Not-so Sweet 16

Oh dear, where shall I begin? I'm almost too exhausted to actually post this. In fact, I'd like to pretend it never happened. But, in an effort to examine why and why not things went wrong today. Sigh.

Well things started out alright actually. I woke up at 4:30 AM, a little tired (damn you, Olympics), but feeling good overall. Definitely felt ready to churn out 16 long ones. I was also ready to try out the vanilla bean Gu that I'd been given at the Palos Heights Half-Marathon back in May. So, I ate my Cliff bar and drank a liter of water whilst watching race highlights from the Chicago Marathon. I was ready to go!

As soon as I stepped outside though, things started to feel a little off. It was incredibly humid, and it was only 5:30 AM. But you know, the temperature itself wasn't too bad, and I had high hopes that it would remain cool out, due to the impending storm. Things were unfortunately not going to go my way.

We all met in the park by the statue of Ben and got ready to head out. For us to do 16 miles, we'd have to run South from the North Ave. bridge to right before the Shedd Aquarium (the 9.5 mile marker on the path, for all of you Chicagoans out there. then run North to Crickett Hill (just past Montrose) before returning to North Ave. I had a good plan: break it up into 4 mile increments. It was only 4 miles till the Shedd and then only 4 miles till the North Ave. beach house, etc. Definitely manageable, and I've done it before.

Things were going fairly well for a while. We even had a laugh at some insane cyclist who was yelling at runners to get out of the way. But, it was getting hotter by the minute, and there's very little shade on the path between Randolph and the North Ave. Beach house. But I still was feeling okay. We saw Coach Jenny at the beach house, who reminded everyone to slow down and not get discouraged because the weather was not good. We made it over the bridge and were on our way North when I started to notice something wasn't right. I was getting a little dizzy and I started to feel stuff cramping up. I made it to Diversey when a few people started to say that they weren't feeling well, that they wanted to slow down or stop and turn around. I tried to soldier on, but once we hit Belmont, or the 10 mile mark of our run, I had to stop. I was about to turn around when Cory, another girl from my 10:30 group who had dropped back earlier, caught up to me with none other than Coach Jenny. Naturally, they were concerned and I started crying.

It was a really difficult, emotional moment. Some thoughts running through my head were:
1. Whhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhy did this happen?
2. How am I going to do 18 miles in two weeks?
3. I guess my time goals should go out the window.
4. I guess I haven't improved at all really.
5. This is embarrassing

Jenny reminded me that the weather was affecting everyone. Everyone was slowing down and some people weren't finishing at all. She suggested that Cory and I walk for a little while together, then start running again until we feel our breathing becoming too heavy, then walk again, etc. So we did. Cory and I managed to maintain about an 11 minute pace the whole time walked a little less than a mile in total. Along the way, we noticed other runners walking. My buddy Claire, who is an experienced runner and pacer, didn't even go the total 16 miles. I believe she turned around at mile 9. So we finally made it back to the North Ave. bridge, where Coach Jenny was waiting for us, and congratulating us on being able to finish the entire 16 miles, albeit a little more slowly than anticipated.

I'm glad I didn't turn around early, but I feel bad either way! I wasn't able to maintain my pace, despite my best efforts. What if the weather's like it was last year? What if I'm not able to finish or it takes me even longer than it took me to finish Dublin? I'd had so many good runs this weeks and my long runs have gone really well overall. I just...don't know and I'm feeling a bit discouraged.

I made it back to my apartment finally, where I cried on the phone to my dad. I ate a half of a bagel with some organic peanut butter and honey.

Whoa...it just started pouring outside. It still feels like I'm wearing my hat.

Back to the post...So I put my legs up on a chair and laid on the floor whilst icing my knees. Eventually, I made it to the shower before doing the legs against the wall thing. I definitely fell asleep on the floor. Luckily I woke up before my roomie made it home.

I also got the most bizarre blister ever...on the bottom of my middle toe! Gross, and not conducive to heels whatsoever.

Alrighty, I'm sure I'll reflect on my shitty run for the rest of the day, but I need to walk (ooooohhhh the agony) to Binny's to get some booze for the wine party this evening. I also have to figure out how to get to and from said wine party. Tomorrow, I plan on sobering up and grocery shopping.