I loved living at Amy's, with the exception of the cable tv. In Houston I had a roommate and things are significantly cheaper, so of course I had 6 HBOs and 6 Showtime stations in addition to the super ultra deluxe cable package. At Amy's I had like 20 channels. 10 of them being a combo CSPAN, home shopping, and spanish/religious stations. It sucked for the few nights of the week where I was too tired from skiing to be out and about. I couldn't handle it, I needed entertainment. I started going through Amy's small book collection looking for something good.
I found a winner in the classic sport novel, "Once a Runner" by John L. Parker. I was skeptical since I myself am not much of a runner, I mainly did it to keep up my cardio so that I could be better at skiing, but mostly I found it boring and without a purpose (unlike Soccer, which I described as running with a purpose) so a book about it seemed kinda lame.
Nope. This book was so ridiculously awesome that I immediately wanted to take up serious running and begin training for something. The review on google post as following for the book:"ONCE A RUNNER IS AN INSPIRING, FUNNY, AND SPOT-ON TALE of one man's quest to become a champion. Originally self-published in 1978 and sold at road races out of the trunk of the author's car, the book eventually found its way into the hands of high school, college, and postgraduate athletes all over the country. Reading it became a rite of passage on many teams and tattered copies were handed down like sacred texts from generation to generation. Once a Runner captures the essence of what it means to be a competitive runner, to devote your entire existence to a single-minded pursuit of excellence. In doing so, it has become one of the most beloved sports novels ever published"
My sentiments exactly. The night I finished was the same night I signed up for the Seattle Rock n' Roll Half-Marathon and said I expected to finish in 2 hours. Game on.
I knew as a non-runner I needed help, so I drafted my friend and serial marathoner Jenny to help me out. Boy did she come through! She sent me an awesome personalized training schedule for each and every day right up to race day. Amy also lent me another book, "The Competitive Runner's Handbook" by Bob Glover and Shelly-Lynn Florance Glover to supplement my running knowledge. Between those two resources I was set!
The first thing I did was ask people about the arbitrary goal I had set for myself when I signed up. I had no idea what my time would be, so I simply guessed something. After speaking with people and consulting the AST healthy living facebook page, I was told, this was actually a very ambitious goal for a non-runner who had never ran that distance. I was told realistically that I would probably run more like a 2:30 time since I knew that my regular mile average was a 10min/mile. This was confirmed by the handbook. Oops. I was nervous about being placed in a fast heat, but figured it would be good to be pushed race day.
For the next few months I followed Jenny's schedule the best I could and toward the end sort of fell off the band wagon due to being sick/on vacation/skiing. Two weeks before I was sort of willing to give up and admit defeat of not reaching my goal and questioning if I could finish at all (without stopping/walking).
My friend from work Connor, who also had been running the race 'for fun' and had not been training seriously, the day before the race decided to mysteriously drop out (Connor has no SISU). And the day of the race another friend who was supposed to meet up with me before the race ho'ed me out as well and left early for the bus (which is what I wanted to do, but everyone had convinced me that we could leave later. . . . . . ) so I ended up standing in a huge line with all the other late people and ended up at the race an hour behind start time and had missed my heat. Things were not looking good. . . . . .
I was in a not so happy mood at the end of the race lineup in heat #33 (far away from my heat #10) and was cold and irritated. As I waited for the other heats in front of me to go (there were several heats behind me as well for the walkers), I tried to give myself a pep talk and bounced around a bit to try to warm up my muscles. In the midst of my gloomy-ness a deep 1940 style leading lady voice came into my head and a woman in a salon chair turn around,
"If you're going to let one stupid prick ruin your half marathon, you're not the girl I thought you were."
Yes! It was was Professor Stromwell (played by Holland Taylor) from Legally Blonde, in my head there to pick me up! Within that one ridiculous pop culture line the gloom disappeared and I laughed to myself and was ready to run!
Note: If you ever want to feel good about yourself, run a rock 'n roll series race. There are so many people who are in no condition to be in any sort of race, let alone a long distance running race, you are bound to feel very very good about yourself. Not matter how little you trained. You will see someone who trained and prepared Way Way WAY less than you did. You get to feel good about that.
I felt really good running right from the start. I tried to not start off too fast, but I had to get out from the crowded running peloton. That is when the feel-good-passing-of-people began and went on for 13 straight miles. I dodged and weaved in and out of the spread of people in the various heats of those who had started ahead of us. I ran with joy to the beat of the bands that were along the way and to the people cheering and waving along the way.
The trail was quite lovely, going along the the historic houses and parks of Lake Washington. The water and gel-snack stands were spaced well along the trail. (Blackberry gel; turns out to be delicious. Who knew?) The path slowly found itself on the freeway and heading into the city and toward the finish line. It made a lap around the stadiums, so that runners got a a great view of the sound via the Viaduct (last Rock 'n Roll marathon to get to do so, before the demolition later in the fall).
Coming into the home stretch it was finally time let the final mile rip and going into the stadium parking lot with all the people cheering and I ran my fastest mile. I beat my goal of running the half in 2 hours. I did it in 1:57, averaging 8 minute 50 second miles. Significantly fast then any training run I had done prior. Apparently, passing people kinda makes you magically faster. I totally felt awesome! I think I got some of that runner's euphoria that they talk about in those runner's magazines.
After the race I got my medal, special space blanket, banana, bagel, and water and I wondered around until I felt ready to start the mile walk home. On the way to 1st Avenue, I accidentally met up with my new friend Pedro who I had met the night before and his friends. We all celebrated out race results with drinks and fish 'n chips at the local Irish pub. Perfect way to end the morning and start the afternoon!
When I finally got home, I rolled out my muscles with my foam roller (seriously has changed my life and my IT-issues), then finished with a hot bath and more foam rolling. The next day, pretty much pain free.
Overall it was such an amazing experience! I will definitely do it again next year (new course!)
Anyone want to join me?
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