Day 13483, & a sigh...

So, over the last several weeks, I have had to find a way to reconcile things in my head.

This is not to say that I normally don't look for order.  I do enjoy everything being just so.

Again, control freak, remember?

It has been difficult to look at the election, the economy, the world, my place in it, blah blah blah.

And then...

I realized that pretty much everything can be justified by the concept of the yin and yang.

You cannot imagine how freaking excited I was to have a new way of looking at things.

It is always good to have an alternative outlook and, in all honesty, "people are stupid" was beginning to make me a bit depressed, a la Idiocracy...

So, again, I say find a new way to see the world.

I am not one to complain.  Well, I am not one to complain about anything that is really bothering me.  I will go on for days about the small stuff though.  Anyway, business is down.  Not horrible, bad, down.  Just a bit down.

Ebb and flow...

As I had budgeted everything to be "just so" for the new restaurant, there was a certain expectation from the restaurant that already generated income.  Apparently, creating expectations and budgets 2 years in advance does not work.  I thought everything looked pretty keen back in 2006.  Oops.  But, it could be a lot worse, and I am thankful.

What goes up, must come down...

Bush is an idiot and the "rescue plan" was foolish.  And that concludes my political rant.

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction...

And, with this new outlook, I will now tell you about my first 1/2 marathon experience yesterday.  With 24 hours between me and disappointment, I am actually quite pleased with myself.

To remind you, as my post have been infrequent, I have been recovering over the last 2 months from a pretty nasty battle with my left shin.  As a result, I have put plans of the marathon on hold indefinitely.

My diagnosis was shin splints.  My speculation on the cause?  Being in a rush.  I was rushing to train, rushing to work, rushing to stretch.  Rushing to get in 6 miles.  Rushing all the time.  Injury from said neglect and strain.  Basically, stress hurt my leg, but at least it wasn't a stress fracture!

My last long run was on August 9th.  It was 15 miles at a 9:40 pace. I remember it well because it was fantastic.  Everything about it felt great.  No pain, no fatigue.  The next day, no pain.  The next week, pain.  The pain lasted awhile.

After many weeks and many PT sessions, I feel better.  I started running again a month ago.  My longest run has been 7 miles, two weeks ago.  Slow.  But, I had already registered for this 1/2, and I was determined to do it.  How does one train for a Half Marathon in 4 weeks?  They don't.  I decided to rely on muscle memory and good sense.

I took Friday off from running and work.  Got some stuff done, had some beers, went to bed at 8:30.  I actually slept pretty well on the night before race day.  Just one heart attack dream, where I think I was about to die.  Otherwise, all good.  In fact, I only had to get up for nature's call a few times that night, despite my fanatical over-hydration plan.

I got up at 4 am for coffee and cereal.  This is my normal race day routine (only 2 other races, mind you.)  This generally allows for nature to run its course and for me to wake up.  I do not want to run while I still wish I was sleeping.  That isn't me.

Two bowls of Cheerios, two cups of coffee.  I got ready, collected my stuff, ran my checklist off in my head.  All good.  Only one thing left... One thing to do.  And, of course, it wasn't going to happen before I left home.  Oh well, nothing better than a lovely port-a-john experience in the AM...

So, I went to pick up Jerry and Carrie.  She was running with me.  Jerry had failed to register in time and had considered running as a bandit.  He decided against it at the last minute but came along to cheer us on.  This was good because he could hold the keys, camera, etc.

Murfreesboro is about 30 minutes outside of Nashville.  As it was 5 AM on Saturday, there was not  a hint of traffic.  Enjoyed a Cliff Bar and a liter of Smart Water on the drive.  And I tried to finish up my list of to-do's at a gas station before we got to the race.  No luck.  Oh well.

After some stretching, we were rushed over to the start by the PA guy.  So, fresh as daisies, Carrie and I left Jerry to go find a spot in the mob.  They claimed that there were 1700 people registered for the race.  I didn't see them.  I was determined that I was not going blast off from the start at some crazy pace.  So, I wanted to start farther back, as to avoid a trampling.  Carrie was not to into this idea, but she indulged me.

The race was supposed to start at 7.  Based on the rushing us to the starting line, this seemed right.  I am not clear why the gun went off at 7:15, but that's when we started.

I am no running genius.  Just a regular one.  My plan was to finish.  I decided not to bring Garmin along on the race.  I just wore my Polar.  I figured that my heart rate would be my guide.  As they also seemed to be sticklers for the no headphones rule, I had not brought iPod either.  In fact, I had been running sans music all week, as practice.  I do not like running so naked, but I will admit that it seems to help me maintain a steady pace.  

Mile one, 9:45.  Carrie is a dodger.  I was happy in my spot.  I also knew she had bigger goals for this race.  I fell back and let her go on her way.

I hit mile 2 at 20 minutes, mile three at 30 minutes.  I figured that if I could maintain that pace, I could just kick it up a bit towards the end and come in at a sub 10:00 pace.  I even hit the half at 9:58 pace, and I felt fine.  I had a GU around mile 5.  All good.  And then, we hit the highway.  I can't say how long that stretch was, but I can say that it was god awful boring.  It seemed like forever and I think it was also the beginning of the end.  

Somewhere around mile 8, I think I wanted to quit.  Well, mainly, I wanted to stop for a bathroom break.  I also wanted to quit.  I had lost about :30 of my pace at this point and I knew that I would not be able to gain my lost time at the end.  I also decided that I needed a sports drink, but I was saving my PowerAde for the last 3 miles.  I opted for an Accelerade at the water stop.  IT WAS BLUE!  What the fuck am I supposed to do with some nasty ass blue crap.  They said it would be red in the email.  Everyone knows that red is a far better flavor than blue.  So much for that idea.  I had another GU instead.

Then, I stopped.  I must have pee'd for at least a minute and a half.  And, DAMN, did I feel better for it.  Miles 9 and 10 flew by.  I got my second wind.  Or my 7th.  Whatever.

Meanwhile, I had started making up stories about people in my head.  Mainly about the guy who would fly past me every 10 minutes, only to walk later so I would pass by him.  Slow and steady wins the race, right?  Anyway, I wondered what he was doing.  His method seemed awfully odd.  I wondered why all of these people were here.  Me?  No idea why I was there.  I am still not really sure why I am a runner.

Anyway, halfway through mile 12, I walked.  I thought I might just walk to the finish.  Who cares.  My time sucked anyway.  And then I saw him.  I saw the guy from the 4th of July 10K.  The one that kept passing me, but walked up all the hills.  I always caught back up to him when he would have to walk.  We chatted on the 4th about the hills downtown.  He didn't know that route was hilly.  I laughed.  I am not sure if he beat me on the 4th.

So, I saw him in that last mile, walking.  I started "running" again as I passed him.  I confirmed his identity as THAT guy, and spoke of the hilly 4th of July run.  Then I told him that since this route was completely flat, he should be running, not walking, to the finish.  His response: "Yea, but this is a lot longer."

That was all I needed.  I finished at a steady shuffle, all the way to the finish.  And I beat that guy.

Final time: 2:17:20, or 10:29 pace.

89/130 age group

431/647 sex

675/1298 overall

And, yes, I will certainly do it again.  And next time will be a sub 2:00 finish.