Frustrating Week

This week has been the week of frustrating runs.  I was traveling for work to a place where it was even colder than Chicago. What does that mean for marathon training?  TREADMILL!

Monday: Travelled and worked.  Not that exciting.  I was craving Swedish fish like mad, and had to stop at Walgreens to buy myself a bag.  It had been 3 weeks since I had swedish fish at a CES run. 

Tuesday morning:  I ran 3 miles on the treadmill before work.  I’m definitely getting practice at my morning running habit, although I felt like it took me a long time to get to my 3 miles. 

Wednesday morning: I was supposed to run 6 miles, but only made it to 4.3 mi on the treadmill before I had to go get ready for work.  Again, it felt like it took me a while to get going… and was BORING.  I tried not listening to my music this time, but ended up watching MSNBC political talks… c’mon where is the CNN when you’re at a hotel?  #fail. 

Thursday: I am leaving today!  I finally went out to dinner last night (yes, 3 nights before I actually went OUT for food. Another travel #fail), so no run this morning. I also needed to pack.  Redemption:  I “ran” 197 miles that night while watching the Hood to Coast movie.  M & I ran into some hashing friends and we kept marveling over the race.  And those 5-minute milers on Bowerman team that won Hood to Coast that year.

Friday: Rest day.  Figure out plans for my long run tomorrow. 

Saturday: I met up with Lilian for our long run. I’ve really been enjoying these runs with her! But again, this was an #epicfail on my part.  We had different mileages planned, so I ran 2 miles to meet her at Pipers Alley. I could sense my tummy troubles by the time I got there.  We embarked on a 10 mile run, and then we were going to meet up with Jenna, Adam & Mike for a 5K called Cupid Chase. 

On my run with Lilian, I got bad cramps and had to stop to use the bathroom twice!   It was a super-peaceful run out on the lakefront.  I felt bad for Lilian because I kept feeling not so great.  We made it through the 10 miles, but were not able to make it to the Cupid Chase 5K in time.  That may have been a blessing in disguise. 

We saw the racers coming along toward us, so we cheered for them! I saw Mike was in 3rd place when he came around –and was looking good!  I jumped in after a few more runners, expecting that they were almost finished with the race, or that I would see the finish line and peel off to watch Mike & Jenna finish. 

We kept running in Lincoln Park through the snow. And more snow. Jenna caught up to me, and we ran for a bit.  We jumped a snow hurdle – (c’mon – make sure there’s no huge snow piles on your race course!) and ran some more.  Since I never registered for the race, when I realized it was an out & back up north, I turned around and headed “back” – placing myself in 4th place at one point! (I’ve never been in 4th in a race before!)  But then there was running through snow, and more snow.  Do you sense the pattern?  I had already run 12-13 miles at this point. 

Finally I saw the finish line, and finished. I peeled off to the side rather than run through the chute, since I was not an officially registered runner.  When I saw Mike, I found out he won 2nd in the race! 

All in all, I ran 13.71 miles out of the 15 I had planned. I was feeling so bad for most of it that I was happy to be done. 

After catching up with Mike & Jenna after the race, I found out some of the following that made me not feel as bad that I didn’t do the full race:

• Directions to the starting point/registration for the race had been bad. They had to walk a full half mile from where the race said it was starting to where they had officially set up.
• Race had not been marked.  Mike was running up at the front, and basically the front-runners were deciding the course as they went.  (not good).  I thought it was just me that I was missing the mile-markers and markings indicating where to turn, etc.
• Race was actually more like 3.7 miles instead of 3.1 miles.  Runners had to run an extra .6 miles on a 5k – that’s 1/6th extra of the course!!
• Race only had low-cal beverages at the end.  WTF?

Redeeming factors of the event: 

• I saw Jenna! 
• I got a shirt (we co-opted some shirts for Adam and myself). I needed another shirt to stay warm after my 13.71 miles and staying outside for awards, etc.
• I tried the FRS drink and know that the Citrus-Pomegranate flavor is one I will never try again. I would rather dehydrate than drink that flavor.  Wild Berry was OK.  Not sure why I want low-cal though when I’m doing some sports.