BMW Marathon Journey Cont. Part 5

The last blog I wrote I had just finished the 10k in beautiful Waco, Texas.

I am almost to the main event. I will tell you about the half marathon prep to the main event.

It is November by now. I am still keeping up with my training. I run intervals on Tuesday and run 5-7 miles on Thursday and long run of 9 miles on Sunday. I picked Sunday to run because of all the classes I teach during the week and need Saturday to catch up on sleep and just rest.

I am still keeping up with my much needed massages. They are doing wonders for my muscles.

I had found a local event to run. It happens to fall on the week before Thanksgiving. On this day, the wind was at 22 mph and a cold front had moved in the area. I totally did not want to run this. It was up by the lake which you know makes it a lot cooler than running in a neighborhood. Now, I did not know what to expect on this run. I knew of the area and actually had friends who lived over by the lake. In a vehicle you just do not realize the incline grade the road has. Running across the damn was brutal.

All the runners were warming up and I mean doing whatever they could to stay warm, some of them were just waiting in the vehicles until it was time to line up. I mean the dedicated runners too.

I had to get my mind right on this day. I totally did not want to run but if I wanted to at least finish my marathon, it was a must do.

I started with my friend, and we headed out on a pretty good pace. I had my salt tablets and my gel.

I felt really good running this pace, then all of a sudden, I had PTSD as soon as I rounded the corner. Here we go up a hill and from then on it did not stop. I thought to myself, you have got to be kidding me. I actually still stayed in it. The good part I guess you could say was the wind was behind us. I felt like I was always going uphill. Chalk this up to a great hill training workout.

I finally get to the turnaround point. I saw my friend just ahead of me. I thought where she is going. The turnaround sign was right there. For someone who is always looking down, how in the world did she miss it.

I got a little Gatorade which really tasted nasty. It was time to start running back to the damn.

OMG, that wind had picked up and it was brutally cold. At this point I could not tell if my feet were just cold and numb or if they were just numb. I have been having trouble with my feet going numb. I had to get a handle on this before the big marathon race.

I made it back to the damn, now if I can just pick up the pace a little. My legs, feet, and my face were just frozen. How the heck is my body still moving? I feel like I am going to fall on my face. It’s just totally amazing how your mind works, and your body just follows.

Across the finish I went. My friend of course had crossed way before me. She is quite a bit faster than me and of course she has been running a lot longer than me. Luckily for me, she was waiting for me. I had to keep walking because I did not want the cramping to start. My hubby was waiting for me as well.

Both my friend and my husband walked with me. Finally, not to long afterwards, I was ready to get in the truck. I made it without cramping. Thank goodness for the salt tablets. I am telling you they are life savers. I finished in a pretty good time. I am so glad I did it. It was brutal and I will always remember this race. I forgot to mention I do not do cold. I spent way too long in Alaska to like any type of cold.

Next week will be the final week for my BMW marathon. So come back.