Thursday, September 8, 2011

1/2 Marathon #3 Recap

Good morning everyone :-) The weekend's almost here!!!! I have to venture up to Milwaukee for drill/a friend's wedding this weekend.  It works out very nicely because the hotel where we stay on drill weekends is where she's having her wedding.  I decided to skip this week's "Wedding Wednesday" post because I didn't have enough time to post it yesterday. But if you missed the past two Wednesdays you can catch up here & here.  I've  been nursing a bad bee sting to my left arm since Sunday night and today is the first day all week that it hasn't hurt to type.  My arm swelled up to the point where I went to see my doctor ASAP.  She said it wasn't an allergic reaction, but that it was infected.  I guess bee stingers can carry a lot of bacteria.  She put me on antibiotics and sent me on my way.  I'm doing much better and hopefully my arm will be back to a normal size by this weekend.    

normal arm

stung arm
Kind of awkward to take pictures of your arm, but it's still pretty swollen.  Even though it's gone down some, I still couldn't get my wedding ring on today :-/

Thankfully, this did not happen during my 1/2 marathon on Saturday.  The morning started out with severe thunderstorms, but cleared up by the time the race was set to begin.  When I heard the thunderstorms and saw the lightning just as I was getting out of bed, I layed there and a small part of me had hoped that the race would get canceled.  I just wasn't in the mindset to run 13 miles and with that I knew this wouldn't be my best race.  I started out running with my friend, who runs at a slightly faster pace than I do.  Mistake #1.  I tired out sooner in the beginning because of it.  There were also hardly any porta potties on the course.  Mistake #2-not going to the bathroom before the race.  By mile 6, I had given up.  The motivation was just not there, so I told myself to just enjoy the race, the scenery and try to finish strong.

Why the lack of motivation?  First and foremost, I didn't have enough time to train and mentally prepare myself.  Secondly, I'm a big city girl & there's nothing in the world like a big city race.  The last two 1/2 marathons I have ran have been in suburbs in WI.  And as much as I love my family & friends in WI I am done with long races there, unless the race is in Milwaukee and it's a big one {Like the Summerfest race}.  This past race, I ran for MILES without seeing one spectator.  I ran through subdivisions, past rummage sales, and onto someones lawn to get past a fallen tree.  I felt like it was just an every day run.  The scenery was peaceful, but at one point a CAR cut out in front of me.  A car on the race course!  The best part about a 1/2 marathon is supposed to be the race and the atmosphere itself.  There's nothing like running the streets of Chicago (blocked off streets) with thousands of people there to cheer you on.  I finished the race is 2:25.  Not the time I was going for, but with all things considered, it could've been worse.  My next race will definitely be a big one.  I'd love to run the Rock n Roll Las Vegas in December.  We'll see! 

What's next? Chicago has finally gotten to the point where it's my favorite running weather.  September/October are the best months for running in my opinion.  The temperatures are just right and the colors in the park are changing.  BUT this year, I won't get to enjoy it because of a possible deployment overseas.  I say possible because I was supposed to go somewhere last December, and the trip got canceled last minute. So we'll see, but as of right now I am supposed to be leaving :-/  No where too dangerous though. 

Fact:Since LC and I have been together (5 years+) we have yet to spend a year in the same state as one another because of our military obligations.  We almost made it in 2009/2010, but then I got sent to Biloxi for tech school. Hopefully one day soon we'll get our year together!         

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