Meet My Boyfriend: Running

Over the past few months of marathon training, I've had one constant thought that keeps popping into my head: running at this point is not just a hobby, or even something to do to stay in shape...it's a relationship. In fact, I can very much liken the whole process to a romance.

Firstly, you make that commitment: you sign up for a race just like you would circle "yes" when asked "Will you go out with me?" And for those first few weeks, it's all puppy love. You're running all the time; you're exhilarated; you're telling all your friends about it. After every run you record your time and think back about the high points, just like a teenage girl would relive that first kiss in her head over and over.

As you get deeper into the relationship and the runs become longer, you start putting preparation into it. What time? What should I wear? Where should we go this time? Again, just like dating. You're blowing off other friends, canceling lunch dates because you have a 20-mile run (sorry, Lucy). You're infatuated.

Here's the best part: even when that significant other doesn't treat you well (i.e. a run where you get sick, or blisters, or cramps) you turn a blind eye and act like you still love it. You try to convince your friends and family that it's a good thing after all--just maybe going through a rough patch. And after those long, grueling runs that just leave you physically depleted and mentally exhausted, after the next day, you only remember the good parts. You come crawling back, do it again and perpetuate the relationship.

Sometimes it's just dull and boring. No excitement, no thrill. You long for other things...like maybe cycling? But you stick with it by obligation. Sometimes you lose interest for a week at a time and stop making that significant other the priority. You remember how good the "single life" was...you know, sleeping in on Saturday mornings, eating whatever you want without regard to how it's going to feel during a run.

But you'll never leave, because when the two of you are compatible, you're an unstoppable force. You have so much to accomplish, and those feelings of pride at the end result keep you loving the one you're with.

It's really for better or for worse.

November 6th: get here.

Starting this week, I hope to be more regular with my blogging...we are finally getting internet hooked up in our house, so I won't have to take two-week breaks between each post!

All that you've missed is that I was sick AGAIN. It happened the week after I ran the 20 miles, so I think it had something to do with my immune system being lowered after a long run, as well as the change in weather. One of the big benefits I used to see from my regular workout routine was that I was rarely sick. In the course of 2years, I only took a half day off work for being sick. That's all changed in the past month. Today is the first day in the past two weeks that I can actually say I feel good. I didn't spend the entire night coughing, and I was able to talk through my whole hour of spin class. I've armed myself with Mucinex, Airborne, and One-a-Day Vita-Craves with "immune booster."

I always say that I get the lamest and most obscure injuries, but it's really true. Last Saturday, I started to get this pain around my right lung from the constant coughing and it got progressively worse throughout the next week. Finally, by Thursday, I was getting in my car to leave for work, and had a pretty hard coughing attack...and something popped. It was somewhere in the vicinity of my lung/rib cage, (so probably an intercostal muscle) and shooting pain went all around my chest and arm. I could barely hold the steering wheel with my right hand. I even had to ask Chad to help me roll over in bed that night. Pathetic. It's finally subsided now after 4 days, but I still have to limit my strength training and be careful about the arm swing during running.

Exercise, running in particular, is such a bell curve when it comes to the benefits that you reap from it. We all know if you get too little exericse, you're at risk for obesity, heart disease, high stress, etc. But, on the flip side, when you get too much, and I mean really too much, you weaken your immune system and set yourself up for upper-respiratory infections, over-use injuries in the muscles and joints, etc. It goes hand-in-hand with the enjoyment factor of exercise: if you don't workout for long enough, you never get in the "zone" and feel the stress-relieving hormones kick in. But push it for too long, and your body is just screaming STOP.

All I know is that I am now counting down the days until Nov. 6th...that's right, the day after the marathon. I'm slowly losing my motviation to train--I skipped my long run yesterday because it was a cold, rainy Sunday and I was exhausted after a busy Saturday of a huge work event followed by our housewarming party. I'm going to make it up this week (it was only supposed to be a 6-miler), but I just want to fast-forward and be able to say that it's all over.

One foot. And then the other.

First things first, I finished my 20- mile run on Saturday!! Something about hitting twenty-anything miles makes me feel like I can actually do the marathon now. I parked my car at the Monon Center in Carmel and then did 4 rounds of 5 miles, each time finishing at my car where I had Gatorade and literally anything else you could possibly need during a run (except a second gel pack). Plus, that way I was never more than 2.5 miles away from my car and the bathrooms at the Monon center, just in case.

The Tour de Carmel bike ride was actually going on that same time, so I had plenty of people-watching and noise to keep me occupied for the first part of the run. Surprisingly, being alone didn't bother me at all--perhaps a little more boring, but it was good that setting the pace was completely up to me. I felt great up until 15 miles. When I stopped there to re-fuel, I thought I was going to throw up, but as soon as I took off running again, I felt ok. It's all about playing mind games at that point in a run...you're well past the adrenaline high, so it's just putting one foot in front of the other and knowing you can't back out now. (I had to at least run back to my car, right?!)

Thus far, any time on a long run when I cross into miles I've never done before, it's like my body instantly knows. And then reacts by saying "I'm not going any further." It's not just one part of my body either...it's the lungs, legs, total picture. This time, I was determined not to look at my Garmin to know when I was at 17 miles. I knew if I made a big deal about those last 3 miles being uncharted territory, then my body would freak out. It didn't matter though...my body KNEW. I hit a wall precisely at mile 17.25. From then on, I had to keep making deals with myself. I would pick cross-streets on the Monon and as soon as I made it there, stop to stretch out. It was a lose-lose situation though. If I kept running, my legs just felt like concrete--so stiff and sore even to the touch. But, if I stopped to stretch, then I got that overwhelming nauseous feeling, because my body had a chance to stop and realize what I was doing to it.

It's not like I expected anything different for the last half hour of a 20-mile run, though! I finished at 3h 59m. Looking back, I don't know why I was thinking I would be much under 5 hours for the full marathon. In fact, that 3:59 isn't counting all the times I stopped either for Gatorade or to stretch, so my race time will have to factor all that in as well.

Good thing there are no expectations other than to run (...walk...crawl) across that finish line!

20 miles...we meet again.

Well, here we are again, catching up. This time I'm a little more grounded and feeling positive about life (and running) again. We're settling down into the new house more each day, and I'm now over the 10 day cold I came down with after those two frazzled, emotional weeks (no surprise there). Since my last post, we had another vacation, this time to Florida with friends. It was a low-key trip, mostly spent lounging on either the beach or the couch--in other words exactly what I needed. I was sitting there watching the 7th episode of "How I Met Your Mother" on a rainy day when I realized I couldn't recall the last time I had a day to do nothing. Nowhere to be, no work obligations of any kind, no run to get in....the sheer beauty of nothing. It was a blatant reminder that I have to make a point of relaxing and taking care of my mind/body, especially in this time of peak training.

I did get one run in on vacation. Mostly hills (who knew Florida had them?) and 90% humidity...enough said. But any 6-mile run on vacation is a good one.

Now, I'm staring that 20-mile training run in the face once again. It's scheduled for tomorrow, and as much as I've been trying to psych myself out all week and say "it's no big deal," it is. I feel much more prepared than last time--zero plans tonight except eating a hearty plate of spaghetti and going to bed early, and no plans tomorrow after the run until later evening. Still, I don't know if I'm intimidated more by how it's going to feel or just the pure length of time it's going to take. It will be a solo run too--no running buddies available, but maybe that's what I need after all this. Time to myself (4 hours to be exact) to mute the outside world and tune in to how I'm feeling. And really nailing down a pace that I would feel comfortable with on race day.

I've talked before about how much planning goes into long runs. This time, aside from the usual gatorade/water/gel pack coordinating, it occurred to me that my iPhone's battery might not last the whole 4 hours. So now I'm bringing an additional iPod, and while I'm at it, an extra shirt and probably an entire first aid kit.

Today Sarah said something that was supposed to be encouraging: "Mechelle, you know you CAN do it...it's just a matter of powering through." But in all reality, I DON'T know if I can. It's a distance I've never done before. Sure, I made it through 17, so logic says 3 more should be ok. But the thing with running is you never know until it's done.

But it's just 20 miles...no big deal.