Learn From My Mistakes

So, Saturday was the Utah Valley Marathon and Half Marathon- I chose to run the half. Piece of cake. I've run many half marathons before, so this one should be easy...............SHOULD be. Right. The race turned out to be an event filled with trials and blessings. But, before I get into it all, I need to back up to the beginning of the week. Oh, and while I'm at it- do you remember my post on injury prevention? Today I will add some "Do Not's" to my list. Why? Well...........let's just say that I found out the hard way and I'm hoping that through this you won't make the same mistakes I made.

First "Do Not": Don't break in new shoes the week before a race. OK, add to that: don't break in two new pairs of shoes the week before a race. Oh, I know better. I have always known that you need about three weeks to break in shoes, but my partners and I had agreed to wear one of our clients' shoes for the race. The problem: we didn't receive the shoes until the week before. So, I sucked it up and did my best to try and break them in as much as possible. We all did. What we should have done was tell our client "Sorry" and wait until after Utah Valley to begin breaking them in, and then done it slowly. These aren't like any other running shoe I've worn. They are Zero Drop, which basically means it's almost like running barefoot. It also means that you have to train your body to run a little differently because they don't have the cushion that other shoes have. Because of this, it takes about 4-6 weeks for your body to completely adjust and not feel sore. Let me repeat: 4-6 WEEKS! Not one, 4-6. Just remember that.........
As for my other new pair- well, I had already begun breaking them in a few days before, and they are actually pretty comfortable- but still too new to run long distances in.

Second "Do Not": There is such a thing as over rolling and over stretching. You can bruise your muscles, and you can actually make things worse. Remember that..........

Third "Do Not": Do not wait until race day to try out new equipment. Yeah, I know this too. Remember........

So, here's how it all fits together: I was already in the process of breaking in one pair of shoes, and things were going pretty well. Then, our shoes from our client FINALLY arrive, and although my gut said to stay away, I laced up and hit the pavement. I made it 3 miles when my calves began screaming at me, my IT band became irritated, and I got my first blister ever from running. Ugh.
Luckily, I brought another pair of shoes with me-only, they were my other new pair. After lacing those up, I managed to make it another 4 miles before my body yelled it was time to quit. I knew I was in trouble, but I kept telling myself that if I gave it a few days, I would be OK. I rolled; I massaged. I rolled some more. I went a few days without running and then once again hit the pavement. I made it 3 miles and limped back to my car. I had 72 hours before the race and my stomach was turning into knots. I always tell people "listen to your body. push yourself, but not to the point of injury". Obviously, I didn't follow my own advice. Once again, I rolled and massaged, rolled and massaged. At this point, the muscles in my right leg were becoming tender and bruised.
So, I skipped another day of running. Thursday- I hit the pavement once again. I started out well and I was getting excited because I thought I made it through. At 5.2 miles...........pain shot through my leg like a hundred needles were stuck in my knee. I limped back to the car and knew I was toast.I rolled and massaged, and that didn't even feel good anymore. It was about this time that I found out that you can over roll and over stretch- GREAT.
 I didn't run on Friday, and as I headed to the pre-race expo to pick up my packet, I seriously debated on whether I should run or not.
Knowing myself as I do, I knew that if I didn't run I would regret it. Although I had a very good reason not to run, I told myself that if I could run an entire marathon (my first marathon) in worse condition than I am now, then I can run a half and be fine.

I ate a good breakfast, had all of my things together, and my friends and I were on our way to the buses at 3:20am. My leg was feeling pretty good, but something kept telling me that I should wrap it........I didn't.
At 4:15, we loaded the buses and headed up the canyon. It was pretty warm for that time in the morning, and I was excited about that. By the time 6am rolled around, I was more than ready to go. At 6am, the race started and we were off. The first 7 miles flew by pretty quickly, and I was feeling good. I was running with my friend Tanya and another friend of hers, and we were all keeping a good pace. At mile 9, things began to change. My leg was beginning to tell me it was done, and so to try and compensate for it, I began to run on the ball of my foot.......wrong thing to do. At mile 10, my leg was screaming at me, and at mile 11 I found that I had acquired a blister on the ball of my foot-just so you know, the blister hurt worse than my IT band did. To make a long story short, I basically limped the last 2 miles of the race. If it weren't for my friend Tanya, I would have walked the last 2 miles, but there was no way she was going to let me. She pushed me and encouraged me every step. She stayed with me the entire time, even though she didn't have to. She was amazing. This is the first official race that I have run with a friend in years, and I have to say that running with friends is so much better than running alone, for many, many reasons. Thanks Tanya, you're the best!
In the end, I finished with a time of 2:01:28- not bad. Not what I was aiming for, but not bad. And hey- I finished! I always have three goals: 1-Finish 2-Don't finish last 3-Improve on my time. I am proud to say that I have accomplished this at every race, so I really can't complain.

WE DID IT, INJURIES & ALL!

Meet Mister Blister

Among my injuries, my monitor rubbed another nice blister, which has now scabbed over. I'm not sure I'll be wearing it again. It hurts. Don't worry, I'm not posting a picture of that one. :)

I wasn't the only one with injuries that day. Andrea did brave it and wore our clients' shoes. She ended up with bloody heals and blisters. Jess' IT band injury was bad enough that she listened to her body and didn't run at all. She is one smart girl-but, we missed you, Jess!

Overall, the course was beautiful and it was a great experience. I am looking forward to running it again next year-injury free! 

So, I hope that through sharing my mistakes you will not experience the same fate that I have. PLEASE-learn from this. I'm trying to spare you the pain. 

**On a side note, hats off to Alicia- she ran the marathon and did it in 4:19. WAY TO GO ALICIA!!!!! She was also able to raise $400 from her virtual 5K for her Train4Autism goal-Congrats! I want to thank all of you that participated in it, you're awesome!