13.1 and lessons learned

I finished.  I wasn't planning on doing the race until earlier this week when I decided I'd give it a try.  I had been increasing my mileage and doing 6-7 mile runs.  The most I did in training was about 9 miles.  I thought I could push out the last part of the race.  I was pretty nervous at the beginning of the race, not knowing if I'd have a good day or if my knee would allow me to finish.  I've had problems with my right knee and have gradually tried to increase my mileage.  It's been working.  I just shouldn't have attempted a race I hadn't properly trained for.  I did pretty well for the first 8-9 miles, but during the 9th mile, I knew my knee was about to start hurting.  By the 10th mile, my knee checked out.  Normally in my training, that's the point where I stop and walk and I'm done running.  My pride just wouldn't allow me to do that in the race.  I only had 3 miles left and I didn't want to quit.  I ran-walked the last part of the race.  I ran until the pain was unbearable, walked for a little bit and tried to run again.  It was a pretty slow 3 miles.  I couldn't bring myself to walk in front of the crowds at the finish, so I jogged about the last half mile, which was very painful.  My knee almost completely gave out right at the end, but I did cross the finish.  It was fun to see Alex and the boys there (Nathan was at a soccer game).  I'm grateful that Alex has allowed me to take the time to go running.

You'd think I feel a sense of accomplishment for having finished, but I walked away feeling unfulfilled.  That wasn't the feeling I was going for, but I guess my goal was just to finish and I did that.  I was mostly disappointed that I couldn't finish out strong.  I'm used to kicking it in at the end of a race and being totally exhausted.  I still had energy left.  Just makes me want to try again so I can do better.

Anyway, I did realize that not quite ready IS not quite ready.  I shouldn't have tried something I wasn't properly trained for.  But, I also know that a half marathon is a very do-able race.  When you think about running 13 miles, it seems really overwhelming.  But if you just gradually do a little bit more, you can keep increasing your mileage easily.  When I first started jogging again a few months after Weston was born, I could barely run around the block.  I felt awful.  But it gets better as you keep at it.  Don't immediately give up when you first start.  It's no fun trying to start running, but you'll love the way you feel after you get into a rhythm.

In case you're wondering what I've been doing and how I've had time, here you go.  My training has consisted of jogging for 5 days a week, just an easy pace.  I never run on Sunday, and usually don't run on Wednesday either.  So I have 2 days off.  I have been getting up at about 6:00am and doing 3-4 miles before Alex leaves for work on Tuesday, Thursday, and Fridays (usually about 30-40 minutes of jogging).  I push Weston and Owen in the jogging stroller on Monday morning.  I did some longer runs (5-6 miles) with them, since I had more time and had to go more slowly.  They have been good sports.  I do my longer runs on Saturday, but didn't ever run more than about 1.5 hours.  That's only 3.5 to at most 4 hours per week devoted to jogging - not that much time, considering it's easy to spend much more time on the computer... think about how much time you're on-line (or maybe watching TV or whatever).

The good thing about these endurance runs is you don't have to worry about going fast, at least not until you get serious and start trying to run for time.  Just find a nice easy pace and go.

If you don't have other issues, like knee problems, you're golden.  Go for it.  Just don't try to do too much too soon, like I did.  

I AM REALLY SORE TODAY.