This past week was our biggest week for preparing for the half marathon. It culminated in our 12 mile run. Our Saturday runs are becoming quite the adventure and each week seems to be a learning experience in and of itself. I was told once that insanity is doing the same dumb thing over and over again. Well, no one can accuse me of that, because I am really good and doing dumb thing after another. Okay, so dumb may be a little harsh, but given the task to choose a route to run I felt a little dumb after choosing 2 routes that about killed me. Amy and Reyna certainly out ran me on this run that is for sure. In my defense I was running sick, I didn't realize it at the time, but once I came home the little bug made itself clear...After last weeks fun run Amy decided she did not want to think about the 12 mile rout so she gave me the opportunity to create it. I found 2 that seemed acceptable. Presented with the options we chose the more adventurous of the two. According to my calculations and my ability to read maps the total loss in elevation would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 700 plus feet. which would be pretty close to the 1/2 marathon so I was excited. This could be a good preview of what we would see for the 1/2.
Well, that morning we got up early. DeeAnn and I drove over to Amy's house where we picked up Amy and Reyna and headed toward Dimple Dell. It seemed like the longest drive up to the top, but we made it. The past couple of days my lower back was feeling a little tight but I thought I could stretch it out and where it hadn't gone down into my hip I felt I would be okay for this run. Right up front we dropped significantly but it mellowed out shortly and everything seemed like it would be good. Our first 3 miles went good we finished it in good time and DeeAnn had liquid refreshments waiting for us. Did I mention how incredible my wife is? Well, she is pretty incredible.
Then came miles 4-6 what I thought would be a small rise then fall turned into an almost 800 foot climb. We actually did this without much trouble at all. Good thing it was not at the end of the run. However, my back was still nagging at me just a little. We reached the 6 mile mark and DeeAnn once again sent us off with a refill of liquids.
Miles 7-9 I began to feel the pain in my back move to my hip, but I did not think it was too bad I was able to keep up, but it was not super comfortable. As we left DeeAnn for the final leg of the run I felt my hip start to wear on me. I made it to mile 11 when I had little left in me and when we hit the final hill on the last 1/2 mile of the run my hip said no more. I had to walk for about 25 yards before I could muster up a limping jog under the gentle encouragement of Amy. I finally made it to the top of the hill and was able to grin and bare it to the finish.The lessons I learned this week were, even though the over all course was down hill we still had ups and downs along the way some of which were more significant than others. Such is life. Second, I learned that if you give it your all it doesn't matter how ugly the finish it just matters that you finish. Life is not always about beating your competitors, sometimes it is, but most of the time life is about beating yourself. I also learned that you can never underestimate the significance of an encouraging word when you feel you have nothing left inside. DeeAnn gave it to us along the way, and Amy and Reyna did that for me at the end of the run.
Just one more adventure in moving more. :)
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