My schedule called for a 16 mile run yesterday. In the off season, to keep things interesting, my team participates in what we call Red Nose Runs. They mark three mile route every half mile, so an out and back is a total of six. Runners take off our garmins and watches and instead predict how long it is going to take us to run our prescribed distances.
This is great for a lot of reasons. It is fun to run without watch for once. The out and back set up allows us slower folks to not only win, but to actually see the faster folks repeatedly while out on the course. At least until they have lapped us enough to complete their mileage in half the time.
This run was to be on the Tow Path along the C&O Canal, which is tightly packed dirt/small gravel. It is mostly flat so would be a perfect place to attempt my longest run ever. I had always had this dream of doing an off road half marathon, and this would be that and then some.
And then it snowed. Only a few inches, but enough that the path would be a combination of fresh snow, frozen snow and straight up ice. Not ideal for a run, but not impossible. I was actually more scared of falling than anything, especially with my hand still not 100% healed from my last winter off road outing.
Oh. And did I mention it was about 15 degrees when we started? Thankfully I had bought a new jacket, gloves/mittens, tights and socks to handle the conditions and they were worth every single penny. So glad I didn't try to prove that I didn't need expensive gear. I did end up with a numb butt at the end, but besides that was warm and mostly dry for the almost four hours I was out there.
The first 12 miles were actually uneventful. I felt great for most of it and thanks to some amazing volunteers at the aid station I learned that Oreos work really well for me as "nutrition" on long runs. The ice was tough, especially a stretch from about 2.5 to 3, but my trail shoes helped and I felt strong. We were doing our usual run a mile and walk a minute (or what we thought was a minute without a watch) and our pacing felt right on.
And then I headed back out for the last four and hit the wall. Big time. I actually almost turned myself around early. I started crying but I wanted to push through it. This is the part where I gave up last summer...not in terms of mileage, but in terms of emotion. I just kept hearing this voice say, "I can't do it, I can't do it." So I started to talk out loud to myself and repeating the opposite. Even thought didn't believe it.
My awesome training buddy Kel stuck with me the whole time. She gave me a great pep talk and then I remembered one of my old stand bys... A little Buddhist prayer:
"May I be safe. May I be happy. May I be healthy. May I live free with ease."
I tend to change the last line to "May I run free with ease."
And this calmed me. And lightened me. And all of a sudden it switched to:
"I am safe. I am happy. I am healthy. I am running free with ease."
Kel was running in front of me, and I found the prayer turn towards her instead, asking the universe to give her those blessings.
And that got me through. Also knowing there were people waiting for me at the finish line and I could not let them down.
As I turned the last bend to go up the final hill one last time, I could hear the cheers of the few folks who stuck around to support us and my friend Tamera, who is a great runner, met me to help run me in. It was a great feeling. One of the main reasons I joined Team Z is because I never had people waiting for me at the finish lines of races...let around stick in 25 degree weather to support me.
And I wasn't even that mad that someone had removed the mile markers on our last lap so we overshoot the last turnaround by about .25 miles...so we estimate we ran about 16.5 miles. Winning a Starbucks gift card in the raffle while I was still out on the run helped remedy the situation as well.
I think I should position someone at the marathon finish line with free coffee for motivation.
Labels: buddhism, marathon, PR, race report, running, snow, trail, Training Journal
