Even if the sky is falling down I know that we'll be safe and sound

In my last post I made it seem like I had it all together. But that couldn't be further from the truth. In fact I probably did every possible wrong thing before this race.

Work feels like it's slipping out of my grasp and I have so many unfinished projects. I was working long hours, staying up way too late, and eating irregularly (or just plain crap).

I went to Utah two weeks before. That was definitely a 'burn the candle at both ends' trip as it alternated between being crammed in an airplane doing work on a laptop for long hours, sitting in uncomfortable conference chairs for long hours, running impossibly difficult hills, and skiing. I shouldn't be surprised at all that my first morning home I woke up, stretched, and completely set off both upper traps into spasms. It's like my muscles just up and said, screw you we're not working anymore. I'm still not moving my neck very well.

I skipped PT twice to go play volleyball. With a sore neck.

And I committed the cardinal sin of racing. Nothing new race week. I decided the heat of a hot yoga class would be good for my neck and went from 0 to 4 classes a week, just before the race.

But all that didn't matter. I went into the race with a plan, but was fully prepared to say f!ck the plan and go back to the 10:00/mi group if things started to go south. I was lucky in this case that things worked out for the best. But what if I did more things in my life that way? Taking leaps of faith is not second nature to me and was more discouraged than not in my formative years.

I think I'm looking for someone in my life to reassure me that it's not the end of the world if something in life doesn't go according to plan. The solution may be as simple as dropping back to the next pace group. I'd be able to move along in life a lot more effectively that way. What's that saying? 'What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?'

my head is on fire but my legs are fine

Wow. So for my third National/Rock'n Roll Half, (here were the first and second) I not only met that 1:59:59, but busted right through it. But before I go into my day, I wanted to give a huge shout-out to my friends who did their first half-marathons yesterday- Elaine B, Jess H, Jim S, Autumn L. and I'm sure many more I am forgetting- you guys are rockstars!

I met the Mafia for the first metro of the day, and walked from Metro Center down to the race site on the mall. I wanted to make sure I got there in the morning with plenty of time. This year's race had two major changes from the last two years- notably the start and finish were now in two different places. I knew I was going to have to pack a bag, and with an iffy weather report I wanted to make sure I was prepared in case it was cold and wet and miserable when we finished. So I wanted to be able to calmly pee, find bag check, stretch and warm up well before the race was set to start.

Good morning from the Mafia!

Elaine W, Jason and I had the same strategy- keep as close to the 2:00 pacer as we could (~9:10/mi). It was strange just how much this felt less like a race and more like a training run. Even though I was asking alot of myself (like more than 30 seconds per mile faster than all my training runs? Sure, why not.) I was not really nervous at all.

The 2:00 pacer Christina started further back in the corrals than I think she should have. Our first mile out along the mall was 9:40. Then we hit the Memorial Bridge, probably the most crowded section of the course, and our pacer decided that was the time to start making up for lost time. I usually hate weaving and lose alot of time early by just hanging back. But I was going to stick with the pacer no matter what. And that became the theme of the day.

I'll be dreaming of these the next few nights. 

I'm not going to do a mile by mile recap. But by mile 5-6ish, I was starting to fade. We had increased the pace by quite a bit and were almost caught up overall, but I wasn't sure how much longer I could stick with it. But there came the first moment (of many) when I'm running in the pace group (behind, next to, at times even ahead of the pacer), realized it hadn't yet started to rain, and was genuinely having fun. Smiling and dance-running along to my music (oh come on, don't tell me you don't do that too!). At a 9:00/min pace. Who are you and what have you done with normal Steph?

first 2 hrs or so of the best playlist ever. 

The second big change this year was a shift in the course. Instead of a long 2 mile climb from the mall up to Adams Morgan via Connecticut Ave, we instead ran up Rock Creek Park, which is a long false flat and then a 200ft climb almost straight up and out of the Park on Calvert Street at mile 7. I was fully expecting to lose the pace group on this hill. But the pacer charged and I charged right with her. It took the entire length of the bridge to catch my breath. But I was still hanging with the group. People look at me like I'm nuts when I say this, but that hill kind of saved me. For that brutal 200 feet I got to stop using the 9:00/mi muscles and use the climbing muscles instead. Then the 9:00/mi muscles carried me the rest of the way.

After mile 9 or so the crowd thinned and I finally got ahead of the pace group and stayed there. I was looking for some of the usual sights (DC Tri spinning support group, the giant inflatable crotch) and none were to be found. No matter, the rest of the day was a piece of cake. I was still dance-running to my music, enjoying the scenery, and the fact that my legs and stomach were not protesting at their normal places.  I got to the finish line much faster than expected.

this is my 'i'm going to finish in less than 2 hrs ' face. 

10 mi time should be 1:30 and change.

I was thrilled that it never actually rained despite a forecast for 70% chance after 7a! The only things bothering me at the finish were (1) the blister developing on the second toe on the left foot (darn almost-new smartwool socks) and (2) the DIY-ness of the water stops. The volunteers must have bailed when they heard the weather report. The RnR folks need to take a cue from the Cherry Blossom volunteer coordinators or DC Tri at Nations to get some really good stand-up volunteer groups to be out there race-day.

My day in nerdy data format:

I like when my data tells the story of how I was feeling! Okay so I'm a nerd, alright??

I was also super bummed that it took upwards of 45mins to retrieve my bag from bag check (more evidence that perhaps this race is getting a bit too big for itself). Also, totally my fault, but I forgot to turn off my phone before handing it over to the bag check folks, and due to a lack of any signal whatsoever at the race festival I had zero battery when I got it back. I knew alot of people were around, but among 40,000 others they were pretty hard to find. I did find Doria in the food line- totally random but I was so glad to catch up with her! I ended up riding home on the metro by myself but catching up with Laura, Elaine B, Katie, and their guys for lunch back in Rockville. Also super grateful to these ladies for dragging me along to get massages after! I think this will have to be a regular thing.

Overall I'm pretty optimistic for the rest of this season, and I think some of my other goals- sub- 3:00 Oly, sub- 6:30 70.3 - are within reach. (only if I keep wearing that purpley shirt. Since I now have a 10k PR and a half marathon PR in that shirt, does it now qualify as a 'lucky' shirt??) Also considering how much I was juggling injuries, work, and the rest of my life so far this year I think I'm in pretty good shape overall. I'm looking forward to continuing to train with the Mafia as they get closer to Placid. Definitely couldn't have done this without them!

Oh yeah. And I'm about 75% sure I'm signing up for this. Stay tuned.

earworm: fun. - Carry On