Running In Place

We had a lightning strike late last week and our ethernets got fried. Turns out more than that got toasted on my computer and we’re still trying to figure out the problem. Anyway, I have been trying to steal time on my son’s machine, hoping to bang this out sometime before next year’s half.

So. 13.1 miles. Yeah, that’s cool. And seriously, it’s hard to believe I did it – not because I didn’t think I could, but because I can so clearly remember this month last year, when I was taking tentative post-injury steps – grateful to be running but terrified of re-injury and unsure of what I could do, how far I could go. Now here I am, just thinking about the difference a year can make and thinking about all the yet unknown possibilities that next year holds.

Ok, enough philosophizing. Here’s the story:

We left for Schroon (pronounced sKroon) Lake Friday evening. My friend, Terry, and her Jack Russell, Sadie, came over to house and dog-sit and after many last minute instructions about how to accomodate my spoiled, anti-social, slightly insane dogs (and shutting away my poor little guinea pig – as Jack Russells are kind of zealous about rodent killing), off we took for the North Country. Two and a half hours later we checked into our motel, found a great little pub for late supper, then kicked back in the room with a little South Park on cable TV. We don’t have cable or dish at home, though we do pull in a couple stations with the ol’ rabbit ears, so cable is like Christmas for my poor deprived son. The perfect vacation for him would be sitting in a motel room and watching Monster Garage for a week.

Saturday morning was heralded by my husband’s cell phone, followed by about an hour and a half of troubleshooting some computer crisis at the office. Once work worries were dispensed, we headed for breakfast, then to the packet pick-up. With course map in hand, we set off to drive the route. Much as what was described, the first half of the marathon route is a way hilly challenge! Twisting, winding ups and downs (heavy on the ups) – my husband was driving and I actually got a little car sick from all the twist and roll. Come the 2nd half (and Half M start), it got super nice with scenic lake views and flats to easy rollin’ hills. Sweet. Next was some touristing in nearby Lake George, which included alot of walking. It occured to me later that it might have been unwise to spend so much time on my feet but my sneaks were comfy and by the end of the day I was so tired that when it was time to sleep – I slept great! All night long baby!

Sunday morning! Plan was to have Brian get me into town before the main road closed so I could see the marathon starters and catch a shuttle to my start, then after the boys did check-out and breakfast they would be waiting at the finish (they had plenty of time to get there ) After a cup of coffee and smooches goodbye, I was left to find myself a spot to view the maraton start. The schedule was handcycle/wheelchair, marathon, then 1/2ers hustle to the busses and head for their start. So, ok, side story: a few days prior Bill had introduced himself as a fellow ADK 1/2 marathoner, coming in from Ottawa. We hoped to run into each other, but not knowing the town, or each other, I wasn’t sure if we would. As I’m walking down the sidewalk towards the line of busses for the start, the guy walking behind me is talking to someone and saying blah blah blah I’m from Ottawa. I turn around and ask are you Bill??. He says yeah, are you Lara? Whaddaya know!! There’s a little more synchronicity for us, Mark!! Bill and I chatted away the bus ride until it was time to deboard and make way to the portajohn line (of which I, of course, chose the slowest moving). After that, I ditched my warm-up clothes, reluctantly because, although ultimately it was a great day for running – with overcast skies, temps in the low 60’s F, and a cool breeze – it was a not so pleasant day for standing around in shorts. Prior to our start, we cheered the hand cyclists and the first of the marathon walkers (who had their start at 7 am) through – then we were off.

I knew from the drive through that the first 4 or more miles were pretty well flat with some subtle downhill grades. Starting out at a reasonable pace was going to be, as it always is, one of my bigger challenges. My plan was to try to stick around 12:00 miles and finish in about 2:37. I thought I might be able to go a little faster but I just wasn’t sure – I’d never had to spread my efforts across such a distance. I started out with a comfortable pace and spent a little time glancing at the lake and scenery and trying not to think about being in the first mile of 13, trying not to wonder how the day would unfold. Not knowing that separate mile markers were set up for the 1/2ers, I hit my watch at the 14 mile mark. I was just passing a race walker and she said “oh, I’m going too fast.” I reminded her that we had gone 9/10 of a mile rather than a full mile at this point. She said “oh that’s right…..but still.” My watch read 9:56 and I thought she might be right so I slowed a little and hit the 1/2er’s one mile mark at 11:30. Faster than I planned but I felt very comfortable so I wasn’t too keen on slowing down too much more. Just decided to hope I could keep it up!

I really enjoyed the next couple miles, but at about 5K I began to let the overwhelming thoughts creep in. Physically I was having no problems but for some reason that little mental dam that holds back the doubts and insecurities chose that moment to spring a leak. Sure it’s been a great 3 miles but you’ve still got 10 to go! This is g0ing to be miserable, this is going to be terrible. Are you even going to be able to do it?? It was at that point that a water stop came into sight. As soon as I was in sight of the volunteers, they began shouting encouragement. As I came through, they were all laughing and making jokes and giving me a boost. I headed off with a smile on my face and a whole new outlook. They were exactly what I needed at exactly the right moment. The negative thoughts were annihilated and I did not doubt myself again for the rest of the race!

Coming around the south end of the lake, at a little over 4 miles, I got passed by the marathon leader. That dude was cruising! A girl that was several paces ahead of me turned around and said “was that a marathoner?” and I said “yeah, we just got smoked!” This was to be the beginning of a beautiful race day friendship! I pulled up next to her and we fell easily into pace with each other. And so it was for the next 7 miles, Krisite and I, keeping each other on pace, chatting occasionally, cheering for the marathoners who were passing us in greater numbers now, saying good morning and thanks to all the great volunteers and spectators. It was so great to pass the time and hold the effort with her that I can’t even imagine what the race would have been like for me had we not hooked up.

Coming up on mile 11, we found ourselves chugging up a hill that kind of took us by surprise. Up till now, the hills had been nicely rolling – this one wasn’t terribly steep but it lasted awhile. Kristie was starting to slow a little and I was facing that inner conflict: should I stay or should I go now? I mean, we had helped each other along all this way, here we were near the end, where the encouragement of a cohort means the most, and I’m contemplating leaving her behind. It felt kind of shitty to think of but, man, when we crested that hill I had fire in my feet! I was just dying to go!! I can say honestly that had the tables been turned, I would no way no how want her to hang back with me. Just at the time I was going to ask her what she thought about all this, another runner came up on my right and started chatting. It turned out that she was one of the race organizers and as we ran along, she started taking an impromptu survey. We ran along a short bit and I realized I had pulled away from Kristie so I looked back to see her not too far behind. I called to her and she said she was doing fine. At this point, we came to a water stop and in the bustle of it all I found myself coming away alone. Maybe I’m a shit, because I was conflicted, but at that moment I chose to just go and not look back. There was just about 2 miles to go and the road of the visible future was nicely downhill, and my gosh I felt so good – so ready to go! So I did.

The first of those last 2 miles was just about the best thing I have ever felt in my life. I was running hard and I felt strong, powerful even. I was tired, and my hip joints were protesting, but my mind was blissfully absorbing the notion that I was nearly at the end of 13 miles and disbelieving the fact that I felt this powerful kick after all the distance so far. I ROCK! I AM INVINCIBLE!!

Oh, um, did I mention that I was running down hill at the time?

So then. Last mile. Not so much with the downhill there. In fact, though the hills in the last mile could hardly be called hills under normal circumstances, they were mini-mountains after my impulsive (though amazing and not to be traded for anything) charge through the previous mile. In the end, I plowed. I plowed through and it was, at the time: kind of terrible. But in retrospect: Awesome!! Even now, thinking about it, writing about it, I’m all like excited – as though it didn’t feel like my heart was going to explode, as thouugh my stomach wasn’t going to do a back flip or my hip joints weren’t going to fly out of their sockets the way tires fly off a car when the lugnuts aren’t secure. Selective memory is the best thing ever!

As I turned the corner for the final stretch, I tried to search the crowd for my family but I was so focused that my husband had to wave wildly and call my name 3 times before I saw him, and my poor son was beyond the Finish waiting for me and I never even noticed him as I crossed the line and staggered back to meet my old man. I waited to cheer Kristie through the finish and met up with her after for congratulations and exchange of e-mails. She did not seem nearly as concerned about my running off as I was. She was running her own race. Why do I make things so difficult?

Afterwards, I got my warm-up duds on quick as the wind was picking up and I was getting chilled. After some water, coffee, bagels, stretching, and even a little massage, I was ready to hobble to the car and we headed for home. It was finished. Wow.

This race was not chip timed, so my official time was 2:30:59 but my watch time was 2:30:37. Not a big difference but, yeah, I’m going with the watch I finished 286/352 overall and 21/29 in F35-39 AG. My pace averaged 11:30 and I never did run a full 12:00 mile like I had anticipated – the first 11 miles ranged in the 11:30’s-11:50’s and the last 2.1 in the 10:30’s. So I could not be happier! I beat my goal time by more than 5 minutes!

Last in this epic is a shout to the organizers, volunteers, and spectators of this race. Lots of encouragement and enthusiasm to be had! I’ve thought many times that I need to volunteer some time to my local races but now I am truly motivated to. The volunteers at the Adirondack Distance Festival made me want to be a volunteer. They rocked!!

So that’s it. If you didn’t see the link to my pictures in the previous post, you can look here.

Now what’s next?? Bill is talking up the Ottawa Marathon quite a bit. Hmmm.