as many times as possible" prior to the race before I headed outside for the race. Thankfully, this was one of those cushy races that the runners have access to the warm interior of a building with clean public restrooms. The outside cold port-o-lets were only used as a last resort. What more could you ask for?
It started out a tad brisk. I appreciated the jacket that I decided to grab out of my car at the last second.....at least for now. It eventually ended up around my waist once I warmed up. It doesn't make for great race pictures as you can see here, but it served its purpose.
As I progressed into the mileage of the race, I was pleasantly surprised at how well I felt for just being as sick as I had been the week and even day prior. There was little coughing and my lungs felt good. I don't remember at what mile, but a fellow runner lady, Nina & I sparked up a conversation and kept it going for a considerable amount of the race. I usually run out of the ability to hold any conversation past the very early stages of a half, as I tend to attempt to preserve all energy possible.
Even though the coughing seem to have subsided, as least for now, my legs began to express their distaste for my attempt at 13.1 at who knows what mile. I began to feel every single muscle in my legs that had not been used since the weekend prior when I had ran the Shamrock Shuffle 15k. It took everything I had to push through. I think it was about mile 12 where I had to walk. I spent about 45 seconds walking when Nina, who I had lost for a few miles came up behind up and lended some moral support. It was the boost I needed and I picked my pace back up.
I finished the race in 2:15:48, not a PR but not my slowest. I was ecstatic considering my previous week's condition. I headed back inside to the race headquarters to find a runner friend to see how she had done. She had a PR and her first half under 2 hours at 1:59:31. Congrats to her.
I headed home to meet up with husband so that we could get in his training run of 8 miles & I could finish up the remaining of my 18 miles. Long story short, the remaining 5 did not go as well as my first 13.1. I started out with my husband at his pace. It was immediately painful. I thought maybe I could do a walk-run. Just say that didn't work out so well. I guess the lack of running the week prior had caught up with me. I ended up walking the 5 slowest miles of my life. Husband finished his 8 mile run before I finished my 5....Yes, that bad. Regardless, I got it done.
Coincidentally, I went to a Dr. appointment with my daughter the other day, the same Dr. I had just seen last week, the day before my race. Before addressing my daughter's issue, he had to ask me if I raced the last weekend. I told him that I did. His response, "Of course you did."
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