I ran the Chilly Half Marathon in Burlington yesterday. I was excited, as it was the first half I had ever ran back in 2009, and the third half I have ever run. I ran a full marathon last year, so I didn't think that my 3-year hiatus would hinder me too much. I was wrong, so wrong......
I had a week that was the furthest from conducive to running a good race possible. I strained my left knee in a bball game on Wednesday, and then took a ball hockey ball to the nose on Thursday causing some shifting on the bones (not sure if it's broken), swelling and a massive headache. I didn't end up doing any type of activity of Thursday or Friday and instead just iced my knee and my face like crazy. On Friday, I went to the chiro to make sure that following through with the race was a smart idea. I had a few people tell me, "Still run, just take it easy." However, in my mind, I know that in a competitive situation there is no way I can ever just 'take it easy.' If I was running the race I would be giving 100%, if I wasn't healthy enough to run, then I wouldn't (this would just cause my recovery time to be prolonged, and probably cause more problems for training races down the road).
I was happy to hear the Clinician say that I was able to run! I went in for two treatments prior to the Sunday run which consisted of soft tissue work, graston, kinesio-taping, IFC and icing. I iced the shit out of my nose and face too. It's a great excuse not to study when your face is covered with an ice pack ;) haha
OK, the run! I drove down to Burlington with a group of runners, so it was nice not to have the stress of driving to worry about. The run was amazingly simple to get to - free parking and shuttling to the race - that in itself is enough for me to recommend the run to others. Races in Toronto are usually so stressful with parking etc. We ended up arriving early, so I was able to get in a good warm up, and then the race started!
Immediately, I was thrown off- I had been relying on my memory of the race route, but turns out - it had changed and there were two out and backs. Out and backs mess with my mind for two reasons. 1) I think to myself, "ok where is the first place runner, how far do I have to go to the turn around ughhhhhh whyyyyyyyy am I doing this." or 2) "Oh god there's the first runner, they are so freakin' unreal, legs why are you so slow, be better." I have some pretty interesting conversations with myself when I run.
At around 7km, I remember starting to really feel the jarring in my nose, and although my knee was holding up just fine, my medial malleolus (inner ankle) started to really ache. As I began to see the leaders pass me on the second out and back, the negative side of my brain started to get REALLY loud. What are those three parts of your brain? Ego, Id and Superego? K, well they would not STFU while I was running.
Whatever part of my brain was the one that was telling me to hop off the heel-toe express only won 3 times - it is unusual for me to take a walk break - but I did a 10 step walk break at 13km, 15km and 17km. At the 17km marker, I had a guy run by and kind of tap me as if to say 'keep going!!' This small gesture really motivated me and I was able to run the remainder of the race. At 20km, the wind decided to blow so hard I'm sure my face looked botoxed. But, as I neared the finish line I was actually pleasantly surprised with the time -I had felt so awful, and had been running without a watch that I had anticipated a much slower time!
RACE STATS
Time: 142:06 (previous 141:43)
Pace: 4:51/km
Place: 473/3294
Gender place: 89/1784
Age place 4/89
Overall, I need to recofus my training. I was complaining to a trainer friend of mine about how my body was at a plateau - how can I manage to run a race at the same time when I feel amazing, as when I feel soooo awful. He said, as any trainer should "you need to change up your training, then." OK. I will.
10k's and 5k's to come. Happy Spring Training Everyone :)
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