This post title could easily be "What Not To Do." I didn't follow any of my own rules leading up to this race.
Broken Rule #1: Don't drink alcohol.
Okay, but I couldn't really help this one. Packet pickup was at a brewery. I pretty much had to drink. Side note: Alamo Beer Brewery is super cute and the beer is good. I definitely recommend swinging by if you are in San Antonio.
Broken Rule #2: Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.
This was probably the biggest mistake I made leading up to the race. I just did not drink enough water. Which is weird because I'm normally great at hydrating. I think I was just off my game the night before. Traveling with a little one isn't easy and I found myself too busy mommy-ing to take care of myself or even think about what I needed to be doing (isn't this the story of our lives, moms?). Race day was pretty warm and extremely humid. When you aren't well hydrated, running in the humidity is exhausting. This was pretty much me by mile six.
Broken Rule #3: Pre-run Fuel
This one is supposed to be a no-brainer. We all know we are supposed to eat and eat a lot before a run. HELLO - it's called carb-loading!! It's what we live for. And yet, I failed miserably. No spaghetti dinner for me the night before. No big delicious bagel for breakfast. Nothing. We did go to dinner at a cute little restaurant in Boerne the night before and the food looked delicious. And what I did manage to eat was delicious. It's just that I had a fourteen month old baby girl who was up waaaaay past her bedtime and wanted nothing to do with her high chair and everything to do with crawling all over her mom...or running around to all of the other tables to "talk" to the other patrons. So, as all moms do, I left the restaurant with a mostly untouched plate....well, except for the fried pecan pie and ice cream dessert we ordered. No mom can leave that untouched! The real problem came in the morning before the race. We were staying in a house about a half hour away from the start line, which meant we had to be out the door by 6:45 a.m. Please see previous comments regarding traveling with a fourteen month old. After getting myself ready and helping the hubs get the baby all ready and packed for the afternoon (how can someone so small need SO much???), I threw my bagel in the toaster and quickly realized that I had forgotten to pack butter or any other bagel spread. Sorry, but a dry plain bagel just isn't appetizing. Instead, I grabbed a couple of handfuls of cheerios and a banana and out the door we ran. Now, a banana and a little cereal might get me through a short run, but not so much for 13.1 miles. After about an hour and a half of running, my tank was on empty. The rest of the run was on fumes.
All of that said, I did finish the race and in an okay time. I was just three seconds off of my goal pace. Of course, my goal pace wasn't all that fast. Like I said in an earlier post though, my real goal was just to complete 13.1 miles as a mom. And I did. And, I had the greatest, sweetest face waiting for me when I finished.
A few other race day facts:
The owners of the house we rented were so sweet! Check out the note waiting for us when we arrived:
The race started at the Mission Concepcion, which is a really pretty, still functioning church in San Antonio and then we ran through several other missions. One of which met runners with ringing church bells and a shower of rose petals. I have to say, that was a first!
Speaking of food (were we speaking of food?), the post race bites were pretty darn good! Black beans, rice, and chicken at 10:00 a.m.? Yes, I will!
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| It's a good thing she's so cute. Stealing a runner's post-race food can be very dangerous. |
I want to take a second here to shout out my amazing hubster. I know I don't give him enough credit on this blog, but if it weren't for him I would never have been able to run this race. From the time I told him that I was ready to start running again until the time I finished these 13.1 miles, he was nothing but supportive. Three times a week, he would quit working early and take care of our little one while I went running. Every weekend I would leave for a couple of hours to get in my long runs and he never complained. I'm so lucky to be married to such an awesome guy. You think running is an individual sport, but no, we are a team and this team is only successful because of him.
Speaking of what a lucky lady I am, my dad also made the very long drive across Texas to watch me run. There are no words for that kind of dad.
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