The last long run before the big marathon

I did my 24 mile this morning. It's my last big run before the big marathon. I was so anxious to get it under my belt even though I've been sick this past week. My supercalifragilisticexpealidocious cousin was in town and took me and my parents for dinner at Buca di Beppo for a huge carb loading dinner. I got home ready to jump in bed early 9pm to get up for the early 6am run. It was so cool getting ready early this morning while the whole town is still sleeping. I shoved a bagel down and went to check the weather one last time before running out the door. It read that the temps would be from 35-40 during my morning run, which I was dressed and ready for. It also stated that there was huge heavy fog. NOOO! That goes against the route plan that I had for starting in the wooded trails. I quickly had a flash of the opening scenes from Silence of the Lambs where Jodie Foster is running on a wooded trail in the fog. I instantly got the chills and decided to take the access roads of hwy. 121 first and then hit the trails when, hopefully, the fog dissipates and the sun is up some...and the psychos are tucked away nicely in their beds from staying up all night waiting for early morning joggers to pounce on. =) Well, it could happen.
I load my fuel belt with a full packet of kleenex for my still congested nose, 5 packets of GU, water and my ipod. I strap on my Garmin and hit the road.
I hadn't ran in 5 days because of being so sick. I missed the road and the road missed me. I felt like Seabiscuit getting back on the track after nearly being put down and considered lame. I truly love running. The things that are most important to me: 1st- my family, 2nd-punk rock and running is sharing the same seat with punk rock.
Mile 2 I gotta pee. There isn't a porta-john around but I know of a really big bush just in front of a back fence near the opening of a trail that's perfect for jumping behind and popping a squat. I know where all the porta-johns are within a 20 mile radius of my house. Hey, ya never know. I succeed with ease and am back on the road. I then start to think that there is a possibility that I may need to go #2 somewhere along this run. I thought I worked everything out before I headed out. But I'm starting to think that choosing the lasagna last night may of been a bad call. Or was it that tiny bit of Caesar Salad? Anyhow, the #2 was in my thoughts. Well, no big deal, I'll just hit a porta-john if that happens. But what if there isn't any tp? A lot of those johns aren't stocked well with tp. Well, I've got my full packet of kleenex. But then what will I use to blow my congested nose with? Oh, you'll figure it out, Wendy.
That's a little taste of the mind banter that I do when I'm on my long runs. It helps pass the time and keep my mind busy so it doesn't wander off to pain in my body.

And speaking of pain. Around mile 5 I start to get a really bad cramp in my calf muscle of my left leg. The kind that feels like an ice pick being shoved into it. I step off real quick to lean on a fence for stretching and try to work it out some with my hands. I run off and it's still hurting just as bad. No, I will not have this, whatsoever. I then remember my mind over body skills. Ah yes, this once weak running grasshoppah is no longer. She is now mastah mind runner. I start to think of things other than my pain and it quickly fades.
Mile 7...hello #2. Yep, I gotta go and it doesn't want to wait. I'm very relieved to know that there is a porta-john around 200 yards up the trail and it couldn't be coming up at a better time than now. I jog up to see the construction site off the trail where the porta-john is and...it's not there. WHAT??? I know there was one here. I've used it before. Why would they take it away? It looks like they are still doing construction around here. UGGGHH! This means I have to go off trail, just into the bushes to do my bidnez. I do not want to do this because there isn't really any leaves on any of the trees or bushes to hide me. At least I'm wearing dark clothing so hopefully I'll be somewhat camouflaged. And I really have no choice. Besides, it's getting tired of knocking and will be opening the door soon. There isn't anyone on the trail. It's barely 7am and still real foggy. I can pull this off. I sneak into the woods and find as much of a place of coverage for my ass, point it into the woods so I can be facing the trail in case a human approaches or passes, and proceed. Thank God for those kleenex. As I'm going from squatting up to a standing position to pull up me knickers, I notice through the trees and on the trail about 20-30 yards away a very portly fellow with a very portly corgi dog. I hurry and pull everything up and walk out of the clearing as if I was just coming from the woods onto the trail from having a nice run through dead trees and marsh. Yea, like that's believable. I'll tie the pants up and put things in its place once I pass this guy. As I get back on the trail I notice he's leaning down towards the ground as if he's looking for something that has dropped or like he lost something. Okay, I'm going to go ahead and say that it's safe to assume this guy saw some of the action in the woods. Or at least saw a glimpse of "the beave." I think, from looking at his expression and body language, that he felt embarrassed for me and didn't want me to think that he did see me, so he decided to not make eye contact and start acting like he's looking for something as if he never saw a thing. I had a second of a thought that he may possibly try to start something. I mean it is super early and there is no one out here...WHAT??? Wendy, seriously now. 1. You just took a dump in the woods. How attractive can that be? 2. The guy is pushing 250-275 and that corgi is no greyhound. He'd never catch me even if he wanted to. Okay, it doesn't matter anymore because you've been running for awhile now and have already passed him.
I get around a turn, tie up my pants, put everything back in order as it should be and have a nice little laugh to myself. I'm now in the heart of the trails. I love these trails. It's a huge nature trail with markers everywhere, showing what type of tree is what and markers stating what animals to look out for. I think all together the trails total about 7 miles. When I first had Dillon I would jog these trails with him in my baby jogger. He loved it and I loved it. He was my jogging buddy, pointing out all sorts of animals and plants on the trail. We've seen a huge ass snake crossing our path together on these trails, a turtle...or tortoise the size of an ottoman on these trails. It's just super crazy cool.
This morning I saw at least 4 cardinals. They were gorgeous. Especially this time of year when there really isn't any color to the trails. It's all browns and everything is dead. All the leaves have fallen and died. The grass is dead. So to see any color through miles of brown, is a surprise. And the cardinals are no exception. I also saw a bush with very vibrant red berries. With that being the only color, it almost looked like the "burning bush."
Mile 15 I had to run off trail again under a bridge to pop a squat. I think these construction workers are getting wise to me and are offended of the fact that I'm using their facilities. So now they've moved them all to other areas that I know not of. Bastards.
I really didn't feel bad for the whole run. My legs were getting sore at the 23 mile mark. That's when I stepped it up in pace. I pretty much kept a 9-10 min. mile pace for the majority of the run. But at 22 mile I tried to pick up the pace a bit and kept it at around 8-8:30 mile pace.
I got home to Mr. S and his brother in the kitchen greeting me. The first thing that came out of Mr. S' mouth was, "You wanna ice bath?" You know it. I grabbed the whole tub of ice from the ice maker, stripped down, turned on the cold water and dumped it all in. Mr. S came in for support. He's good like that. If it was just me in there, I'd just stand there staring at the ice water and never get in. Before getting in, I informed Sean's brother that he will hear screaming but to not be worried. I jumped in up to the waist and sat there for 2 solid minutes. That doesn't sound like very long. But when you're to your waist in ice water, 2 min. is a long time. After that, I did my long hot shower and Mr. S made me french toast.
And all was well.
Later that day I went over to my mom's for a few glasses of wine and more food. Afterward, we did some shopping and then I met T-bone at the mall for an hour. The walking really helped work out my calf muscles. But now my legs hurt pretty bad. In fact, it hurts just to walk. Other than that, I feel superb!
So I think I'm ready for my big day. Only 2.2 more miles than what I did today. I'm kind of disappointed with my time. I was really hoping to hit the full marathon with a 4 hour time mark. But given today with my pit stops and all, I'm not sure if I'll make that. I'm thinking of a more realistic time of 4:15 for the marathon.
My time today was 3:54 with an average pace of 9:46 a mile. Oh, and according to my Garmin 205, I burned 2046 calories. WOA! That's awesome. Well, that helps out for the bagel before the run, the 2 french toast after the run, the 2 glasses of wine, lasagna and fettuccine at my mom's and 2 pieces of pizza dipped in garlic sauce at home. I got on the scale earlier and I had actually lost a pound even after eating all those carbs. After this marathon I don't think I will want to see a bagel or a noodle for quite some time.

I got my eye on you, Cowtown. I'm so ready for you and you will not take this girl.

Boxing while training for this marathon

For the past 3 years I've been boxing 3x a week. It really has helped me incorporate core strength, endurance and toning in my running. Since I started my marathon training I've had to cut back some. When I have a long/hard week(40+mpw) I try to save all that energy for my run. I don't want to burn out and not have enough energy to get me through my 15+ miles.
Well, It had been about a week since I went to a class. I went last night thinking that I would die from not going so regularly. I was way wrong and am now starting to think that my running has also helped me in my boxing. I had so much energy in my class last night. More so than I've had in a while. Maybe I should re-think all of that and start going as regularly as I used to.

My 20 mile adventure

I have been jog journalling since I started my marathon training. Once I figure out how to transfer it here, I will.
This is my latest report on my latest long run. It's lengthy and graphic.
Dec.10, 2007
THE 20 MILE ADVENTURE!!!
The White Rock Lake Marathon was yesterday. And my first 20 mile was yesterday!! I woke up to 40 degree temps, 10-20 mile winds and constant rain. I went through the checklist in my head of everything I needed for the long haul and was out the door. Shit, I forgot gloves. By mile 4 I couldn't feel my hands. It felt like freezing needles stabbing me all over my hands. I tried sticking them in my sleeves but it made it impossible to move my arms. Shortly thereafter I noticed my husband pass me and gave me the "power fist." It's his signature move now. =) I waved him down and yelled for him to run to the store and get me gloves. And he was johnny on the spot. After he rode off, my mp3 shorted out and broke. I was so pissed that I ripped it off my arm and launched it out into bushes on the side of the road. I was so pissed because that meant that for the next 2 hours I needed to come up with songs to sing on my own to keep my mind occupied. The rain was so intense and the downpour was heavy. Every inch of clothing and every part of my body was freezing and drenched in rain. I'm slowly building up a good running wardrobe and I didn't think I'd need any cool weather tights for awhile. Especially living in Texas, the weather hasn't been that bad. The Nike pants that I wore didn't handle the job and were for sure not water resistant. My mid section, arms and face were the only things that were somewhat thawed. At mile 10 I had to pee so bad but there was really no place for me to go and I didn't want to stop. I made a quick decision and am still happy with the decision that I made. My clothes and pants are dripping wet, it's overcast and pouring down cold rain. Just go, Wendy. And I did. And I felt the warmest for those 2 minutes than I did on my whole 20 miles. If you are ever in a jam and it's cold and your clothes are already wet...travel tip: Just GO!! And I felt pretty hardcore after that and instantly started thinking of Iggy. Oh Iggy, how I love you. Then I had to break out with singing Search and Destroy. But, its heavy, "I'm freezing" breathes in between like, "I'm a...*puff puff* street walking cheetah...*puff puff* with a hand full of...*puff puff* napalm." You get the jist.
At mile 12, a water and gu spot, Mr. S (husband) hussles beside me and magically another set of gloves appear in his hands. He tells me to hand me the ones that I have on. I don't know what I mumbled to him. It was something like "No no I'm fine. I don't want to mess with it." I obviously didn't get what he was trying to tell me so he instantly barked instructions that were to the point. "Wendy, take off those drenched cold gloves and put these dry ones on that I've had on the heater vent of the car!" I quickly mustered them off and mumbled to him about me peeing on myself. I don't think he thought I was telling the truth then. He probably thought I was talking crazy. So, I tried to hand the gloves to him while running and him running along side me. As I'm trying to hand him the gloves he tells me to just drop them to the ground and he'll get them when I've jogged off. Those warm, dry gloves felt so good. But, It took me about 5 minutes to put them on because my hands were so stiff and cold. I barely had feeling in them. Mile 15 I met up with Mr. S again and told him I had to pee again. I ran off the road to trees and bushes and back that thang up and popped a squat. Mr. S quickly yanked the car around and positioned it just in front of me so cars wouldn't see me. He's a sweetie. Then I'm off again. Still completely soaked and so cold. I then remember the marathon that over 4,000 people are running. They're out there in this too, Wendy. And they're doing 6 more miles than you. Suck it up and keep going.
Mile 18...I'm getting a little coo coo with the weather. I start trying to think of songs I know all the words to. Andy Williams Holdiay Season/Happy Holidays was the only one that came to my head. I sang that over and over for the last 2 miles and at the finish line...there was no one. I was crazy pissed. I waited there for awhile then realized that I needed to keep my legs moving so they don't completely tighten up on me. My calf muscles were that sharp, quick pinch. I start walking back home and see Mr.S approaching. He pulls to the side and I honestly don't know what I was yelling at him. I just remember him and my son looking at me with huge saucer eyes, and then I told him I'm walking back home (which was only like a half a mile away). I start walking and he's driving along side yelling for me to get in the car. I just shouted back asking what the time was. He told me and it wasn't what I wanted to hear. I keep walking and just start bawling...boo hooing. I don't know if it was because of the time or because I was so numb and cold. I shuffle back to the house all cold. It felt like the walk of shame. Mrs. S runs up to me sweetly saying he's proud of me and pulls me into the bathroom. I sit down on the side of the tub and finally start to realize how frozen I am. He helps me get my shoes off and I just fall on him bawling telling him how sorry I am for yelling at him and how awesome he is to be there to help me. He helps me get out of my wet clothes and my whole body is red...like an apple. I thawed off in the hot shower for about a half an hour and then ate a huge bowl of pasta and diced tomatoes...
And all was well. The storm is over; the one with myself, and the one outside myself. I did it. I'm alive. No major pain aside from aching calves. I wanted to go at the most 10 minute mile pace finishing in 3:20. I was close. My pace was like 10 minutes and 15 seconds with a total time of 3:25. I think that not having the right pants on really did it for me. And 2 other potty stops plus the weather slowed me down a bit. I know, excuses. Hey, it was my first 20 miler. I didn't give up. I didn't stop. And I can't wait to do it again.