Erin Go Run

Mile 7   split: 7:48    marathon time: 54:21

With the 3:30 pacer in front of me, I began making it a target. I was slowly approaching the large group of inexperienced runners with some natural talent, and before I knew it I was passing them. Still a little bit nervous as to whether I was going too quickly, I pushed on ahead and made my way to the embarcadero; one of my favorite places to run in San Diego. As energetic and fast-paced as I felt, I knew that I most definitely would not last for the entire race, so I whipped out one of my power gels and took it down, slightly choking on it because they aren’t as good as you would think.

Mile 8   split: 7:52   marathon time: 1:02:13

Running through the embarcadero is one of my favorite runs to do. Besides the one downfall, tourists, it is a very picturesque run that shows off some of the better parts of San Diego. Many people tend to take San Diego for granted. But on foot running through, it forces the unappreciative to look around and see why so many people visit. Tall buildings of downtown rise above, creating shadows onto the waters of the harbor. Looking across the harbor, you catch a glimpse of the quaint and little town of Coronado. Seaport Village has many of the little shops that parents love, but kids dread on summer vacations (save for the candy and magic shop). Along the path, different artworks are present every few yards. They reflect a more edgy side of San Diego, create something unique and eye-catching. For a runner, they give you something to pace off of, in addition to being something that distracts you. There are famous pirate ships and of course the famous aircraft carrier museum, the Midway. With nothing but a cool breeze, it is difficult not to just let yourself go and run through such enjoyment. 

Mile 9   split: 7:42   marathon time: 1:09:56

Several weeks ago, a few friends of mine and I participated in the La Jolla Half Marathon. Most of us struggled through the race, finishing better and worse than expected. One of us, on pace to run the race of his life, didn’t finish. At about mile 9, we found out, Bryan had passed out on the side of the race course where he was hosed off and then rushed to the hospital. Later it turned out to be low blood sugar and dehydration.

It was through this mile that I feared the worst… that I was going to pull a Bryan. Drinking the day before a marathon is the worst thing you can do for your hydration and blood sugar levels. And while Bryan didn’t drink the day before the race, I scared myself even more because not only did I drink, but I was running twice as far!! Constant daydreams ran through my head in mile 9 of dropping to the ground, hitting my head on the curb, etc. After all, I was on pace for the race of my life.

Mile 4  split: 7:28   marathon time: 30:59

The fourth mile was still packed; hundreds of people were running with me. As people were trying to weave in and out of people, a couple of old sweaty men managed to pass me and rub their sweaty arms on mine…. Ugh! I didn’t want to wipe it off, cause I didn’t want to touch their sweat juices. So instead I had to embrace it and let it air dry…. Meanwhile, some girl comes shooting out of the mass of runners and finds the most central bush. Instead of running behind the bush to gain some privacy, she pops a squat right front blank for the thousands to see and starts peeing. Times like this I feel nothing but pity for women, as many of them do not have the luxury of using a P-Mate. 

This brings me back to the one time in my running career that I peed during a race. It was only a 5k, so I really don’t have an excuse… minutes before the start of the race I had mentioned to my teammate that I had to pee. She insisted that it was just nerves. In the last mile of the race, there was a large downhill. With every step that I took, there was a little bit of leakage. Every step. And I was on record pace, so it’s not like I could slow down, you know? Coming around to the home stretch, fans would cheer for me, and as their heads turned to follow me down the runway, their cheers of “Go Erin! Go Temecula!” turned into laughs, and points (or I assume they were, but I was obviously looking forward).

This girl had no shame in peeing in front of everyone. It wasn’t even a girly pee. It was coming out strong. What surprises me the most is that she even still had to pee. As she ran by us, you couldn’t help but look at her pants because they were wet; from peeing in them.

Mile 5   split: 7:46   marathon time: 38:45

Running through downtown now, there are more fans out cheering on the streets. This is one of the coolest parts of a marathon. They bring their yells, claps, bells, and best of all, their signs. My favorite sign in this marathon was seen here, in mile 5 of the race, reading:

“Think of all the gas $$ you are saving right now”

Creative really, and best of all it helps you to smile during an intense race and to focus your attention on something else. Also motivating in this mile was a man on a megaphone shouting inspirational words to us. “Great job” “conserve your energy” “calm your breathing” Calm it!? Are you kidding me?? Dot com! How exactly do you do that in a 26 mile race? But apparently this guy knows; according to other racers, he is a motivational life coach with 20,000 followers.

Mile 6   split: 7:46   marathon time: 46:32

By mile 6, I started scaring myself. We were still in the midst of Downtown and my pace was still quite fast. I was afraid I was going to burn out like I did last year, or in the La Jolla Half. This was probably the most doubtful and negative mile, and luckily it did not last for very long. I kept telling myself that I wasn’t going all out, and if it came down to it, I had less than 20 miles to run. Once you get past Downtown, it’s just a loop around the bay. 

Mile 2  split: ~7:23  marathon time: (didn’t clock the split)

While I missed the mile marker amongst the thousands of people around me, I know I somehow managed to run under 7:30 for the second mile. I found myself focusing on the conversations around me, as they were mostly about the different strategies on how to tackle the marathon. My favorite one was that of a conversation between two gentlemen running at what seemed to be their set race pace. They sensed me behind them and parted ways to let me by. As I passed, they were commenting on the large crowds and at one point said “I am a firm believer that the race doesn’t start until mile 20.” I thought about this and wondered how such an idea could be possible. Many arguments came to mind, but mostly I thought, What if mile 20 is too late?

Mile 3   split: ~8:04  marathon time: 23:30

Whether it was the adrenaline from the start of the race or the coffee still working its way through my bloodstream, I had to force myself not to get ahead of myself. I thought of previous races when I or a fellow runner had run too fast because they “felt good.” It is hard to say that without a retrospective doubt ringing through my ears. Sure you feel good three miles into the race, but you keep this up for 23 more miles, you are in for something else. So I pulled back a little bit, and tried to scope out someone that seemed to be at my caliber that might entertain my thoughts, even if we didn’t exchange any words. That distracted me enough through the mile that I began to think how quickly this race was going by… ironic, huh?

The winds were with me that day, as I embarked on the best marathon of my life to date. As discouraged as I was from the La Jolla Half Marathon (stopping twice, finishing slower than I had hoped), I never expected to run as I did. The preparations made for this race had been the same as those of my wild college days; drinking, little sleep, little running. The only difference is that I am in nowhere near as good a shape as back then and that my body can’t handle the same carelessness as before.

Previously that week, I had discussed various components of the race with co-worker Gaia, and the possible effects they could have on our performance. I had also tried as hard as I could to not make a time goal for myself, in order to save any possible joy at the finish line. These race factors included coffee/caffeine beforehand and the fact that I would be celebrating my birthday the day before with an annual Beer Pong tournament. So, as expected, I maintained a buzz until about 10pm and then stayed up until past 3am. Then, getting an hour-and-a-half of sleep, made some coffee and headed for the race…..

… the race of my life (to date). Finishing with a clock time of 3:22:09, I came in 455th place (out of about 16,500), 56th female, and 12th in my age division. And for your reading pleasure, I am going to break up the marathon into miles so that you can all experience a thrilling performance vicariously through mine. Enjoy…

Mile 1  split: 8:05 marathon time: 8:05

Mentally preparing for this race was not done as I typically do… I was mentally preparing for another SD rock and roll defeat. Waking up after my nap (hour and a half sleep) and drinking coffe were the first things. I managed to beat traffic and the porto potty lines. After those, I felt like, maybe I will have a good race? But then quickly diverted any positive thoughts into Stop worrying about it, just run. And so I did. I maintained a steady pace and took in the excitement of other runners around me as I began taking off from corral #3. Just cruise Erin, maintain this- it’s gonna be a long run.

Giving up has never been something to boast about, but it faces us at certain times in our lives and challenges us to either stand up to it and succeed or let it overpower us and mark us with defeat. About one year ago, I faced not my biggest failure, but definitely had some challenges that tried damn hard to make me fail. In the end, I probably did. But now I have a second chance. Even though I am much happier now than I was a year ago, it doesn’t make me feel any more prepared for something like success.

Last year at this time I had just broken up with my boyfriend and was avoiding the task of learning how to move on. We had been on the verge of the outs for an amount of time, so it could be considered an expected event. Learning to be alone though, that is never something that you can prepare for. Training-wise, I not only set my expectations so high, but I set them as if I knew I would fail. I hadn’t trained for the race, thinking that I could run another 3:27 like I did the first time. I guess I didn’t figure in a time prediction that added a minute per pound that I gained since then.

Thinking back to the race not only defeats me, but it puts me right back in the heartbroken and slower spot that I finished the race in. I hung my finisher’s certificate on my wall, forcing me to read it every day; forcing me to remember what I did to deserve that. Sometimes it can pump me up, but mostly it disappoints me.

This year should be different. I have reconciled with boyfriend, and we maintain a strong friendship that should motivate me this year instead of crushing me like last year. I have been training more and more, some mileage increase but mostly intensity. As I prepare to set this year’s expectations, I think back on the mistakes I made last year and how I have changed in order to hopefully avoid the same outcome. I still have my expectations set up for defeat, but with the prior knowledge of it. I don’t learn from all of my defeats, and I don’t always improve or succeed the second time. But I do get to go into it in a better mental and physical state; and that gives me hope.

I stumbled upon this funny blog post on the natural enemies of runners. They are not only funny because they are true, they are just funny. Check out the great post!

Little snippet:

“2. Your Ipod Shuffle

Few things will torpedo your run faster than a bad song coming up on your Shuffle. You’re clicking along at a nice pace feeling good and suddenly “Brick” by Ben Folds Five comes on. Before you can frantically stab at the skip button your gait has slowed, you’re feeling melancholy as hell and you just went to step out into traffic.” (taken from website)

The ambiguity of this blog is set up for a reason. Please be advised and when you see “…” please whisper to yourself that’s what she said… On that note:

The first time is always awkward. And of course, you are never prepared. Everyone knows how it’s going to turn out, and what stories can possibly develop from it. You just want to get in, get out… and see ya later.

I was a little sweaty; mostly hot and bothered though. I had my change of clothes with me; I was here for business- no pleasure. I didn’t exactly pack anything else; I figured it would all work itself out…

When I walked in with my bag, I had to figure out a place to put my stuff. I looked around with my bag, timid and shy, almost giggling to myself to break the silence. I wasn’t quite sure where I was going to place my bag. It’s strategic. Too far away, you have a long time and distance to walk embarrassed back to your stuff. Too close, it gets in the way. You have to be prepared to gather your things if you somehow get walked in on, but it needs to be far enough away that nothing gets “soiled” in the process. I set my bag down, and seriously contemplated if I was even going to go through with this. I felt pretty dirty, but was I that dirty?

I had cold feet, I will admit. Just the thought of my nakedness being so close to my work environment; how would you feel? It is hard to deal with the lack of eye contact you don’t make once back in the office, the constant blushing, the anxiety that you are being talked about at the water cooler when you re not there. It’s hell, and it could be avoided. But, oh the sweat…

First things first, you have to check for cobwebs. You don’t know the last time it was ever used. There could be things crawling around that you forgot about. (When I finished, I found spiders… I know; exacerbates the awkwardness). OK, back to the beginning though. Foreplay. You gotta make sure its set up just right. Bottles are handy, testing the waters to make sure it’s just right…. It won’t be, you know that, right?

Trying to heat things up is NOT a smooth move the first time. It’s all cold and gives you the chills, so you barely want to get wet. You fiddle with the valves but damn it, still cold. You stand there naked, halfway in because it’s not hot enough yet, eff, it’s not even getting warm. Fiddle this, fiddle that… bam! holey moley!! Burn! Somehow the pressure hit just the right spot and yikes! Now it’s too hot. Oh well, it will have to suffice; remember, its business.

Keeping this as clean as possible, I will yadda yadda over some stuff…

The worst part is when you are finished with everything and you think you are gradually cooling down again, lowering the pressure. But remember how it went straight from freezing cold to scalding with no warning? Well, just like that, the cooling off has the same effect, except when you escape the scalding, you get the last bit of pressure released right into your face as you are reaching to turn everything off. You don’t expect it because you are not thinking about it, but one word of advice- close your eyes!
I didn’t have a towel afterwards, so the wetness had to be endured on my body so uncomfortably as I scrambled to find any old thing to wipe off the excess. Then, covering what I could with what I had, I managed to get all my clothes on in record time, as if everyone in the office was watching me. I had no makeup, no brush; it was going to be like the walk of shame all over again. At least this time I could spend the walk back drying off instead of remembering what happened. I had nothing to hide this time. People would see my ruffled hair and smeared makeup… it was going to be talked about. So I packed all my stuff back up, took one last look around to make sure it was as I had come in (save for the cobwebs) and I snuck out; closing the door as gently as I could so as not to disturb anyone. Walking back, I ran my fingers through my hair, thinking it would cover up the evidence. But, it didn’t work with my mom, it wouldn’t work here. I had left my shoes on the entire time and they were all I had, so it made me uncomfortable for the rest of the day having to remember the experience every time I took a step. Next time there won’t be any surprises.

I am in the process of working on a post about my weak moments in my last race, the La Jolla Half Marathon, but until that is done here are a couple of inspiring and tragic stories. The first is about the one and only Ryan Hall. He seems impenetrable, but even he has had weak moments along the way. The second one is the sad story of Ryan Shay. He has inspired all of us, and continues to; this is his wife’s story. Makes anyone proud to be in the running community.

Running after you win the March Madness work bracket pool is like running on thin air. You feel no pain, you are smiling for once in your life, and you feel unstoppable. There is a very different feeling that you get after such a victory; kind of like winning a race, but you aren’t as worn out because you didn’t have to play in the tournament to win.

I ran like I have never run on little sleep and no food energy. It was a great feeling, and the whole time I was motivated because instead of telling myself that I was running to that refreshing Gatorade I was running to a pot of money. Go Kansas!

You don’t have to win to run well. Sometimes all you need is a little confidence and something to distract you. J

This is a story about a woman in Philadelphia who started a running group to get people “back on track.”

 Inspiring, really….and worth a read (that isn’t my blog)…

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/04/02/heroes.mahlum/index.html