Birthday Fun Run

How do normal people celebrate their birthday?  Something tells me that it's not by waking up at 5:00 a.m., strapping on a headlamp, and logging 10.37 (I miscalculated my route -old age!) miles.  Well, we all know I can't claim normalcy...

Doesn't this photo scream, "out of my mind thrilled for my birthday?"  Or, maybe more like just, "out of my mind."

Of course, normal people also don't eat a giant piece of homemade cake at 9:00 a.m.  And if that's not reason enough to avoid being normal, I don't know what is.

Here's to the wisdom that comes with the years.  I have to say, that's been the best thing about getting older, realizing that life is short and meant to be enjoyed.  It's getting comfortable in your own skin and giving up that idea of perfection.   In the end, no one is going to ask you, "Did you avoid all sugar?  Were you skinny?"  No, the question in the end is going to be, "Did you live?  Were you happy?"

This is my birthday wish for you.

Rugly

Y'all.  This is my actual, no-posing, couldn't smile if I'd tried, face after attempting a 10 mile run in the 84 degree weather.  It was hot, I mean really, really hot.  And it was plain ol' rugly.

No filter here.  It was really that bad.

I say attempting because I didn't make it.  I ended up only running 9.1 miles and walking the rest.  Not exactly the confidence boosting run I was hoping for only two weeks out from my next half marathon.  But, I had to consider my safety and health and towards the end, the only option was to walk.  I literally thought I was hallucinating bunnies in trees.  Luckily though, that one turned out to be real.

What can I say?  Ugly runs just happen.  You never know when they will strike (although, checking the weather probably would have clued me in on this one).  Ugly runs are part of running.  They are even part of training.  As crazy as it sounds, this horrible, hot, failed long run will actually help me out in the long run.  Even though I couldn't finish the planned run, I am still stronger for having tried it.  That's the thing about each and every run we set out on, no matter how they turn out, we turn out for the better.

Long Run Randomness - 9.1

When you live and run in the fourth largest city in America, you never know what you are going to come across on your run.

A flock of ducks:

 

Or a flock of flamingos:



 

Also, I ran 9.1 miles, which felt like I did exactly this:

 

Race Day Recap - Missions Heritage Half Marathon

I know that I am really late getting this post up, but it's time to recap my race day at the San Antonio Missions Heritage Half Marathon.  Spoiler alert: I ran 13.1 miles and it was hard and it hurt and while I was running I swore I wouldn't do another one anytime soon.

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!

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.

The Definition

Don't they say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting  different results?

Well, here we go again....

 

I must be insane!  Didn't I just run one of these?!?  Wasn't it super hard and painful?  Didn't I swear I was done with training for a while?  Well, turns out, when your college roommate who you haven't seen in over ten years offers to fly down and run with you, you don't say no.