I was excited, but nervous. I knew I had the Half in me, but 2 in two days!?? So the goal for this one was to go out and leave reserve in the tank for the next day. Basic plan was 9/1s for the first loop, then 4/1s after that. But I knew I'd be running with Billy, so I wanted to stay flexible.
There was a little fiasco getting to the start. My GPS app wasn't working properly. I drove around for like 30 minutes and had a complete freak out. Had to call P who did "Find My iPhone" to locate me and lead me there. And this was on Waze, not on me, damnit.
Got there, funny location - this apartment complex that was never finished and all rotting - truly looked like the end of the world, picked-up packet (awesome, AWESOME swag: duffel bags, hat, tech-T, the works!), found Billy who was brilliantly standing in a totally visible location.
Was cold, cold, cold. Ditched my sweatshirt about 5 minutes before the start, but such a small, cool race that it was still there when we finished. :-)
So this was a trail race. I know it was KIND OF on the website, but I was expecting it to be like the Texas Marathon, on sidewalk trails, not TRAILS. So dude. Wow. Wasn't really trained for trails.
Started running with Billy. And talking. Spilled my guts to him about EVERYTHING that has been going on. And I do mean everything. But he is totally awesome and a trooper and had all my problems solved by mile 11. :-)
He is also definitely still faster than me, but was using me to prevent himself from going out too fast so he'd be fresh on day 2. Ha!
So everything was going great, nice scenery, good company, but around 11 my right knee started hurting basically where it did the last time I was injured. On the outside. We started walking way more than running, and I got way more upset than I normally would when the course was almost a mile long, because I knew I needed to get off that knee asap if I was going to have any hope of running the next day.
Well, we finally finished, and THE MEDALS!!!
I immediately pounded ibuprofen and headed home to rest, eat, and try to get myself in order for the next day.
The short story is that my knee didn't hurt to walk, so the next day, I showed up and tried, but the very first running step I took I knew I was screwed. I told Billy I'd try for a mile. Then he talked me into 2. And then it seemed like it made sense to just try to make it through the first loop. We were almost entirely walking and it took us almost 2 hours, but I did make it. I wrestled so much with the idea of DNF'ing. I've never done that before. I felt the shame of starting something and not finishing it. But at the same time, I knew I was hurt and if I didn't stop I was risking a long layoff from running that might not be completely necessary if I just listened to my body NOW and stopped torturing it. And so, when we came to the end of that first loop, I DNF'd. And it SUCKED. Powerfully. But there was also this strange undercurrent of pride that I had because, for once, I tried to listen to my body and do the right thing.
So there it is. I didn't make my 12 races in 2012 goal by about half a race. But I went down fighting, and think, hope, I grew from the experience. And I am proud of that.
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