First race of the season? Check!

Okay kiddos. First race of the season happened yesterday. It happened to be the slowest race I have ever run. Ever. In all time, ever. But in my defense, I am trying to keep my tendon from exploding (tendons can explode, right?). I finished the Canyonlands Half Marathon in 2:54:13. I didn't finish last place, but there were only about 200 people behind me out of the 3250 that ran this race. I find it interesting that my first half marathon was my fastest at 2:30, and my second one was my second fasted at 2:48. I am progressively slowing. I thought I was supposed to be getting faster. But I feel better after this race than I did after those first two. I think my body is adjusting to distance running finally. I have a little soreness in my quads, but I can stand under my own power and even flounce saucily in my high heels. It was about a week after my first half marathon before I could flounce. So I suppose I am making some good progress.

Now I will launch into a rant of sorts. I can do this because only 9 people read my blog. Anonymity is a beautiful thing. So I spent this race weekend with a group of runners. People who run fast and stuff. Nice, wonderful, friendly people. They all had specific time goals that they wanted. The conditions were not ideal, there were crazy headwinds the whole time. The wind was so strong that they cancelled my skydiving appointment due to the 45 mph wind gusts. There was dust and dirt in our eyes most of the time. So nobody made their time goal. And boy were they mad about it. One guy missed his goal by 2 minutes, finishing with a mind blowing (at least my mind was blown) 1:46. That's over an hour faster than I did it and he was upset. I couldn't really feel bad for him. Another girl missed her goal by 4 minutes with another mind blowing 2:04.  In my opinion these people are breaking land speed records and all they're doing is complaining about it?! Really? I was slow poking along with a smile on my face because my tendon came through in one non-exploded piece and they were whining and moaning at the finish line, injury free and speedy. It made me realize that I may never be a "proper" runner, who worries about times and PR's and all that. I'm just a plump running gal who's happy to cross the finish line at all. I'm not saying that there's anything terribly wrong with trying to beat times, but it seems like people have more fun when they're not worrying about it.

I'm still waiting for them to post the race pictures. I didn't feel like lugging my own camera around for the race... I'll post them as soon as I can though :)

Happy running everyone! Even those of you who didn't make a PR, still be proud of what you did! It was impressive!

Injured! Again :(

Who didn't see this coming? I'm sailing along on my marathon training like a pro. Racking up miles, running around like a barefoot fool while people point and stare. I had a great run last night. Everything felt fine. I woke up this morning, and there was a tiny bit of tenderness in my right foot, towards the heel and behind the ankle. I could walk on it no problem though so I wasn't too concerned. But as the day wore on, I had to keep my shoes off for most of the work day. The area swelled so much that the shoes were really uncomfortable. I'm forgoing my 7 mile run tonight to rest and ice the area. Not to mention that I've pumped myself full of ibuprofen. My first half marathon of 2012 is next Saturday. That's a mere 10 days away. It feels like a tendon/ligament issue. At least in my experience, those tend to heal up quickly. If not, too bad because I have a race to run and I'll be damned if a stupid swelly tendon thingy ruins my Moab trip.

Happy resting :P