Aside from all the training I've been doing in the last few months, I have never participated in an actual race and I don't want the marathon to be the first time I do. As I've heard over and over, nothing you do on race day should be for the first time. So I signed up for a half marathon on April 17th. It's an all female race in the Mermaid series, and it's held in my beloved Shoreline park, a place I'm very familiar with. I am comforted by the general tone of the event, with a target audience of, "novice athletes, experienced runners or just for fun", and where the FAQ answers the question of, "Can I run with a baby stroller?" with a resounding, "Yes!" This coming weekend, April 10th, we're running in an especially hilly location and I'm planning to keep my target distance to 12 miles, so the race will be my first attempt at the half marathon 13.1 mile distance. The distance conjures up such different feelings today than it would have 3 months ago. I am amazed at how my perspective has changed.
In the mean time, there was an organized fun run in work this week that I participated in on Wednesday and boy, am I glad that I did. I must have made every rookie mistake there is to make, despite knowing about most of them beforehand. Firstly I was really caught up in the excitement and fun of the event. It was a Mad Hatter race, so everyone arrived wearing ridiculous head gear. We all stretched together before the race and I participated in a little banter with some fellow Googlers. When the race kicked off, I shot off with vigor. Mistake number one. I didn't quite sprint, but my starting pace was much faster than anything I can maintain. The people I was running with were at all different levels (read: much better at running than me) so trying to keep up with anyone at the front was a BAD idea. It wasn't long before I was out of breath and panting for air. I didn't even realize why because with all the adrenaline it didn't feel that much faster than usual.
The second bad idea was not researching the course beforehand. I thought I read somewhere that the course was 3 miles long and tried to keep pace accordingly. There weren't any mile markers so I didn't really know how fast I was running. It was 3.28 miles long which I only found out later when I mapped it out. That meant that the 33.16 time I was disappointed in was actually something to cheer about.
The last issue wasn't really in my control. The race was at midday on one of the few sunny days so far this Spring. The sun was streaming down and it was hot, hot, hot. The last mile had a steep incline and I haven't yet dared to test myself on hills so all in all I was a deep red colour by the time I finished. If you're not blessed with lovely Irish skin like mine, let me tell you, EVERYONE stares when you turn reddish purple with tinges of black around the edges.
Worst of all though, to accompany these challenges I started to feel a sharp pain in my left shin half way through the race. The pain didn't fade when the race finished, if anything it intensified. I grabbed a cold drink can from the fridge and with it I massaged my shin as best I could to keep it cold but it really ached. I spent the afternoon researching shin pains and became convinced that it wasn't simply shin splints but a stress fracture from over work. Along with the unexpectedly stressful week in work, this seemed like just too much. I decided that the only thing to do was take a break from running for a couple of days.
Now it's Saturday morning. I haven't run for 2 days straight. I didn't really know what to do with myself yesterday. It felt strange not to run. Thankfully my shin feels much better. There is no pain at all and I'm dressed and ready to run at 6:30am! I'm off now to the Forest of Nisene Marks in Aptos.
Wish me luck!
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