5 days out from CRB and Pacing a friend to a PR

Last week was my last hard week of running before a small taper to get my legs feeling fresh for the cooper river bridge run.
Last week more sickies were in the Cunningham house so I had to squeeze the workouts in when I could. Here is last week at a glance:
March 20-26
Monday-rest day. My youngest daughter started running a fever
Tuesday- 5 miles +chest/tris/abs +4 miles at the soccer fields
Wednesday- 8 miles with 5x1600 + 4miles at soccer fields
Thursday- 45 minutes elliptical +bis/shoulders/abs
Friday- 4 easy miles
Saturday- 8.3 miles including 2x5000 (2x5k)
Sunday-rest

Tuesday my youngest daughter was feeling better than she did on Monday. Her fever had stayed down all day so I thought she would turn the corner. When I got back from my oldest daughters soccer practice, her fever came back with vengeance, her head hurt, her throat hurt....It was a long night and her fever would not go down even with medicine.

Wednesday was a busy day.After some rearranging of  my husbands schedule, he was able to get off work early and we were able to get our daughter to the walk in clinic, get the youngest to the ENT and then soccer practice later that night. My youngest daughter tested positive for the flu,and the youngest will be needing tubes in his ears. Good times.
I did have a great workout, the most challenging one of the year so far. 5x1600 with 400m jogs inbetween. I nailed the paces I needed which gave me a boost of confidence that I'll be able to have a good 10k race coming up this weekend. My legs felt very tired and sore that night. An Epsom salt bath was mandatory.

Thursday I snuck in the workout, Friday was easy miles and Saturday was a 5k race thrown in the workout I had planned (2x5k).

I had 2 main reasons for signing up for this 5k.
1) to motivate me to get in a 6.2 mile tempo( like the one I failed at last week) and
2)to pace my friend to a 5k PR

5k recap:
This was a very small local road race that benefits the meals on wheels in our community.

 I had no plans to "race" this 5k, but did plan on using it as part of a tempo run, and to see if I could help Theresa snag a PR.  A small crowd gathers and off we go. I stayed side by side with Theresa the first 2 miles. My sole purpose of the race was to push her the final mile. Once we see the mile 2 marker I get slightly ahead of Theresa and pick the pace up. 2.5 miles in I start talking to her and encourage her that she needs to stay with me. 2.8 miles in I tell her there's just a 400 left and that she better SPRINT to the finish line at mile 3 marker. "You've got a minute left to get a PR, GO!".She actually listened to me!To sum things up, Theresa DID get her PR shes been chasing for a while, and beat her expectations by 5 seconds. I was jumping and squealing around like a school girl while I  think Theresa  was in shock. I was beyond excited for her and seeing her expression on her face when it sunk in that yes she did PR (on a certified course that wasn't long or short and knowing the time would be officially documented) was PRICELESS! We ended up placing 1rst and 2nd overall females btw. We got medals, gift cards to the local fleet feet store and a free road ID voucher.

I used the positive energy from Theresa's PR to get me through the next part of the workout. Another 5k. A couple minutes after I crossed the line with T, I turned right back around and went through the course again. My legs were complete toast and sore still from Wednesdays workout so I focused on negative splitting and keeping the pace faster than first 5k. I succeeded at both. I came home sore and tired, but happy. Then it was off to the soccer fields.....

Sunday was a complete lazy day.

Even Fanci stayed out of mischief.

This upcoming week will be all about getting my legs to feel fresh for this weekend. Lots of stretching, foam rolling, salt baths. Ill probably add in one more speed session this week, but nothing crazy. I want just enough to get a good turnover so I wont feel flat and stale on race day. Is it obvious I want to feel good on race day??

How was your week? Have you ever paced anybody in a race? How do you prepare for a goal race?

I’m linking up with Holly at Hohoruns and Tricia at MississippiPiddlin‘ for their weekly wrap link. Check it out here. I’m also linking up with Courtney of Eat, Pray, Run, DC. You can check those posts out here.

March 13-19-Refocus and getting back to basics

Another busy week IRL...but what else is new?
This past week didn't go like I wanted it to with training. It was one of those weeks where I felt defeated and believed I would never regain any speed ever again. I did 2 5ks and both were my slowest of the year. I tried telling myself that the sickness I had took more out of my body than I expected. *Tried* is the operative word. The one thing I am thankful for, is that a bad week of running is still better than a good day being injured.

Here is how last week went down:
Monday- 40 minutes elliptical plus biceps/shoulders/core
Tuesday-4 miles
Wednesday 5.5 miles including a 5k
Thursday-rest
Friday-4 miles plus chest/triceps/core
Saturday- 7 miles including a 5k
Sunday-rest
The 2 main workouts I did were the races. Wednesday was the first 5k. (Chase the Leprechaun)I went in with zero expectations. I have never raced this course before, knew it usually brought a fast field of runners so I was expecting to jump in, tuck behind some tall people (it was cold and windy!) and see what I could do. In the back of my mind I felt very confident I was still in sub 20 shape. I wanted anything in the 19 range. I make my way to the front of the line to avoid the younger kids trying to chase the leprechaun. Not before a start line selfie with Theresa and John.

Mile 1: I start off and immediately find myself pacing behind a speedster. She is usually at 18 or under for a 5k, but she had her first baby about 9 weeks ago. It was her first race post partum. I stay with her for a little bit, then John passes me. I pick my pace up and stay with him  then surge ahead trying to chase and then stay with a pack of guys. I knew the head wind would start at the turn around point. I see this mile in 6:28. Eh slower than I wanted.

Mile 2: At the turn around point I see that I am 2nd OA female. I pick up my pace and try to see if I couldn't negative split this race. I see this mile in 6:21. I was happy about that and tried to do mental math. I just had to hold steady to stay in the 19 zone.

Mile 3:
That's when the winds pick up. John catches up to me at mile 2. I hang with him for a minute. I try to use him to block the wind but he starts picking up his pace the stronger the wind gets. He pulls ahead. The wind is in my face and I feel my pace drop with every gust.About 2.5 miles in I catch a shadow out of the corner of my eye. Its the speedster who just had a baby. She catches me and we stay together until close to the line. She is very tall, so I tuck in right behind her and tried to use her to block the wind. I don't think she liked me running so close behind her shoulder. She surges, I surge with her and we play that game until the finish line. Right at the mile 3 mark she takes off in a full sprint. I am pissed off that I let her pass me but I finish 7 seconds behind her.
Mile 3-6:38 last 0.15 6:40 pace
I cross at 20:17 (20:04 if 3.1)

I am frustrated with my time but give myself a pass since this was my first race post 2 week sickness. I had a baseline to work with. I ended up finishing before the Leprechaun and won a mug for doing so.
The best part about the race is that I didn't know that overall winners received cash prizes. A "pot of gold" was advertised as the prize, but I honestly thought it would be a bag full of chocolate gold coins.  It was a nice pick me up to see a small, but literal pot of "gold"
$50 cash and 3 gold chocolate coins:

John and Theresa ended up placing in their AG and we even had pit crew support form Larry and Amy

I'm glad they braved the cold and wind to cheer us on!

The worst part about the race was locking my keys in the car before I started my warm up with Theresa. I had to call my husband to drop off the spare key. He showed up right after awards...

I came home to a sick kid-She had come home from school with a headache and when I got home she was feeling worse.

Long night. Thursday rest day

Friday easy miles, Oldest daughter still home from school.

Saturday-No soccer games so I was able to get in another 5k. My intention was to use this race as part of a 6 mile tempo slightly slower than 10k pace. (Oy, even the road to hell is paved with good intentions.)

It was a small local race. I have ran the course before and knew that it was a slow course. Its a weird course, with weird terrain in places and quite a few turns the last half mile. I warm up for almost 2 miles, see my friend Dawn from my sons preschool- it was her first 5k. She has been following the couch to 5k program and lost 30lbs. To say she was feeling awesome is an understatement! I LOVED hearing about her story-everyone has a story and hers was pretty amazing....

I spy a young gal who was also sporting the superman shirt that I was. I knew it would be a battle between the super women based on how she was warming up and doing striders and such.We get to the line, countdown ensues and when the horn blares, young super gal takes off and leads the race the first half mile. I knew she would probably fade a bit so I didn't chase her, I hung back and waited for her to fade then I passed her after mile 1 marker. I see this mile in 6:32. My legs were tired from the previous 5k but I didn't think it was anything I couldn't run through.

I say a few choice words and try to pick up my pace. (I was 12 seconds off my goal pace) There are 5 guys in front of me, I try to chase them down. At the second turn around point I pass a guy ahead of me and zone in on the other guy. I see young supergal isn't that far behind me. I see mile 2 in 6:29. Damn. Still behind pace.

I try to dig deep and gun it for the last mile. I end up catching the guy in front of me, we are in 3rd and 4th place,(I am lead female) he is slowing down, I feel myself slow down and then, close to the 3 mile marker we make a wrong turn. I didn't know we made a wrong turn until I see a couple runners staying on the course we veered off from. We ended up in a parking lot. I say a few more choice words and cut across the parking lots into the grassy areas, a few people see me coming from the grass and trees and I know they think I cut the course. I frantically get back on course and find myself behind the guy I had passed at mile 2. I catch a glimpse of young supergal behind me. I try to give a kick at the end and see the clock at 20:40. My fitbit had the course at 3.17.(glad it wasn't longer!)

Mile 3: 6:38, last 0.17 6:15 pace.

(20:14 if 3.1)

I find the race official and let him know I got lost and that people may say I cut the course. I showed him my fitbit and the longer distance. I went up to congratulate young supergal. She is only in 6th grade and runs track. She used this race as practice since her coach moved her to the 3,000. She finished the course right at 21 on the nose(WOW!!). I chit chat for a couple minutes then go back through the course to tack on another 2-3 miles. I need at or below 6:20 pace. I struggle with this. I feel like I am going at a really hard effort but when I see mile 4 of my tempo at 6:53, I decide to call it day. I see Dawn and walk/jog with her until she finishes (she was 30 seconds faster than her goal time!yay!!) then I go for a mile cool down. I see several CRC members and we hang out until awards. I thought I was going to win a cool prize bag

But I got a cool trophy instead of the gift bag. They were door prizes for the raffle. Oh well. I still earned grand prix points so I couldn't complain!

When I got home I was beating myself up in the worst way possible. Would haves, should haves, could haves, yadda yadda yadda. I was seriously questioning if I would ever get faster this year...and really really doubting how this upcoming goal race will turn out.

BUT a wise man told me to just simply enjoy the process, get away from putting pressure on myself and just get back to the simple basics of running and running just for the love of the sport.

SO I'm heading the wise mans words and am starting this week off feeling refocused and ready to get back to the basics....

I did spend the weekend puppysitting so I was able to get in some much needed puppy cuddles and puppy therapy. I was in puppy heaven!!!

 

Hope all have a happy healthy week ahead!

Did you race this weekend? How do get out of your own head during training or before races?
I’m linking up with Holly at Hohoruns and Tricia at MississippiPiddlin‘ for their weekly wrap link. Check it out here. I’m also linking up with Courtney of Eat, Pray, Run, DC. You can check those posts out here.

Easing back into the saddle,sickies and a snow day!!!

So after 2 weeks of being sick, last week I started feeling somewhat human again and started to slowly ease back into the swing of training.
March 6-12
Monday-rest
Tuesday-30 minutes elliptical+ bis/tris workout +core work
Wednesday-  4 miles including 30 minute HIIT on TM with 12x1 minute sprints with 1 minute recovery jog
Thursday- 4 miles easy+leg workout+core work
Friday- 45 minutes elliptical
Saturday-rest
Sunday- 5 miles including 6x400s

Last week was also pretty hectic one in real life so I had to squeeze the few workouts I did in.
After the half marathon, I took 2 days off to do nothing but rest my legs. Even though I didn't race it, my body felt really sore and tired all over.

Tuesday, busy day but I got in the workout once kids were off to bed. Tuesday night my youngest woke up twice during the night complaining of an earache. I gave him some Tylenol and he went back to sleep.My oldest daughter had an asthma flare up and was needing breathing treatments every 3 hours. No rest for the weary.

Wednesday morning my son woke up feeling fine, no fever, no ear pain so I dropped him off at preschool. (My gut was telling me he was probably starting to get another ear infection)I had a lot of things lined up for the morning- errands and an appointment to get passports with my husband. While I was dropping of paper work and adoption contracts off at the puppies foster moms house, I get a call from my sons preschool. He had thrown up in class so I made a bee line to pick him up ASAP.

When we get home I call his pediatrician to try to get him seen. I know my little guy will be needing to see an ENT to get tubes for his ears.No appointments available that day. I ended up at the walk in clinic to see what was going on. Usually he doesn't vomit with an ear infection. I was thinking something in his equilibrium was off. Sure enough my baby had ANOTHER ear infection but the physician wanted to test him for the flu. And sure enough, by baby tested positive for the flu (type A).  He gets sick again in the Dr. office, we leave from there and go to the pharmacy. They were out of stock of Tamiflu so had to transfer it somewhere else. We get his other meds including liquid zophran to help his nausea and vomiting.
We get home, he gets sick again. He cant keep anything down, not even meds.
My husband was able to get off work a little bit early, get the Tamiflu and he took over puke patrol so I could get in a quick workout. I took the paces easier during the HIIT and it felt good to get a little bit of turnover on my legs!


Thursday my baby was able to keep things down and took his medicine BUT he had an allergic reaction to Tamiflu. He broke out in hives and a rash. Physician told me to discontinue and let the virus run its course. He had the flu vaccine and while it didn't offer immunity, it did shorten the duration. I was able to sneak in a run and workout.


Friday my youngest was still running a fever but feeling much better than the day before. I got in some time on the elliptical. My oldest daughter had another asthma flare up to the point that I didn't think she would be able to play in her soccer tournament over the weekend. She couldn't run at recess during school without having to stop. I gave her the choice of staying home or going just to cheer her teammates on. (I had already paid for the hotel so why not still make the trip if she wanted to). She was really worried she wouldn't be able to play. She thought it would only make her feel worse.  BUT she didn't want to NOT go because she didn't want to let her teammates down,she wanted to play! She was torn, so we agreed that we would travel down there, play the first game and see how she felt. If she couldn't play, she could still be there to support her team and cheer them on. I gave the coach a heads up about the plan, was given the green light  and we packed up our things late Friday night to get ready for a girls weekend.

We left early early on Saturday morning for the 2 hour drive to the fields.It was a good call to go the tournament. 2 of her teammates were sick and couldn't go. My daughter was able to make it through the first day of games without much issue. She had to play defense which was a blessing for the games that were more offensively played (ie she wasn't running full force the entire game like she does when she's playing forward or midfield). She had her inhaler for the sidelines and I packed her nebulizer for between games and night time. She had a GREAT time with all of her friends that night. (being surrounded by nine 11/12 year old girls is very loud btw).
 BUT once we were winding down for bed she had an asthma attack. It was a LONG night to say the least. I didn't think she would be able to play the next day, especially since snow was in the forecast. Thankfully breathing treatments, cough medicine and hot steam in the hotel bathroom did the trick.
I only slept maybe an hour that night. I was a nervous nelly. While I knew her asthma was under control, her attacks are always scary and I always worry afterwards. I may look calm and collected for her sake but inside I'm a mess!
Sunday morning rolled around and we woke up to cold and rain rain and more rain. The fields were about 20 miles from the hotel and all the rain turned to snow on the drive to the fields.

Snow in SC is almost unheard of, and my daughter hasn't seen snow since we moved from Virginia. Most of the girls on her team who grew up in Charleston have never ever seen snow so you can imagine how excited the girls were when they had the chance to actually SEE and play a game in the snow!

They had to change out the white soccer ball for a bright pink one so the girls could see it better

Snow angels! The ref let the girls keep their jackets/hats/gloves on so they wore yellow pennies over their jackets as "uniforms"

This is the same beach umbrella that was set up the day before, to keep the sun away,lol!!

They ended up losing this game which bumped them out of the championship rounds. The girls didn't seem to mind and This was fine by me. I was freezing and wanted to get home! While I really enjoyed watching this game and the girls excitement, I was cold and I was exhausted.

We got home and I took a 2 hour nap. When I woke up I really really didn't feel like running. I had originally planned for  a longer speed work day over the weekend. By the end of the week I was feeling pretty exhausted mentally and physically. I kept things short and sweet and got in 6x400s with 400 recovery jogs in between at a fairly speedy clip. The fastest since before I was sick for 2 weeks.

Now it is onward and upward with training. I'll be getting in as many quality workouts as I can before the Cooper river bridge run 18 days away. I am hoping I can snag a couple PRs before the heat and humidity kick in this spring!!
How was your week? How do you handle getting back on track after a sickness?
I’m linking up with Holly at Hohoruns and Tricia at MississippiPiddlin‘ for their weekly wrap link. Check it out here. I’m also linking up with Courtney of Eat, Pray, Run, DC. You can check those posts out here.

Half marathon recap and WK 11/12 HM training

I couldn't think of an exciting title for this post. "The race that wasn't meant to be","I survived MB and lived to tell about it"??
I was really hoping to have a great race report. I was hoping I would have an epic race since the weather was almost perfect, the course was flat(ish) and fast, and I had trained hard and smart seeing marked improvements with both my speed and endurance.I was confident my training would lead me to a PR. I wanted to hang up a shiny new medal and think to myself, "I EARNED this!"

However......the stars did NOT align, my body revolted against me and I have never been so close to a DNF in my life (or on the verge of being carted off to the medical tent-yeah things got rough to say the least).I debated all weekend if I should even write a post about it at all. But anyone who is a runner/athlete knows that running life is not always sunshine and unicorns. Some runs do not go as expected---- it is inevitable that bad race days happen  despite the best laid out plans and intentions.

So heres how things went down:
Race week I only did one workout due to a really bad cold that kicked my butt. I had 5 days of complete rest and LOADED my body down with cold medicine. I thought I was feeling better on Thursday before the race. I did 3 miles with 4x400s just to get some turnover. My legs felt fresh as daisies and even though I was a little congested, it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. My cough was almost gone and I was feeling pretty good. Friday morning, I was feeling almost normal.My friend Amy (designated driver and the official pit crew) came over to pick me up so we could head down to Myrtle Beach. I made the mistake of loading up on cold meds before we left,and didn't eat much lunch. My stomach told me that was a bad idea. I felt nauseated the entire 2.5 hour drive to MB. I rolled the window down and prayed I wouldn't get sick in Amys car.

Once we get to the expo I feel better. I loved walking around the center and chatting with everyone Amy saw (she knew quite a lot of people at the expo!). I was able to spend too much money on running shirts and a pullover. After the expo it was time to try to find a good place to find a steak dinner that wouldn't break the bank. We ended up going to the Liberty Brewery and Grill. I usually have steak and a potato the night before a race. I was excited to see my dinner when it was set before me. I was starving and needed to eat,and my meal looked SO good!

Looks sure as hell are deceiving. The steak was not cooked how I ordered and did not taste good at all. I ate almost half of it, only because my body needed the nutrition. I hadn't fueled or hydrated well all week due to not feeling good so I knew I needed something with high protein and carbs in my system. We made a Walmart run before going back to the hotel. I got me a sub sandwich and some goldfish crackers as well as smart water. I ate a little debbies snack cake when we got in and tried to eat some goldfish. My stomach was starting to get upset so I didn't eat my sandwich or drink water. I just ate crackers and sipped on sprite. I took some more cold meds, Dramamine, pepto, some Benadryl and melatonin. We wound down by watching The Help and checking in on social media.( I joined Instagram last week. I don't have the hang of it yet and feel like I am so behind the times. I have yet to join FB or snap chat-I've got a bogus twitter account I never except for giveaways. I've got 2 million reasons why I will never join FB, barely having time for a blog is just one,lol!)

While I was nervous about racing in the morning, I was more nervous that I wouldn't be feeling well on race day. My gut told me my body wasn't ready to try to chase a PR, but my mind kept telling me that I would be OK. The TV was off before 11pm, but I was still feeling queasy and light headed. I drift off for just a minute and 12:30am I choke on my own spit and have a coughing attack. I scared Amy half to death but I assured her I wasn't puking or dying. I eventually faded off to sleep around 2am and the wake up call at 5:05AM sucked.

I woke up hoping I would be feeling better but with no such luck. My stomach was still upset and I was still light headed. I am never hungry on race morning but always try to eat something, even if its something small. I only managed to choke down 4 bites of toast and peanut butter and a few sips of diet dr. pepper. I slowly get dressed and ready. John and Brent arrive at our room and Amy drives us to the starting line. I am so glad we didn't take the shuttle bus!

at 6:15 we get out of the car and into the cold (38 at race start).

I give myself a pep talk as we make our way to the start. Ive had some of my best races when I didn't feel like racing, when I was running on little sleep or just didn't think I would do well. I was holding on to hope that this was going to be the best race ever. I go over my re-vised race plan in my mind and tell myself that all I need is a 7:12 pace to PR. If I could go 7:05-7:15 the first half, I could ramp it up to sub 7s the last half and come in around 1:30-1:33.(A goal was 1:30, B goal 1:33.I would be happy with C goal of 1:34:59 so even if I stayed at 7:12 I would be OK)

There weren't any corrals so I jumped in line and just went when the gun went off.

Miles 1-3

7:29,7:03, 7:12

The first mile was slower than I wanted it to be because I got trapped behind a lot of walkers and slower paces. My legs felt really good though! My stomach was feeling off still, but I ignored it and picked up my pace for the second mile. This mile felt effortless on my legs and I was planning to just keep it steady and see mile 3 by 21:30. I wanted to hit the 10k mark by 42 minutes and the 10 mile mark at or under 1:10 and then gut out a 5k and see how fast I could make it to the finish.....

Somewhere between mile 2-3 my body gave me warning signs to stop. My head started to hurt, I became even more nauseated. "I've worked too hard not to race today!" I told myself. "I am so going to have a PR today, I am NOT stopping! I just have to keep myself together..."

I see mile 3 at 7:12 and things went downhill from there. My how quickly things can change in a race!

Miles 4-6

7:27, 7:45,8:21

Between Mile 3and 5 I had to make the hard choice to either stop running and walk back to the start (DNF), or slow down and not have the race  I wanted or expected. I really really REALLY wanted to stop and walk back to the start, get the hotel key and go back to the room. I felt I was about to throw up and pass out at any second and just wanted to be alone. I was scoping the course for trees and bushes in case I needed to puke and was trying to make an escape plan from the course. I knew the course passed by our hotel but didn't know at what point. I kept on the course hoping I could catch a glimpse of anything remotely nearby the hotel or start line.I had every intention to DNF as soon as I made it to a place I felt I could stop and find my own way back to the start. Every mile ticked by at snails pace, I felt myself slow down, I felt my stomach churn,my mouth was parched. My lips were extra dry.I was beating myself up in the worst way. Somewhere around mile 5 or 6 John passes me and he immediately ask if I am ok. I say Not really, but I will be fine! great job, you got this!"(He ran a PR and BQ! yay!!) My heart sinks as I realize I would not be chasing a PR. I worked so hard for nothing! I threw myself a HUGE pity party and I guess I got drunk because my head was spinning, and I thought for sure I was going to be sick. Suddenly  my mantra become "don't throw up, don't pass out, don't stop just keep moving forward!" 

Miles 7-9

8:57,10:24, 10:56,

I see the 10k mark at 46:xx. I start to throw my own pity party again. Somewhere near mile 7,Browen passes me as well as fellow blogger Elizabeth. B asks if I am OK, I say "not really but I'll be fine!"I put on a happy face and say hello to Elizabeth when Bronwen introduces herself. I've been following her blog for a while and I remember sounding like a fan girl saying "Hi! I read your blog!" I hear her and B talk about paces and I knew both were well on their way to  PRs and BQs (which they both landed amazing PRs AND BQs AND AG awards!!! yayyyyy!!!!). My heart sinks deeper in the pit of my stomach. It was going to take FOREVER to make it to the finish line. Somewhere around mile 9 Theresa passes me. Since she's not able to talk during races, I get a shoulder squeeze and a look that says "wth? are you ok?" I give a thumbs up and watch her blaze a fast trail.(She landed a big PR btw!!) I am still on the look out for trees, bushes and an escape route from the course. I see the 1:45 pacer pass me. I feel defeated and I repeat my mantra "don't throw up, don't pass out, keep moving forward". I have a small glimmer of hope I could see a sub 2.

Miles 10-12

11:54, 11:57,12:15

I am starting to feel worse. My head feels fuzzy and dizzy and I start to feel woozy. WTH is going on with me???? If I didn't know I wasn't able to have anymore children, I would say I was pregnant. I didn't feel stomach virus sick, but felt like I could throw up or pass out. Brent passes me somewhere around mile 10 or 11. He asks if I am ok, I say "not really but  I'll be fine, go ahead and go, your doing great!" (this was a break through race for him!)

My feet feel heavy, my head is pounding, my stomach is churning. The 2 hour pacer passes me.I am humbled, I try to think about how pretty Ocean boulevard is but that's not helping. I think about how my friends are probably wondering what happened to me, I hope they weren't worried!(they were).I repeat my mantra "don't throw up, dont pass out, keep moving forward". By this point I am being passed by hundreds of people, and I didn't care. I just wanted to see the finish line and get to the hotel room.

Mile 13-finish

12:45, 12:53 (last 0.15)

This was the longest mile ever. I wanted so desperately to finish but at the same time I didn't want to stop moving because I knew once I stopped, I would face the consequences of running a half marathon I should have skipped. I tried to think positive this last mile, I really did. I was catching conversations from everyone who passed me. I was amazed at how positive and encouraging these runners were. I kept checking my fitbit every second it seemed. 12.2, 12.48,12.62, 12.83 Damn I'm just going to focus on not throwing up, not passing out and keep moving forward.

Finally, Finally! I am in the home stretch, I am shuffling along,not even able to give any type of kick at the line. My legs feel heavy, its hard to focus.I see 2:06 on the clock. I try to smile when I cross the line but I couldn't. I thought I was going to throw up.
(the death march got captured:)

The older lady in front of me was greeted by her entire family and picked up in flurry of squeels and hugs. "you got your PR! you went sub 2:07!!!!!you did it!!!!!" I was immediately happy for her and I tried to say good job to her but my mouth couldn't form the words, I was given a big medal, some really excited photographer told me to hold my medal up and smile! I tried to but i don't think i did. As I make my way through the finish shoot, my head starts spinning. I'm trying to stay upright. Things get fuzzy from here.

After the Race...
I remember seeing Gretta, Larry, Brent and Theresa. I remember hanging my head in shame and trying to explain myself and trying not to cry. I remember grabbing Brents arm and Gretta catching me. Somehow I ended up sitting down in the grass in my sweatshirt and having jackets wrapped around me. I was freezing cold. I remember Larry getting me a coke, Gretta keeping me steady as I say "I'm about to pass out". I don't pass out but felt the black come across my eyes. I willed myself to stay upright and not puke. I remember being asked if I needed to go to the medical tent and Amy saying something about getting a Gator to cart me off to the car. At this point I didn't want to admit I needed help walking to the car. I am SO embarrassed that my friends are seeing me like this.I say I'm fine and try to stand up and walk. Ha!!! I am very thankful for friends who know when I need help. I had my own personal pit crew and in a matter of seconds Operation "get Melissa back to the hotel room as quickly as possible" commenced. The crew was able to pick me up, keep me talking and upright and got me safely to the hotel room. Brent was there for me to literally lean on as I hobbled up the stairs to my room. My pit crew had to leave to get the others and wrap things up before it was time to head back home.

I make a bee line to the bathroom and try to throw up and I cant. I grab some candy and eat it in hopes it would trigger me to puke. It doesn't. I start to feel less nauseated and am able to get a nice long hot shower (the hotel room didn't have a shower curtain). I get dressed and Amy, Brent and I stop to get breakfast at the Carolina Pancake House. Under normal circumstances I would have eaten my weight in pancakes and biscuits and gravy. I was only able to eat some toast and sip on sprite while looking at the food I ordered:

I wasn't even hungry and still felt pukey.I had taken some Dramamine before we hit the road and the ride back home went by quicker than I though it would. My nausea was fading away and while I still felt light headed I didn't feel like I could throw up at any second.....
When I got back home and settled I hung my medal with the others. I HAD EARNED IT, damn it!

Every single step of that race was miserable and I survived it. I did not throw up, I did not pass out, I did not stop and I kept moving forward. I was able to cross the finish line uninjured (albeit sick) and I have the best group of friends who were there for me when I literally (and figuratively) needed shoulders to lean on.
Final thoughts
In hind sight, I should have skipped the race and dragged Amy along to go shopping. I had no business trying to attempt to run a half marathon when my body was obviously sicker than I thought.I should have listened to my gut.I learned this lesson the hard way. Live, learn and move on to bigger and better things that are still waiting out there. The harder you fall, the higher you bounce, right? I've got less than 3 weeks until my next goal race. I am already excited about and have no pressure on myself what so ever. I have only ran 2 10ks in my life so I know that no matter what I run for the 10k, it will be a PR.
In regards to the Myrtle beach race itself: I would recommend this race to anyone who wants a fast, flat(ish) course close to the beach. Despite the race I had, I would run it again. MB, watch out-I will be back for redemption!!!!

So, If you made it through the novel, bless your heart!!! How do you handle races that don't go as planned?
I’m linking up with Holly at Hohoruns and Tricia at MississippiPiddlin‘ for their weekly wrap link. Check it out here. I’m also linking up with Courtney of Eat, Pray, Run, DC. You can check those posts out here.

Oh and since I am behind with the last 2 weeks of training leading up to the race that was not meant to be, here is a recap of that and my thoughts leading to MB.

Feb 27-March 5th
Monday-sick/rest
Tuesday -sick/rest
Wednesday- sick/rest
Thursday- 3 miles with 4x400, feeling a little better
Friday- Travel day, rest, thought I was feeling better
Saturday- 13.15 miles,  NOT feeling better
Sunday-rest, feeling better than race day

Training for feb 20-26th
This was my blog post that I forgot to post

Theres only 3 days left before the goal race....
Last week was yet another balancing act with kids,sports,sickness and life but this is what I managed to get in
Feb 20-26:
Monday-rest
Tuesday-5 miles
Wednesday- 6.5 miles including 5x1200
Thursday-rest
Friday- 10 miles including 8 mile tempo at HMP
Saturday-8 miles easy rest-sick
Sunday-3-4 miles shake out-rest-sick
 At least I got the key workouts that I needed. Wednesdays intervals were hard. I had to skip track due to my husbands late meetings and my daughters late soccer practice. so I did the intervals around my neighborhood. 1 lap around the block equals 0.75miles so I didn't have to do guess work about distance. I was challenged more form a mental perspective than anything. Running in the headwind was good practice for the upcoming race anyways-or so i tell myself.

I had to combine my long run and tempo on Friday. I was going to go for 12 miles with 10 being at tempo pace but 7.8 miles into the run the kids started WWIII between themselves. I tried to let the kids settle things out on their own for 2 miles but I had to jump off the TM by mile 10 to divide and conquer. I started feeling bad immediately afterwards and by bedtime I had developed a sore throat and cough. I felt worse on Saturday morning and don't know how I made through my daughters soccer games. I was in a fog. my head hurt, my ears hurt,my face hurt,my skin hurt....
Sunday morning my oldest son woke up with a high fever and feeling like crud.
I was feeling worse than the day before but I kept myself together to take my daughter and her bff out for her birthday playdate and lunch.

Its now Wednesday and i am 3 days out from the race and i STILL don't feel well. this cold has kicked my butt and kicked it HARD! i usually don't get colds/upper respiratory infections/sinus infections but man when i do i guess i get a double whammy or something. I am now having serious doubts i will cross the finish line with the time i want to see on the clock.
however, i am still not giving up hope that i will make a full recovery and total crush the course and land a shiny new PR!
the weather should be perfect on race day, the course is flat and fast, i have had a good training cycle without injury-all i need now is to be HEALTHY on race day and not feel like death warmed over!!!!
Someone please tell the running gods i need a tiny miracle!!!
..............................................................................................................