12 Miles

So, I'm a bit behind on posting this, but it's the holidays so what can you expect? I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season and has a fantastic beginning to the new year.

So, last Saturday we had our big 12-miler. I was not excited about the run at all. In fact, I was a bit terrified. It definitely didn't help that I have been so off of my schedule because of the illness.

I didn't run all week leading up to the run. I planned to, but things just didn't work out that way. We had to be out at Terry Hershey Park by 6am, and it's a fair drive from home to get out there, so I woke up at 4:45am. WAY too early. I had to leave a holiday party really early the night before in order to get enough sleep.

They make a pretty big deal out of this run, and I'm glad they do it that way. It is a scary distance, so the support helps out a lot. All of the separate Houston area training groups come out for this run (we all generally train closer to home), so it is a pretty large group. We got there, signed in, and milled around for a bit. Then we had an awesome inspirational message from Kelli (she makes me cry every time), warmed up, and headed out.

I liked running the trails at Terry Hershey better than our normal routes. They are away from roads and much more peaceful and spacious. We never had to run single pace to let people by, which was nice for us.

We did managed to make it through 12 miles. We definitely didn't run the whole way, but I think that we ran more than we walked. I don't know what I would have done without Kelli - it really is easier to get through these things with her there.

We made it to the first water stop without too much trouble, but the second water stop was WAY further than I think it should have been, so we had to stop and take our gels without water. We were crashing without them, so we really didn't have a choice. Knowing how far we had to go on the way back, we took the gels earlier, which wasn't so great on my stomach.

I was already feeling pretty exhausted by the halfway point, but it was nice to know that we were on the way back. At some point, I became focused on just getting through the distance somehow. 12 miles is a really, really long way.

It was nice to have people out cheering us on, and it made us run when we maybe wanted to walk because we didn't want them to see us walk.

I started feeling a pain in the top of my right foot about a mile from the finish. It lasted for quite a while after, hurting every time I put my foot down. I'm a bit worried about what is going on with it.

We did somehow manage to finish. For the last couple of miles, we just couldn't believe we weren't at the end yet. We came around every turn expecting to see the end and seeing only more trees and more trail. It was tough. Finishing felt really fantastic, though. They had a big tent with lots of snacks and drinks at the end.

It took us over 3 hours (including stops) to get through it, but we were happy with that. We came in behind some of the insane people training for the full marathon (they did 21 miles).

I was so happy that we managed to finish. I wish that I could have hung around and talked to people longer, but I needed to get myself home. I was starting to crash, and I hurt in so many different places. It was really rough.

Recovery had to wait, as I had to pack and clean up and do laundry the rest of the day in order to drive 7 1/2 hours home the next day. I did get to rest some over the holiday, though.

I had a pretty frustrating attempt at a long run this morning. I decided to do my weekly long run today (Friday) instead of tomorrow since I've got a long drive back to Houston on Sunday, and it's not fun to drive when everything hurts.

I knew it wouldn't be good when I started out. My health seems to be declining again, and I woke up feeling pretty questionable. I decided to attempt the run anyway.

There's a roughly 3 miles loop around the lake in my parents' neighborhood, so I planned on running around it 3 times, with rest stops at the bottom of the driveway (I left Gatorade and gels in the mailbox). It was a good plan, and should have been a fairly nice run. It was nice outside - the ground was wet form last night's rain, but the rain had passed and the temperature was just slightly cool. Great running weather really.

It is really, really hilly here. I felt like the entire loop only contained one small distance of flat road - the rest was either up or down. It wasn't exactly an easy route, but hills are good for training, so I thought I would do the best I could and walk when I needed to.

Well, it didn't go well. It wasn't far in before the pain in my foot got pretty bad - a stabbing pain right at the top of my foot whenever I stepped. Then my sinuses started pounding. It wasn't a heavy pounding, just a light, dull one far in the back.

By the time I made it around once (walking several times), I had decided to call it quits. I have my CAT scan on Tuesday, and it wouldn't be smart to do anything to make myself more sick before they take the scan. The doctor wanted me as healthy as possible for that, and I definitely seem to be getting worse. So the sinus issues, paired with a bit of worry about what's going on with my foot, put a stop to the running for this weekend.

I am pretty frustrated with the fact that I needed to stop. A little under 3 miles is at least something, but it is definitely not the 10 miles I was supposed to do. I guess I'll see how this week goes and then try to get through the 8 miles next weekend.

Really, though, the big frustration for me is that I was on track to be able to run the full distance. I made it through the 10 miles without having to walk, and I was getting most of the assigned runs in. Then I got sick, and that all got really screwed up. I feel like I'll be lucky to finish at all now, and I will definitely be walking a chunk of the distance. It's just really frustrating to me. I was so close.

Oh well, I have to get healthy. Hopefully this week will be full of answers.

Thank you all so much for all of your support. So far, you have helped me to raise $2250 to help fight blood cancers. We are so close to my goal of $3000, and that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. You are all amazing.