Saturday, November 28, 2009

I ran it like a Turkey


I've felt a bit disappointed since Thursday morning's Turkey 10k, I feel like I had a dismal run. I was really looking forward to it, I've been keeping up with my runs, cross training on my bike, taking walks with the kids, as well as on the treadmill at high inclines. I'm a slow runner, but I've started to push myself to be faster. For this 10k, I wanted to pull about a 9:30 minute mile.
Things were going well, until I caught a nasty cold from my kids, and I was sick for the whole week before Thanksgiving. I started feeling better by Sunday, but I only got in a couple of walks in the few days before the race.

I was excited for the run Thanksgiving morning, the weather turned out to be warm (for Syracuse, it was in the mid '50's) with no rain or snow. It's always fun to get some exercise in before a day of indulging! I had on my new grey (not black for once) running pants that my friend Jen gave me (among other things) as a present for completing my first half marathon in September. I tucked some tissues into the waistband, since I still had a runny nose leftover from my cold. I had on my favorite socks (feetures) and a new playlist on my ipod. I met up with my sis in law Jeaninne, and we had enough time before our run to cheer on our Uncle Bill as he completed his 5k.
So we start out, I'm feeling good, I'm testing out my faster pace, I'm even snapping my fingers to a Black Eyed Peas song (Meet Me Halfway, a new running fave). There weren't any mile markers, but I've done this race before. It begins and ends at the high school, and it goes through fields, with one woodsy part. So I'm guessing that at mile three is where my problems started. I never got a stitch, none of my past injuries hurt, but my mouth was dry and I had to keep blowing my nose. I just started to feel tired. Really tired. I coughed a bit here and there, and my tissues were in shreds, so my black top started to look like slugs had walked across it (I'm not very good at snot rockets). I had eaten my usual pre-run meal of peanut butter toast, coffee and water, so that wasn't it. I kept pushing though. First I was thinking of how Boring the route was, then I was telling myself that this is Fun running on a Holiday!! Finally around mile five, I thought about walking, and I never walk. I thought, "how do you think you're going to possibly run a marathon next year if you have to walk.....in a 10K?!!" I looked at the time on my ipod, and realized I wasn't hitting my goal. *Side note, I have a sports watch, but I never wear it since I forgot how to use it. Which Mike reminded me of when I hinted about a Garmin for Christmas, so I need to figure it out. I grabbed some water at the water station, and started up the hill, with less than a mile to go.......and I walked. I was so mad at myself, but I walked for about thirty seconds, and I felt better, so I got moving again. My new goal was to make it under an hour.
I saw the turn that lead to the high school, and this dude had his car parked, with all the doors open, blasting heavy metal music, which for some reason cracked me up. I saw the finish, then looked away again, because for me, seeing the end always feels so close, yet so far, so I'd rather not know about it. I saw Mike and the kids at the side, with my brother in law and niece, so I gave them high fives, and finished in 1:00:28, and averaged a 9:45 pace. I missed my first goal, then missed my second, but not by much. I'm just chalking it up to a bad day, and I haven't had many of those lately, so I guess I was due.

We had a great dinner afterwards with the whole family, and we were happy that my Mother in Law just finished her chemo. She has a breather before her next round of treatment, so she's getting there. We brought the kids up to her house the next day, to go to a couple of Christmas Festivities in her town. The kids had fun at a candy cane hunt, they saw Santa and his Reindeer and did a Build a Bear type thing with Grandma. It was great to see her out and about, running into her friends and going out to lunch with us. For all my bitching about my crappy run, I just reminded myself once again, of how many things I have to be thankful for.

18 comments:

Xenia said...

You should definitely not be hard on yourself, you still did great, especially after being sick! Although why you couldn't be lazy like the rest of us and sit around with a second piece of pumpkin pie...

Cracks with Tori and Dean?! Never! I don't know if I knew that his ex had a book, I would bet that's full of a whole slew of bitterness. I'm going to go check my library's catalog right now...

Chanda the Eco-Cheap Mom said...

Great job! So what you had to walk. At least you were out there doing a 10K with a cold! WAY TO GO! I won't even consider doing anything more than a 5K.

Thanks for stopping by my blog. I just posted an update on my Turkey day.

Susan Fobes said...

Your body wasn't 100% yet, so to get that close to your goal is fantastic-even with the slew of snot slugs. (Hmm... That is kinda' gross. LOL!)

Jennifer said...

You ran a half marathon and you could easily run 26.2! And 9:45 is a great pace! Running with a cold is too hard. Your lungs can't keep up with you. Your body was begging you to kick back on a couch and you were like "No, body, you will run this whole race. Stop bitching." So your body retaliated by slowing shutting down your internal organs and turning on the nose faucet. And you were like "I'll show you who's boss!" and your body was like "Really? You think you're the boss of me?" and you were like "Yes, body. I AM the boss of you. Do what I tell you!" and Body was all "Don't mess me me or I will bring on the shin splints..." i could goon with this dialogue, as it is early and I have had waaaaaaay too much coffee. But I'll end it here.

By the way I should point out to make you feel better that I have NEVER run any distance without taking walk breaks (usually .05 miles on the treadmill every half mile or so, with a longer .20 mile walk break after every few miles). So remember that people like me aspire to be you!

Unknown said...

At least you were out there, Molly!! I think being sick, even just a cold, sucks way more energy out of you than you think!

yonca said...

I believe you did a great job Molly! I'm glad you had a great Thanksgiving. Hugs!

Unknown said...

I admire you're grit to get out there and run...I'm more of a slug, myself, but I'm working on it. I'll never run again because of arthritis in my knees, but I am working at exercising.

Just stopped by from SITS to say hi--hope you'll do the same.

Mary Poppins in Heels said...

But you did the run. That's wonderful. Next time you'll hit your goals, and then you'll need brand new ones.

CailinMarie said...

everybody has a bad girl. Good for you for running despite fighting off a cold. Plenty of folks would have just packed it in till they were feeling better. side note - I used to be an athelete and I'm fighting a long battle to get back. I come visit you more often than I comment for motivation. Don't be too hard on yourself. I think you rock.

CailinMarie said...

hah - that was suupsed to say "everybody has a bad DAY girl"

sissyruns said...

Molly - you're no turkey!! You keep ME running !! For what you had to deal with, you did a great job!!!

Creative Junkie said...

You were ahead of me at SITS today!

Coming from someone who would love to run to get fit, I think you ought to be proud of what you did accomplish. You were out there! You made the effort and you kept on going. That's inspiring!

Organic Motherhood with Cool Whip said...

You may not have made your personal goal, but you totally impressed me!! I think it is amazing that you are running races, while raising small kids and everything!!! You are awesome and should be totally amazed by yourself. But don't get me wrong. I am hard on myself too, and I know how it feels when you don't achieve what you had hoped. But from someone who knows a lot of runners, I think you are rockin!! Great job! And great blog too!!!

organicmotherhoodwithcoolwhip.com

Felice Devine said...

We all have bad days, so, yes, chalk it up to that. Not many people even ran on t-day. So, you're a winner right there :-)

Tara said...

First of all; I'm sending good thoughts to your mother in law for her next round of chemo. Hope she's doing ok.

Second, you did a wonderful job on your 10K considering you were ill and all!!! That's a great time! Don't let that discourage you from doing a marathon. I actually ran faster when I did my 18 and 20 milers then I run a 10K.

Nicole on the run said...

Hi Molly,

I didn't get your mail address, and couldn't find any contact form on your blog so I'ld like congratulate you in this comment section: you won the Yoga dvd on Mom's Home Run!

Could you please contact me and mail me your address so the folks at KMR Communications can send you the dvd?

Questionably Texan said...

9:45 average over 6.2 miles is nothing to be disappointed in (even if it wasn't as fast as you wanted), especially if you were getting over a cold.

Organic Meatbag said...

I run like a turkey myself...this is why people insist that I should be medicated...hehehe