I guess rest does a body good...

This past week has been quite amazing.

I managed to survive one of the most stressful weeks work wise. Deadlines, problems to solve, people to please. I am not sure how, but I pulled it off. I managed to get everything on the list accomplished; and then some. Even when life threw me a curve ball.

One of my family members in Argentina was diagnosed with a nasty disease. At first I thought it was the end of the world. I was shocked; this person NEVER gets sick. I started imagining the worst. What would the rest of my family do? How would they keep going? Why did I move so far away? I felt guilty for not being there in this time of need. I worried, a lot.

That day when I got home from work; I called my family and they reassured me that even though the disease is there; it is early enough to where if certain measures are taken; it can be stopped in its tracks or slowed down considerably. I spoke my mind, loud and clear for all of them to hear. They asked I do not worry about it; and I said I would not if they promised to follow doctor's orders to the T. Luckily we came to an agreement. I know the road ahead is not an easy one for them as it involves quitting an addiction (smoking); but they are strong willed (as most of the members of my family) and I know they can do it.

On that day I decided I would go ahead and run my half marathon on saturday. I had not had a quality run (or a run) for a few weeks (since thanksgiving).In fact I was so focused on doing P90X that I had not swam, biked or ran for a couple of weeks. Now, let me tell you. After doing P90X for those couple of weeks, I realized that it was not the workout program for me. Why? It does not get me excited to follow it. As a matter of fact; I dreaded doing the workouts most of the days. Not because they were hard, but because they were boring. So I opted to just do their strength routines and kick up the Cardio with my own mix of Swim, bike & run.

Last month when I was sick for almost 2 weeks, coach and I decided that it would be best if i took the month off to fully recover. Besides, December tends to be a busy month for us in the accounting field; with holidays and fiscal year end all happening at the same time. So the training for this 1/2 marathon was put on hold. I still wanted to run the race, because stingy me had already paid the race fee and could not let the money go to waste, if you know what I mean :-). So I faced it as just a fun run. I would run it without any expectations. I would not push myself, I would just go and run, and have fun.

Saturday came along and I was up before the alarm clock went off. My body is so used to getting up at 5 am that I can't sleep past that time. Oh well. I got up and got ready. All dressed up in cold weather gear since it was below freezing and the high temperature for the morning was in the low 40's. I put on some tights, a wicking t-shirt and a warm wicking jacket (my favorite one... NIKE ) Got to the kitchen and made some breakfast. Some whole wheat waffles and propel water to drink. The breakfast of champions :-) I did my hair (pigtails and hat), grabbed some Gu's and headed out the door.

I got to the expo, picked up my packet, got my chip and bib number set up and headed to the potty lines. Of course, after all that propel water I needed to pee quite a bit. And then I witnessed something that was a "first" for me. The line for the MEN'S bathroom, was longer than the one for the women's. I smiled to myself. 

After using the facilities I headed to the start line. I tried using the signs for the pace groups to seed myself but once the crowd got bigger the pacers moved and I could not find them! As a result I think I was seeded incorrectly. Oh well, race was about to start and I did not have the energy to fight the crowd to try to go backwards.

The gun went off and we started running. The first mile is always hard. Your body is waking up and warming up. I passed the mile marker in 9.30.  I was going faster than I had anticipated but it felt good, it felt "natural".  I ran. I saw some familiar faces, I tuned into other people's conversations. I smiled at volunteers and traffic cops. I was just having a blast. I remember going through the 3 mile marker at 27 minutes. "Pretty good" I thought. I was running with my Garmin, just to see how long the course really was. Bad thing is that it had not acquired a signal when the gun went off, so I didn't start measuring until well into the first mile. I decided to keep it on just for the fun of it. To see what pace I was holding.

I was surprised. The little thing said I was running 8:54 and I did not even feel I was putting out an effort. I really cruised along the race. I was not "racing it"; I was just running. I drank at every water stop; alternating water and powerade. I even ran the water stops! Now, that's a first! I am always really clumsy and end up pouring the liquids on my body instead of in my mouth. But not this time. The course was hilly, and I could tell I was putting a slightly higher effort when going uphill, but nothing major. I was just keeping the pace. The only one goal I had for this race was to run the entire thing. I wanted to prove myself that no matter how slow I went, I would run it. Not even power walk it, run it. There is some kind of mental block I had with the distance for the longest time; and I wanted to overcome it.

I hit mile 7 in 1:03:xx. That is when I realized: "Holy shit! I am paced to come in at 2 hours or less". If you remember, that was my goal all along for this race. Break the 2 hour mark and have a great PR. I just could not believe it. Here I was, not even feeling like I was working; and yet within reach of my "dream goal". I told myself: "Don't get cocky, don't try to go faster; we are here to have fun". So I did. I just kept running.

Somehow, I was able to hold the pace. At mile 11, a guy in a Santa costume passed me and one of the spectators said: "Come on people! Run faster, you just got passed by Santa!" That made me laugh. That was another first... Laughing at mile 11. I am usually in some kind of mental battle at this point; but not Saturday. I was feeling it now though. I was starting to get tired, and putting an added effort. I just wanted to hold the pace to reach the sub 2 hour goal. I only had 2 more miles to go; but those 2 miles had some of the worst hills of the course.

Climb, climb, climb. Reach the top, turn right. Climb steep hill. Legs burn. Reach the top, turn right again; go down; reach the bottom. Repeat. That was how the last 2 miles were. My quads were burning. With less than .5 miles to go you took the last turn and you could see the finish line. Straight up there. Yes, I said UP. The freaking finish line was at an incline! No fair. I tried to kick it to the end; but my legs refused to turn any faster. I crossed the line. 

1:58:43. 

Holy freaking shit! An 18 minute PR. On a hilly course. I could not believe it. Seriously?! I was elated. Still am. I sent Liz a text. "I do not give my body enough credit".

I remember my first 1/2 marathon. It took me nearly 3 hours to finish it; and after I got back to the house I slept the rest of the day. Saturday, I ran and was FULLY functional all day. 

What baffles me the most is that I had taken my "off season" pretty seriously. I had been resting mightily. There had been no running for almost 3 weeks.  And yet, I managed to accomplish this. I guess rest does a body good :-). I am a believer now.