Right now is exactly two days after I ran the Nashville half marathon. I saw pictures of myself running & crossing the finish line this morning – I look miserable & distracted. I was definitely both at moments during the day. I do not know what the organizers used my $115 for, but I do know that it was NOT for toilet paper. I did not prepare for this race – Scott was signed up (we thought – more on this later) & I thought that it would be much more fun to run the race than to watch the race. After all, I am usually stiff & sore after running around from mile marker to mile marker anyways. I decided to experience the race instead of being a spectator.
We both remember many details of signing Scott up for the race. I was in the office & he was getting ready to go to sleep. I input his estimated time for his corral assignment & then said, “OK, you’re registered!” I am absolutely certain that I signed him up. Somehow though, he was not on the official list & our credit card wasn’t charged. His registration is probably in a pile somewhere in Nashville with all the missing toilet paper.
We waited in quite a line to get into the Expo. As we were walking in, we saw one of the YSA’s who had lived in Greenville for a while. She is such a fun person & it is such a miracle that we ran into each other. Once we figured out that Scott’s registration was missing, we stood in the “Solutions” line & signed him up at the Expo. The Expo was great – lots of vendors, lots of freebies, good shopping. (I have to recommend Moving Comfort bras – my life will never be the same.) Scott won a t-shirt at the Brooks booth. We talked to the Garmin rep & tried to get my (almost) NEW watch repaired. Scott was uncharacteristically calm.
The race started at 7 a.m. and traffic getting to the stadium was like rush-hour in Atlanta. Miss Moneypenny (our British GPS voice) abandoned ship halfway through the adventure & was replaced by her American counterpart (name suggestions?). The GPS did finally get us to the stadium. We were so frazzled when we arrived though that I did not pay attention to where we parked. After the race, I tearfully lawn-mowered the parking lot for 1.5 hours (90 minutes!) in the hot sun after the race with a dead cell phone. I was in good company – there were LOTS & LOTS of very lost people wondering where on earth their car had been moved.
This is a BIG RACE!! Kajillions of people!!! 4,083 people finished the full marathon. 21,944 people finished the half marathon. I was trying to explain to my mom how many people there were & finally decided it’s like when you watch the Fireworks from the cool vantage point on July 4th & then smash together with people to get out of there. Massive.
Scott did not have a great race. He was feverish & coughing the night before. (I should have been suspicious when he wasn’t totally stressed out the night before the race.) He said that there were two moments that he enjoyed – once when someone gave him an orange & another when he was under a bridge in the shade. I totally missed him at the finish line by 10” because I was sure that he had already finished. Hopefully he will share a few more thoughts & I will post them here.
I don’t remember every moment, just flashes & impressions. I think I disassociate & go to some happy place. It must have been pretty happy because in spite of slow walkers in massive groups in front of me, serious tummy woes, & feeling that I was going to quit because of the heat, I ended the day feeling happy with my achievement. My first mile was 8:51. I had a few very slow miles (broken Garmin so no specific facts) but overall I enjoyed the ride. You can see my pictures & video at this link: http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_event_video.asp?EVENTID=75416&BIB=19846&LNSEARCH=1
I felt very unprepared for this race. I ran a few miles here & there, but nothing really gave me the “I can do it!!” feeling. The toughest teacher at the gym gave me a good piece of advice, “Just run three miles, and then three more, and so on.” The night before the race in our hotel room I re-read the psychological stuff in the Non-Runner’s Marathon Trainer. I made little notes to keep in my iPhone case for times of trouble. I picked out specific problems that I knew that I would have & decided how to re-frame them. Here are my notes:
“Attitude has nothing to do with facts, and everything to do with perspective.”
I am glad I can run. I am chasing the life of my dreams!
“…but it doesn’t matter!” The book talks about thinking about pain in an accepting way. I don’t believe this means that you continue to train through an injury, but a little pain is normal. Scott has really adopted this saying… “My ankle hurts, but that doesn’t matter.” “I am tired, but that doesn’t matter.” As long as you don’t try to figure out what really matters on the race, it’s a good little mantra. And as a bonus, if you do try to figure out the whole meaning of life & running & the universe, the miles will pass by as you ponder in a run-induced-weird-state.
“Oh hello, Pain! Come & run with me!” I was feeling a bit lonely as many people were running with friends. Just then, my hamstring started feeling tight.
“It’s not important that you finish, only that you do!”
A to Z gratitude: Think of one thing for which you’re grateful for each letter of the alphabet in order. For me, every single thing that I am grateful for is FOOD (apples, bananas, chocolate, dogs…). It’s all I think about for the duration of the run. One day I thought of people that I know & where they live for each letter of the alphabet. Eventually, I forget that I’m playing this game, but it is very useful for passing time.
Best Run Video: Make a short film in your mind of your best run ever. What were you wearing? What was the temperature? Who were you with? What made it the best? Play this film in your head over & over again. Your mind will eventually believe that you’ve had all these amazing runs. (My best race? The Reedy River 10K a few months ago.)
Positive thoughts:
I am a runner! I am a half marathoner. I run 15-20 miles per week. I am getting stronger & healthier every day. I will not quit. I like hills because they add variety & are fun. I like crowds because they pull me along & give me energy.
The 15 miles per week deal didn’t really work for me. I started protesting – who cares if I run 15 miles a week? I am running 13.1 miles in one day!! I had to change that to something like “I am strong & I workout at least five times per week.” Much better.
In the book there was an inspirational story about a runner who was paralyzed but eventually learned to walk & then run. He completed 15 miles on the day of the race – a true miracle. His quote: “You never know what you can do until you try. If you listen to others, you may not try at all. If you listen to your body, you may quit too soon. What your mind believes, your body believes. Your mind is the key.”
If I would not have experienced last Saturday, I may not have believed in all the psychological stuff for running. Now I must say that it is the biggest factor for me. My body is pretty strong. I can run a half marathon without too much trauma (regardless of what the pictures might lead you to believe). When people say, “I could never do that.” I always think, “I bet you could.” Once I got past 5 miles, it was mostly mental. Of course it will hurt at some point along the way, but usually it will go away. Each of my five half marathons have taught me lessons. This race – really an after-thought – taught me maybe the longest lasting lessons of all.
One of my best friends from high school shared this quote with me on the day of the race... "The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers." -M. Scott Peck
