During the Fun Weekend in New York, I managed to get myself on a treadmill with a little bit of elliptical thrown in to alleviate treadmill boredom. I managed a solid 10 miles of indoor running/skiing. The MOST impressive thing, if I do say so myself, were my last two miles which I ran at a SUB 6 MINUTE MILE PACE! Woot woot race the roof! Somehow, I misinterpreted the display on the treadmill so I thought I was running much slower than I was. Once I realized how speedy I was I decided to stick with it for the 12 minutes I had programmed. I even took a camera phone picture to prove it to any Doubting Thomases. That was on Saturday. On Monday, my right leg decided to take a break from walking and just about everything else. I couldn't walk, much less run, on it for a week. This, by the way, was a week before my big run in Big Sur. While it is a good idea to rest up before a long run, it's an even better idea to keep your mileage base up and your legs strong.
Anyhow, it seems like my pelvis was misaligned and that in turn caused misalignment on my legs. I managed to get a few short runs in last week. Couple that with a massage and a couple of chiropractor adjustments and I did what I could to get into running shape for Big Sur. Hubby and I drove up Friday night and stayed at the lovely Portola Hotel and Spa. We hit the Aquarium on Saturday afternoon. Jim did a couple of wine tastings while I stood by and yelled, "Chug chug chug chug!". Ha, just kidding about that last little bit. I turned in a little after 8 p.m. that night because my bus to the race start had a 5 a.m. start on Sunday morning. That translated into a 3:30 am wake up time. Not so fun that part.
I got on the bus all right but for some reason it was late in leaving. We got to the start just in time for me to use the port-a-potty and remove my sweats. It was so packed in the beginning that I really couldn't get a running pace going but my first 5K ended up being decent. And then I hit the beginning of the ascent to Hurricane Point. It made the Hilly Grail look like a sissy. But I slogged through it. The live classical pianist was awesome. I left my sun visor in the port-a-potty at mile 13. The elite marathoners ran past me right around the half marathon mark. Bear in mind that the full marathoners started 15 minutes AFTER the 21 milers. We had the earliest start. I felt pretty awesome in the beginning. In fact, at one point, I think it was at the first or second relay point, I was just dusting people. Looking ahead, I didn't see too many people in front of me. It actually seemed like there might have only been 20 people ahead of me. And you know what? I think I was right. Check out my overall placement:
(psssst! I'm number 31 ... out of over 5oo!)
Unfortunately, my left hip started pinging after 15 miles. Things really slowed down for me at that point. In fact, my last 5K was done mostly as a walk. It was frustrating. However, I ran the last little bit to the finish line and happily stood in line to get my Sam Adams beer. I got it done. And dang am I sore today!
Next stop, Humboldt Half Marathon!
1 comment:
That's terrific, Miina. Raise both hands!
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