Well I’ve been thinking about what I could say to sum up what I feel about this experience. I could go on and on about how wonderful it was being a Road Warrior!! It really was wonderful. First, thank you Kristen, Brooke, and coach Terry & Mike!!! You have always said the right words to keep me going. I appreciate that so much. mTT is a beautiful organization. Please keep them in our hearts and prayers! Ron you are a voice for so many people, thank you for doing all that you do. I will always try my best with mTT. A huge blessing I’m walking away with is I can put myself out there and somehow achieve a goal. This made me realize I am a strong person and I can overcome a surgery, and that I can have back my hobby that allows me to leave my worries behind…..at least for a few miles. My life is fuller because I’ve had this experience. I will remember 2009 race forever, and I will count my blessings more now then ever before. I have to say thank you to my entire being, Olivia & Matthew Blitchok. The two people I live for and love the most. Matthew has Autism and can not speak, and he has a different life. I feel very fortunate for this short time that I could put Autism out there. So many people do not know what autism is. Let me tell you. Autism is neurological disorder that affects the functioning of the brain. Autism is a wide spectrum. Some are high functioning, and some are low functioning. Unfortunately, Matthew is low functioning. Autism is not a mental illness, children with autism are not unruly kids who chose not to behave, autism is not caused by anything but God’s will. If I look really hard, it’s a blessing in it’s own way. It is what it is. So please, if you see someone who acts different, please don’t treat them different. Smile! They are a person, who feels just like you and me. Ok…..back to running. lol. Also, thank you Lance Wilson who finished a SUB 2 HOURS!!!!!! Way to go. See I can be on time for a race!! Thank you for thinking of me, and believing in me. You are my rock. Everyone has been inspiring me since our first meeting. I hope everyone now knows, no matter what you have in your life, TRY and you can achieve your goal just like Brian, Dan, Dell, Gail, Jill, Mike, Nancy, Ravin, and T.J. I love you all. Rock on!!
I was active last week, umpiring 3 lacrosse games in 2 days but it took a week do run my first actaul run. We did around 8 or 9 miles easy, at least it was supposed to be. It was too bad but my calves are noticeable sore and did start to cramp up a bit. Now I am amazed at my 2007 Cleveland Marathon result. It was 8 days after the 5/3 run and I can’t even imagine running a marathon tomorrow., I have one next week that I am a little worried that I won’t be 100% for.
I was given some advice to ice the calves a little to help alleviate some cramping. This was the problem I had in Cleveland, I am surprised I made it to mile 21 before real trouble hit.
The post race high has worn off and now it is back to real life but the lessons learned, whether it was your first race or 5th or 25th, will stay with you forever. It is the mental strength that was learned or reinforced that will be of most value.
Quote of the day: “It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. Ot is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.” - Mahantma Ghandi
No one panic, the hills didn’t kill me. I guess I just ran so far I fell off the map!
This whole experience has been amazing. I really have learned so much from the RW and RG groups. While running the 5/3rd Riverbank Run I compiled a list of things I was grateful for- the first being Michigan weather for shorting out my Ipod in the first two minutes of the race and making the endless list possible- but in the excitement and exhaustion that followed the run I have completely forgotten pretty much all of them. Except for Pilar calling me gorgeous with my sopping feet, Gatorade soaked shirt, and Bozo-the-Clown frizzy hair. That may be something I tell my grandchildren.
Let’s just assume that I am thankful for everything and everyone, since I wouldn’t have been able to run the full 15.5 if it weren’t for all of your suggestions, support, and smart-a@$ comments. You know who you are…
I’m not planning for a marathon (unless someone wants to give me a piggy-back ride for 26.1 miles), so right now I am wondering- what next? Lately I can be found at the gym or driving home and staring longingly at the runners.
My feet are still kind of swollen from the race and my toes are bruised (say good-bye to my big-toenails) and covered in blisters from wet shoes. I sure did step into one of those giant swimming pools in the middle of the run. But eventually I am going to have to run again. Perhaps I should start training for next years 25K now…
I also want to apologize for passing out at the finish line and forcing my boyfriend to carry me home for a nap. I hear the after party was where it was at!
I can’t believe we’re done training. The River Bank Run 25k just came and went in a flash. All of my training, all of the support and encouragement I received, and all of my desire to break two hours came into reality after 1:57:18 of running on a rainy, energy-filled Saturday morning.
The morning of the run I was so nervous that I could hardly eat my breakfast. The anxiety made my tummy feel “out of order”. It didn’t want to be bothered with anything…not even food. I choked down a little food and ran out the door to head over to the event with my friend Theresa. Once I got to Devos Hall, I couldn’t find the RW room. I looked and looked. Eventually I got a hold of TJ and he got me pointed into the right direction. Once I got to our room, I was so flustered and having so much anxiety that I couldn’t sit still. I was obsessing over how straight my bib was pinned to my shirt. Then I tried to put my D-band on my shoe and had an adhesive malfunction. Luckily there was an engineer and an “adhesive specialist” in the room. They concocted a fix for it but I was still freaking out a little.
My anxiety stayed with me well into the first half of the race. Eventually, the fear and rushing thoughts drifted away as I got into the “zone”. Being in the zone (focused, determined, whatever you want to call it) is how I get through tough runs. When giving up isn’t an option, I sort of “check out” from my surroundings. Things, people, noises, and how my body feels drift away and become barely noticeable. When I’m in the zone, I don’t need headphones, or a coach, or anyone or anything else because it’s just me; in my world…everything melts away. Those are the “good miles”. Those are the miles where you run up hills and don’t notice it, where you pass certain areas and later don’t remember passing them. It’s when people say that they saw you and cheered for you but you didn’t see/hear them. I don’t know how to explain it any better than that.
Next stop, the WALL. Hitting the wall happens just as easily and abruptly as getting into the zone. If you’re not a runner, hitting the wall (to me) is when you can’t deny how your body feels anymore. You start to notice everything: the gravel in the road, the people running near you, the next hill, the next aid station, the next mile marker, spectators. It’s like having a bright light turned on while taking a cozy nap in a dark room. YANK! And you’re out. All of a sudden you have to deal with what you’ve been doing to your body for the last (insert number of miles here). At River Bank, I hit the wall at about the 13 mile point. The wall isn’t anything to mess around with. It’s when you have to take every positive thought you can gather, every word of encouragement you hear or have been told, and your desire and you wad it up into a big ball of willpower and hang on to it for dear life! You can’t do that if you don’t “want it”. When I hit the wall, I had to really focus on how much I wanted it. For me, the “it” was breaking two hours at the finish line. It was tough. But I did it. Don’t ask me how, though!
I was so incredibly lucky to have some major support from my coach, Mike Dopke, through out the race. While running that pace was a walk in the park for him, it was one of my biggest running challenges ever. Strangely, enough though, whoever those 3 other guys were that we ran the last few miles with encouraged me just as much as anyone else. We needed each other at that point. Mike was there, and he helped, but those other guys were struggling just like I was and the camaraderie it created put a lighter step in my feet. So, whoever you guys were, thank you!
And Mike, I think we’re even now. I gave you Boston…you gave me River Bank.
Upcoming:
Bayshore Half Marathon: I’m going to take it easy and just see what happens. I love those kinds of races – no anxiety!
Chicago Marathon: 3:20 is the goal. Seems unfathomable right now.
Saturday was a Grand day for the Road Warriors and the Road Warrior program with team members meeting their goals, often exceeding them with PRs. I didn’t get to see Jill, Raven, or Dell after the race. Belated “Congratulations and well done!” Gail, Brian, Nancy, TJ, Pilar, Mike and Terry, we celebrated and partied. The post-race glow lingers still.
It’s amazing now much has come from when, six months ago, I submitted a few lines to become a Road Warrior. I have been incredibly lucky. I’m trimmer, fitter, more upbeat than I have been for a long time, a smarter more up-to- date distance runner. I am thankful for the friends on the team and the good people in RunGazelle, the supportive coaching—Thanks so much, Mike, Terry and Woj! Special thanks to Kristen and Brooke and others in the Road Warrior program for taking a chance on a senior citizen from out of town! You got me up and out of the retiree cocoon. It has been life changing, life enhancing.
As for the 25K itself: regrets and the sub-conscious. My two worries before the race were being able to finish and avoiding severe cramping in the last part of the race, the demons I brought with me into the program. Would the two fourteen-mile and the one sixteen-mile training runs that I missed get their revenge? Should I run a conservative race, running relaxed and taking time at some aid stations rather than running through? Or should I be bolder and go out with Nancy and TJ who had better prep and higher goals? As we left for the starting line, I was ready to go with Nancy and TJ. But in the crush at the starting line, we got separated, and I ended with the nine-minute pace setters. Was that what I really wanted, a sub-conscious strategy? I could certainly have pushed early on and caught up Nancy and TJ but didn’t try. Ah, those nasty “should haves” we runners always have. I am glad Nancy and TJ exceeded their goals, and in the end I did “all right” as well.
Today I watched the Michigan Runner video of the race. Catch it if you can. Wow, were we wet! Which reminds me. When I was coming down the last hill on Butterworth and rivulets flowed across the pavement and puddles had to be run through or dodged, I passed a deep ditch on my left almost overflowing with water. That was not particularly unusual except that I heard for a moment the deep bass “ha-rummp, ha-rummp” of a happy bullfrog. It made me smile, and I spent the next minutes of the race wondering what he was trying to tell me.
