Run LBL! Half-Marathon Recap 10/26/19

RunLBL! Half Marathon Recap

I was soaking wet and full of JOY afterward!

Race recaps are fun to relive moments that might get lost as time sweeps brain cells, and also to return to for help with successful training or diet or mental tips. This training cycle was really important to me, as I had to overcome some mental barriers after our third baby and find physical solutions that took courage for risk or newness.

Grand Rivers, KY, is a charming little town; if I write a book, it might be set in this real-life Stars Hollow-esque place. Durbin Race Management is a running company that finds little towns with struggling economies to host races. If a bunch of runners come in for a weekend, the lodging, food, and entertainment businesses get a boost, and families learn of quality places to go together at any time. The October race draws more than 100 people, and their trail runs in March have ~800 runners on trails for various long distances. This was my second October event (the other was 2015). At the end of yesterday’s race, the race manager shook my hand. He asked if I’d ever run the trails in March, and when I said no he told me to email him and he’d like me to come. I think he could see how much fun I had! So I am registered for a trail marathon on March 14. I am so pumped and feel like it’s such.a.gift. It will be more about endurance than speed because it’s a trail event, not road. I read a review that says I’ll have to check my ego at the start, so I think that’ll relieve a lot of pressure I put on myself as I cover 26.2 miles for the first time. I really like the idea of speed in a marathon, but I’m finding myself drawn to ultra marathons because of the nature experience versus big city crowds and hubbub. One race at a time, one appreciative experience for what it is at a time. 

I was SO happy about that dark green running hat. I wear the gray one from four years ago all.the.time because it is so comfortable. Race swag is always fun.

I also take my running health reverently/cautiously/seasonally because I know through the months of training that any sort of injury or health concern could derail my plans. When melanoma stitches thwarted my full marathon training in 2016, it was like an idol came crashing down on top of me. (I read Isaiah 40 and 41 as I journaled before the race, which gets me in the right mindset.) God keeps me really close to Him; I cling to His fingers as I stumble along in my fear and shame, desperate to be free, knowing He’s strengthening me and gently healing me from all my clumsiness and weakness to live with Him everlastingly. Running is a tool for joy and connection to others in my life. God is the one who provides the tool, and He’ll provide the right ones at different seasons. I want to be ready to receive them, whether or not they’re for “my” plans. That’s what’s so hard about life, isn’t it? Accepting gifts in the form of relationships, opportunities, or possessions in the moment, without controlling them or worshipping them at the cost of our opportunity and possession of relationship with our Maker, the One who initiated us and sustains us and continues to build us?

Today, though, I feel really happy with running, and the opportunity I had yesterday and the hopes I have for the future. 

This October half-marathon is half trail/half road, so the terrain makes it a little less speedy than others. I overcame my IT band pain with gua sha muscle scraping in September, and now it’s a part of my regular workout routine. (My last post is about that, and you can Google how elites use it for their recovery.) And then I developed tendinitis in my right foot, but it doesn’t affect my running. Whew. Some of my training had to be lower impact while I worked out those niggles, but to think how I would not have been able to run yesterday if I had not discovered my gua sha tool startled me with happy shock. The healing of inflammation in angry muscles is a lifelong gift for health, athletic or not.

Yesterday’s time was 1:50:06, officially, which is my worst time yet... but I am amazed at the strength and joy and speed I could still garner after the last few years, so I am floating on a happy cloud of thanks for health, will, and strength. 

It was pouring rain the whole time, which was so fun. I read the night before how I should wear as little clothing as possible to prevent chafing, especially no cotton. A lady at the soaked start was wearing a long-sleeved cotton shirt and made a comment about my tank top being too cold for her. I smiled and said I’d warm up pretty quick. I had a lot of lanolin left from newborn breastfeeding days (hahahahaha), so I coated my feet in it, as well as all the other places clothing would rub while I ran. No chafing. Score! The rain gave the advantage of staying cool and not feeling parched, but the disadvantage of being really heavy to carry up 1,000 feet of elevation in all my clothes. I could hear my feet sloshing the whole time, but my feet were never uncomfortable with the lanolin and compression socks protecting them. And when no one was looking I totally held my mouth open to the sky to wet my tongue with God’s drops. A child-like glee.

I started out at a 7:40 pace, which became too fast by the third mile of going uphill. Two women, one 59 and the other 60, passed me then, and they stayed just where I could see them the rest of the way, running side by side as friend. I was SO encouraged that these women passed me. Our culture has instilled a negativity about hopeless decline with age, and I felt so happy people who were going before me in age were going before me in the race. (Look at the picture of the top ten finishers’ ages. And genders. Stop letting negative meanness reinforce bitterness in yourself or others I'm talking to myself here too.) I really wish I could have asked them questions about negative splits and their strategy and history... but I couldn’t find them at the finish because the pouring rain sent people to dry places fast. I kept about an 8:30-9:10 pace for the rest of the miles. I passed a large guy at mile 11, who really impressed me with his speed. He said something snarky that made us both laugh, about me finally passing him after having to hear me pitter-patter for four miles. He’d almost slipped on some random cobblestones at mile 8 that were covered by leaves. He warned me, and I’m glad he did. 

Every race has different pools of people, but the gender and age diversity for the top ten finishers of this little race make me happy for all of us.

The first seven miles of this race are a lot of big up and down hills. Miles 7-9 are rolling trails, my favorite part that I remembered from four years ago and was so happy to experience again. Mile 6.5 had a hugely steep hill before the Moss Creek Campground turnaround that is just as terrifying to go down as it is challenging to go up, so miles 7-9 are such pleasant ones. Miles 10-13 are covering some of those big hills from the start in reverse, and the finish is at the bottom of a nice downhill slope. 

The race management had cheerful volunteers every two to three miles with water, and port-a-potties were spaced along every few miles.  I don’t take in fuel for 13.1 miles, but sometimes I wonder if it would help at the 45-minute to one-hour mark. Maybe I’ll test it out one day. Food and digestion are big parts of my races. My mental and physical health thrive on healthy fats and high fiber grains, fruits, and veggies... but those are recipes for pooping too much on the race course. So the few days before a race I totally change my diet. I eat simple carbs and lean proteins to stock my muscles with energy and recovery. I try not to go hungry or to eat things that would be regrettable on race day. So far, I’ve done well with that. I baked salmon and sweet potatoes for supper the night before, along with homemade white ciabatta bread, to microwave in the hotel room. I ate half a bagel, half a banana, and a Tbs of natural peanut butter for breakfast, two hours before the race started. That has been my go-to breakfast for all my races, as far as I can remember, and it fuels me well with no tummy upsets. As I go into training for a full-marathon distance, I will have to adjust my diet so I can get through workouts without runs to the potty. 

I got a full night of sleep the night before the race, which is unique. My husband and our three boys were going to come with us, because I still breastfeed our toddler, but my husband encouraged me to get some filling solitude (that makes my introverted self so happy)... and then he wouldn’t have to wait in the rain with three little boys while I ran. It worked out well. I really missed them at the finish line, but the quiet stillness the night and morning before were better than any doctor could have ordered. I'm working on weaning our toddler. We both need the sleep and maturation in our bond, and I need the calories as I up my training goals. 

My husband is so supportive, and I feel so thankful to be with him. I’ve known competitive/codependent love... which has good intentions and some comfort, but unhealthy, drained results. Justin’s is supportive love. His makes abundance for us all to share the joy in a balanced way. 

If you're on Instagram, find me @theclaimrunner.

My dear friend Claire moved away two days before this race. Four years ago, she and her family met us at a restaurant after my first half-marathon. Then three years ago she got me those socks for the birthday following my malignant melanoma removal and dubbed me "Flash." She made the sign for a 10K I did earlier this year, and she saved it for me when she cleaned out her house. This was moving day. I am filled with love.