At least this time I have kind of a good excuse for the recent blogging hiatus. Brian and I were both off accomplishing our endurance goals for the year. I headed to Savannah at the beginning of November to run my second marathon and first Rock N' Roll race. It was a girls weekend as 11 of the local IRunMommies traveled together to Georgia. For some this was their first half or full marathon.
We enjoyed the expo... always one of my favorite parts of a race. While some women can spend hours shoe shopping, I think I could spend hours running shopping. No wonder an expo is my idea of bliss!
The race started at 7:30am, but it was a waved start so we didn't start running until close to 8am. After spending the summer with 4:30am training runs, I was worried that it would be awful running for 5 hours in the hot sun. Luckily, Savannah was worlds cooler than Florida and while the morning started off chilly, the weather was almost perfect for a marathon. I say almost... a nice strong wind caused a lot of grief late in the run!
Unfortunately, the race course turned out to be a bit disappointing. I've never been to Savannah, and I still don't feel like I've really seen Savannah... even after running 26.2 miles through the city. The first part of the course we did get to run down some beautiful, historic streets near Forsyth Park. But, once we made the turnoff at mile 11 for the full marathon, things got UGLY. And by ugly, I mean about 10 miles on this:
And as if the marathon isn't humbling enough, at about mile 12 we passed the lead runners at their mile 24 and on the way to the finish line. I still cannot even imagine how anyone can possibly run that far, that fast! Once we realized we weren't going to place (haha), we took our time and tried to make the best of it...
... but the final 6 miles (which are already incredibly painful), were uphill, on this interstate, and INTO the wind. It's amazing the type of mental games and tricks you come up with to get yourself through something like this. To me, the mental game is the allure of the marathon.
In the end, I finished about 25 minutes faster than my last marathon time and felt "good" for the most part of the race.
Don't get me wrong... I was more than ready to sit down (or collapse), but I felt worlds better than I did at the end of the
Disney Marathon. (It was super nice to be able to feel my toes this time around!)
While I was recovering from Savannah, Brian was gearing up for his big race,
The Tough Mudder.
He participated with his brother and really enjoyed the race course and the organization of the event. He's already talking about next year's race and almost... almost has me considering it. But I'm a realist. I mean sure, it's all smiles...
until you have to dunk your entire body in ice water.
And it's supposed to be a team event. Which means your teammates are supposed to help you with the obstacles that are challenging...
... but I do have some concerns about that. Brian tells me he was trying to "help" this guy! Me thinks the picture tells a different story!
And then at the end, you get electrocuted!!
Sounds like... not my idea of a good time! But... I'm still considering it! Because for some reason, getting super dirty and being in pain makes you feel accomplished. The kids already think we're crazy.
