"Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did."
Newt Gingrich
The weekend was great! The race was TOUGH!
I have very few pictures and none during the race, so I do hope that there are a few good race photos. Even if I had amazing photos to show you, blogger is not letting me upload any. I am getting seriously annoyed with blogger these days and have started to consider switching to wordpress. Anyways, that's another post.
The expo was fun and spending the weekend with my brother and Super SIL was a blast. We laughed non-stop! If you were reading my blog last December, you know that my brother had to fight the flesh-eating bacteria and almost lost his leg. Well, yesterday, 5 months after getting out of the hospital, he ran the half-marathon in 2h5m and I am so very proud of him. I'm also proud of my Super SIL and Uber H (my husband for those who started reading my blog recently) who ran the marathon. You guys all rock!
The conditions were pretty awful...100% humidity and starting about an hour into the race, constant downpour. These are worst-case scenario running conditions for an asthmatic.
One good thing is that I was able to officially switch to the half-marathon because my SIL's friend couldn't run (not so good for her), and so I was able to get switched and take her place. This was perfect as I didn't have to worry about stopping half way through the marathon, plus I got to start at 9am instead of 7am. Oh and I got a medal.
As I said, conditions were awful, but the first hour went really well (despite the humidity). I could see the 2:15 pace bunnies right around me until about km 14ish. At this point there was ANOTHER pretty solid hill and I ended up walking when it wasn't time for a walk break (lungs were working hard) and that's when I lost them. After that, I had ups and downs. There were a lot of inclines and hills and it was a pretty tough course (all those I spoke to made the same comment).
For two thirds of the race, I was thinking, "If I can keep this pace, I could get 2:15!"
As I said, conditions were awful, but the first hour went really well (despite the humidity). I could see the 2:15 pace bunnies right around me until about km 14ish. At this point there was ANOTHER pretty solid hill and I ended up walking when it wasn't time for a walk break (lungs were working hard) and that's when I lost them. After that, I had ups and downs. There were a lot of inclines and hills and it was a pretty tough course (all those I spoke to made the same comment).
For two thirds of the race, I was thinking, "If I can keep this pace, I could get 2:15!"
At Km 14, thoughts were, "Okay Anne, it's okay not to finish in 2:15, just do this and try not to end up hitting a wall." I was soaking wet, freezing and getting a headache, so I gave myself some slack and just did my best. Then, there was 2K left and I just wanted to run it in without stopping. But, at 500 meters I just couldn't keep going, I really tried to talk myself into continuing, "One foot in front of the other Anne, left right left right...come on just keep going, you can do this...oh screw it, what's a few more second." I walked for 100 meters and then I saw the finish line and picked it up again and ran it in!
Chip time: 2h20m24s
Category place: 206/438
My thoughts, "Not so bad" :)
To be honest, this is the first race where I was wondering why I do this to myself. There came a point where I wasn't enjoying the experience so much...and I did think, "There is no way I can do twice this distance." However, when I was done, I was super proud of myself. Injury, asthma, humidity, rain, they didn't stop me...I did it! The best part, is that I have no major lingering pain...just the usual :)
What's next you ask...this time, I am making no specific plan. I do want to run either the Montreal Marathon or Half-Marathon, but I will decide later. I just want to run for more than two months without an injury. That's my goal. I will take a few days off and then start training with the marathon in mind, but we'll see. It would be nice to run a faster half too.
One cool thing was getting to meet a few DailyMile friends. Claire was on the course, cheering us on with a sign and balloons and the others, we met for lunch and a beer after the race...runners are great!
Cheers!
24 comments:
Great job in what sounds like some lousy conditions. Very cool that you had family doing it with you too. I have those "why do I do this to myself??" thoughts frequently. And then I finish and remember why. :) Well done, Anne! So glad your injury seems to have resolved.
You should be proud of yourself Anne! You proved you have the mental strength to fight through. It is surprising what we can come up with when we dig deep enough. I am more proud of finishing my most difficult and challenging half marathons then I am of the ones that were smoother and faster.
CONGRATULATIONS! Enjoy your few days of rest and good luck as you carry on with your running adventures!
I've had those "right foot, left foot, repeat" moments during races before. They're hard to push through but it sounds like you conquered it. Congrats for gutting it out, and for your half marathon!
You worked through some serious obstacles to get that medal - both on race day and leafing up to it - and you earned it!! Congratulations! Sorry to hear that the conditions were so unfavourable, but you did great with the hand you were dealt. Looking forward to learning what is next... til then, recover well!
Oh, and I am with you on blogger! So frustrating.
You toughed it out! Great job - you should be extremely proud of yourself! and just remember that when you do run a marathon - it will be after a little more training than you were able to get in this time!
Even without extremely warm conditions - humidity effects me also - it just never seems like you get much air, no matter how hard you are breathing! And I don't have ashma - I can't even imagine trying to get you breath from moisture soaked air with ashma.
Great job - enjoy the start of JUNE!
Congratulations! You did great in tough conditions. Way to go.
2:20 with the humidity is 2:15 in my book. Way to tough it out!
Congrats on a tough race! You pretty much described what happened to me at my race on Sunday - lost the pace group and walked way too much. But running is such a mental game and we have a lot to learn! Rest so you can start training again! :)
great work! that is nice to finish with no lingering pain. you're ready for the next level!
Congratulations, I'm glad you had fun. Keep fighting!
Congratulations! I'm glad you had fun. Keep fighting!
Well done. I'm so excited that you actually got to run the half after all you've been through. It may have been tough but you came through.
Congratulations, Anne! Great job to persevere despite the bad weather.
Yes, keep yourself healthy for a while before you set your next goal.
But to answer why do we keep doing this to ourselves? Oh, it hurts but it feels good, too!
Yeah, I couldn't wait to read this. So glad you got it done. Yeah, it was humid here too. That was not fun. I had those same thoughts of maybe I don't want to race twice this distance. I vastly prefer halves but I don't know that I never want to race a marathon. Hard to know. Those negative thoughts do disappear quickly. Hope the medal was a good one. Is the Montreal marathon in the fall?
CONGRATULATIONS! Way to make it happen!
Winks & Smiles,
Wifey
I used blogger for close to 3 years and for the exact same reasons you're writing about here is why I switched to wordpress. Mind you, wordpress has it's issues too once in a while-lol.
Anyway, great job. It sounded like a really tough race and all that matters is that you did it :) Congrats.
We all have those "Why am I doing this to myself" moments. And most of us think this when we are waaaaay off our time goal, not by just 5 minutes. Great job, especially with those tough conditions.
Well done Anne that is super in those conditions! I always think it’s the tough races that make the reward so much better and that’s why we do this to ourselves.
Ce fût un réel plaisir de pouvoir t'encourager sur le parcours!!!! Comme première rencontre: Une rencontre vraiment trop courte, mais toute pleine de sens!!!! Tu qualifies ta course de ''pas trop mal'', mais moi je trouve ça génial. Imagine le temps que tu aurais fait si les blessures n'étaient pas venues perturber tes entraînements, et si les conditions de course avaient été meilleures... n'oublie pas que cette course a été pénible pour la très grande majorité d'entre vous!!! Tu as la bonne attitude pour ton prochain objectif, moi aussi je m'entraîne bien sûr pour le marathon, mais j'ai choisi comme toi de prendre ça comme ça viendra... Si jamais je ne suis pas prête, je ferai le demi. Dans un cas comme dans l'autre, on aura peut-être la chance de prendre le départ ensemble!!! Ça serait vraiment l'fun!!!
I'm not sure how you run in that muck so I'm overly impressed with your time! You are overcoming so much with all you listed and I'm sure that race wasn't the most fun because of it, but you rocked it and I hope you're overly proud of yourself. I know I am! Congratulations girl!!!
Congrats, you are in the first half despite those conditions.
Another half is under your belt and the injury seems to have resolved: good!
Congrats Anne! The humidity killed me in Pittsburgh...I cannot imagine trying to deal with that and asthma as well. Rest well!
Very impressive, even with the conditions! I'm glad you did so well. The faster times will come.
Congratulations!
Catching up...
congrats Anne! the humidity is the enemy...that and or the heat and ot the wind.
Montrela next? lucky gal!
there's the marathon des 2 rives also in Quebec...August I think.
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