Race Report - Madison Marathon

I've had more than 24 hours to think about how to write this race report, and I still can't come up with anything that sounds good. So I'll just give you the short version. I hurt my back on Friday (a recurring problem that chose Friday morning to flare up). Getting in the car and driving 7 hours didn't help. I woke up Sunday morning feeling optimistic - it was tight, but not unbearable. The race started well, but I could feel my back getting tighter and tighter almost from the start. By the time I hit 7 miles, the pain was coming around to my right hip and starting to go down my leg. I took some walk breaks and tried to stretch, but nothing was helping.

I knew our hotel was at the 11 mile mark. I started thinking about quitting. And then told myself that I couldn't quit, that plenty of people run through tougher conditions and I needed to suck it up and get going. I just kept going, taking frequent walk breaks. As I got closer to the 11 mile marker, I saw my mom and Sophie. And started crying.

I decided to quit. In the end, I figured if I ran the whole way, I would hurt my back more. From past experience, I know the worse it is, the more time I have to take off and the thought of missing 4 plus weeks of running was too much. And, at that point, I knew it would take at least 5 hours to finish. And it was ridiulously hot and humid. I had already stopped sweating and was getting the chills. Heat stroke and a bad back? No thank you.

I feel really crappy about quitting, even though I am 90% sure I made the right decision (the other 10% of me thinks I am a big loser!). So I have my first DNF. May it never happen again.

And . . . Gone

The clock is ticking - I'm heading home after work to get our bags packed, get in one last easy run, and hit the road to Madison tomorrow. Marathon weekend is here! I am excited to get on the road and to get running. Some goals:

1) Run the best I can with the day I am given. That pretty much sums it up. I hope that means:
2) Sub-4:30. I ran 4:31:ish in Green Bay last year. If I can keep my wits about me and not give in to the annoying whiny wimp that lives inside my head, I can do this.

I will have lots of support at the race - my awesome running partner Jim, my sister Michele (who is running the half), my #1 race fans (my mom and Sophie), and several of my relatives from Wisconsin. I'll be back on Monday with a race report (and possibly the story of how I got attacked by a june bug at golf last night). Have a great weekend!

Are you poopy?

I opted for a bike ride instead of my usual kettlebells class tonight. I sometimes get some serous muscle soreness from kettlebells and figured I didn't need that so close to the marathon. Anyhow . . . after work, Sophie and I picked up Jim and his bike, stopped at home and grabbed my bike, and headed up to Hinckley to the bike trail. As we were riding along we came across a pretty strong farm smell. Sophie lifted up the back of my shirt, pulled my shorts out and said, "Mom, are you poopy?" Thanks Soph.

One Week

By this time next week, I'll be rocking the recovery socks at my Grandma and Grandpa's, basking in the glow of finshing my fourth marathon. At least that's the plan. I had a good taper week this week:

Monday: 3 miles easy (am), 6 miles hills (pm)
Tuesday: 1 hr kettlebells (more leg work than I would have liked!)
Wednesday: 1000 m. swim
Thursday: 5 miles
Saturday: 8 miles
Sunday: 20 minutes yoga

I've got an easy week planned this week - a couple of runs, a bike ride, a swim. No kettlebells.

As part of my taper madness (right along with making a giant batch of chocolate chip cookies), I'v been obsessing about my training. Did I do enough? Am I as prepared for this race as I was for Green Bay last year? Things I think I did pretty well: nice medium distance hilly runs, great track workouts, and some really strong long runs. Not so well? The tempo runs. I never really hit my tempo groove during this training cycle. Definitely something I will focus on when training for Twin Cities starts (in three weeks!).

Keeping my Distance

When I got home from my swim yesterday morning, my husband came downstairs. The first words out of his mouth? "Can you take my temperature?" Immediately I invisioned a steel cage come from my living room ceiling and trap his germ-infested self right in there. He's got strep.

In case you are harboring any notions that I am nursing my poor, sick husband back to health, let me clear that up. Hell. No. I am staying as far away as possible. If it was acceptable to spray lysol directly in his face, I would probably do it. Because the marathon is 10 days away. No sickness allowed!

I am really excited for the marathon. Working really hard at stifling the negative taper thoughts and picture myself running strong through the streets of Madison!

Bare Legs in the Morning!

A sure sign that the weather has finally turned - I wore capris for my early morning run this morning. No more (hopefully) digging around to fnd my winter pants and long sleeves. And my after work run today was down right hot - 80 degrees according to the bank sign. Funny how last week I refused to run because it was raining, and tonight I was hoping for rain. Oh how things can change in just a week.

Speaking of last week, better get the training recap up before this week is over:

Monday: 3 miles easy (am), 4 miles track (pm)
Tuesday: 1 hr kettlebells
Wednesday: 1000 m. swim
Thursday: 30 min. yoga
Friday: 1400 m. swim (and swim distance PR!)
Saturday: 13 miles
Sunday: 35 min. yoga & kettlebell & core mish mash

So, other than the whole only running two days thing, not too bad of a week. Planning on definitely getting some more runs in this week!

Indecision Over. Maybe.

Some of you may know that I have been going back and forth about running Grandma's this year. And/or Twin Cities. Or both. I really wanted to run Grandma's, but worried that it may be too close to Madison. Then my mother-in-law scheduled a little overnight trip for her birthday and my mom's birthday that weekend. Which, being the good daughter/daughter-in-law I am, took Grandma's off the table.

So then I started obsessing about running Twin Cities. Which I originally thought I shouldn't run because it would mean another full marathon training cycle (which might drive my husband crazy) and because I thought we would maybe try to get knocked up again this summer. But we decided to put that off, so what's a girl to do? Run another marathon. Makes perfect sense to me.

$106.25 later and I'm registered for Twin Cities. Now if you will excuse me, I have a training plan to work on.

Rainy Day Workouts, and a Winner!

First, congrats to Dawn, you won my little giveway to celebrate 200 posts. E-mail me your address at hmwynn at gmail dot com and I will send all sorts of valuable (or not so valuable, whatever) goodies your way.

The last week the weather has been so crappy - rain, rain, and more rain. I can tolerate running in the rain when it is warm, but cold rain and I do not get along. So the past couple of days have been indoor workouts - swimming, yoga, all that good stuff. Thankfully the weather is turning around, so the long run tomorrow morning should be rain free.



My mom was up and trying out the yoga moves on the Wii Fit. Of course, Sophie had to just push her little stool over and get right in on the action. Sophie calls it "oga."

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend! Can't wait for the race reports and all the runspiration I'm sure they will bring!

Happy Mother's Day!

I am relaxing after spending a wonderful mother's day with my family. Got in some golf with my husband and Sophie, a bike ride with my mom, and dinner with my mom, brother, and in-laws. Now Sophie is in bed and I am ready to be lazy! Happy Mother's Day to all my fellow running moms - hope you all had a wonderful day!

I wrapped up an okay training week - my last week before taper.

Monday: 3 miles easy (am), 3 miles track (pm)
Tuesday: 3.6 miles easy (am), 1 hr kettlebells (pm)
Wednesday: 1000 m. swim (am), (missed tempo run because of hurt toe!)
Thursday: 3 miles easy (am)
Friday: 1100 m. swim (am), 40 min. kettlebells (am)
Saturday: 17 miles (was supposed to be 20. I went to a very dark, angry place during this run . . . I think I vowed to give up running and devote my life to sitting on the couch eating chocolate.)
Sunday: 10 mile bike, 10 min. yoga

Anyhow . . . this happens to be my 200th post. To thank you all for putting up with me for so long, I've decided to have little giveaway. Leave a comment on this post before the end of the day Wednesday and I'll draw a winner Thursday. The winner will get some of my favorite things, plus who knows? I'll probably try to throw in things the winner may enjoy. :)

Klutz? Oh yes, that's me.

Yesterday morning, as I was attempting to chase my naked child down and force her to get dressed, managed to slam into her bedroom door. Piggy toe first. I fell to the floor and nearly started crying, as my husband told me to suck it up. But I think I broke my toe! It throbbed all day at work (damn dress shoes didn't help!). I skipped out on my tempo run last night because it hurt to move my foot at all. Of course, I wasn't too crushed about missing the run because the weather was crapola.

I iced the toe last night and it felt a lot better when I got up this morning. I ran an easy 3 miler this morning and although the toe definitely hurt, it wasn't unbearable and I don't think it affected my gait. No running tomorrow (but an early morning swim) and hopefully I will be relatively pain free for my 20 miler on Saturday. Too close to the marathon for toe trouble!

Catch Up: A Race Report, the Long Run that Wasn't, and May?

Wow, where has the last week gone? I was crazy busy at work last week and single parenting because my husband was out of town for training. The running took a little bit of a hit.

Saturday I went up to Moose Lake for the Moose Run. They do a 5K and a 10K. I really did plan on doing the 10K, until I got up to the registration table. And I signed up for the 5K. I really do hate 10Ks. And it was cold and windy, so I was worried about my mom and Sophie standing around freezing waiting for me to finish a longer race. So I registered and had plenty of time to warm up and greet the moose before the start.

What can I say about a 5K? It was hard. When I hit the turn off for the 10K I was both glad I wasn't running it, and wishing I was so I could run a little slower. Then I told myself to shut up and run harder. My garmin was completely loopy (anyone else have problems when it is windy and cloudy?), so I wasn't really sure how I was doing. I checked my time at the mile markers and it looks like I was on track to PR. So I just kept chugging along.

Finally the finish line was in sight and I ran as hard as I could. I saw my mom holding Sophie, who was screaming. And yet my mom still managed to snap a picture. She is the best race fan!

I crossed the finish line in 24:18, a big PR and good enough for second in my age group!

Sunday I headed over to Wisconsin to my in-laws so Sophie could get some Grandma & Grandpa time in while I did my long run. I felt fine all day (except for my allergies, which have been out of control), but as soon as I started running, I was ridiculously dizzy. I took walk breaks, took my Gu early, drank water . . . but nothing worked. I was miserable. I decided to call it good at 6 miles.

So a good start to May on Saturday and a not so great 2nd. But it is marathon month! I'm so excited to finish up this training cycle and get to Madison. One more 20 this weekend and then it is taper time. Happy Monday!