I was out for a training run two weeks before Tink and I did some serious thinking. I really felt like there was a possibility that Tink and Princess would be my last races. The past year was so bad that I was really ready to just give it all up. It all started with Princess and the nightmare that it became. I finished that race solely because my husband was there pushing me along. I was able to figure out why it was so bad when I finally had a clear head to look back on it but it didn't change the fact that it was a horrible race for me.
I was determined to do better and improve my running as I began training this summer for the Tower of Terror 10 miler in October and the Rock 'n' Roll half in November. I found a new training plan that I really liked and it had back to back run days that would prepare me for Tink and Princess weekends. I felt really strong in my training and actually did the race distance in training for the first time and felt great. I had high expectations for ToT. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't the best and I screwed up and spent too much time on my feet before the race. Once again, my race sucked. I did ok for the first half and then my feet were just done. I ended up walking that last half of the race and I wanted to cry the entire time. I was so upset that training had gone so well but my race time was not going to show it. I finished the race in the worst mood. The hike back into the park to meet up with my friends just pissed me off that much more because all I wanted to do was SIT DOWN. It was bad and I was very disappointed in myself. I knew that it was really my fault. Even though the temps weren't great, I could have dealt with that. The fact that I spent too much time in the park the day of the race really bit me in the ass and cost me a good race.
A few weeks later I ran the Zoo Stampede 10K. My average pace for that race wasn't bad but I still didn't feel good. It was tougher than it should have been. I felt too hot even though the temps were lower that morning. The humidity was playing against me and sweating just didn't work. I also hated that so much of the course ended up being on concrete sidewalks instead of asphalt. Concrete is harder than asphalt and I try my best not to run on it. Even though I have a good fore foot stride that helps reduce impact, since I am still overweight, it is easier on my ankles if I choose a better surface than concrete.
Two weeks after running through the zoo, I did the Rock 'n' Roll half marathon. It wasn't a horrible race but it could have been much better. I started out too fast by running my fastest 5K ever but then the damn hills and the over 90 degree temps got to me. In the summer, I run when it is 90 all the time but this was November 17th and we had been having typical fall weather for a few weeks so the suddenly high temps took a toll on everyone. I saw so many paramedics helping runners and the residents of the neighborhoods we ran through were spraying everyone with water hoses as we ran by to try to cool us all off. Thanks to my fast start, I finished with a good time for me even though I walked at least 6 miles of the course. Because of the unusual weather that day I was actually happy with my race time but I knew it could have been so much better had the temps been better.
After that race, I had a hard time keeping my head in the running game. My family visited for Thanksgiving and it got unusually cold for our area. I don't run well in the cold. I would much rather run at midnight in the summer when it is still 90 degrees than to run in the middle of the day in the winter when it is 35 degrees outside. I had plans of several other races between RnR and the end of the year but one 5K was cancelled at the last minute while the others I never signed up for. I wanted to have a few people do one of the night 5Ks with me but no one else was really interested. Then there was the other half marathon I wanted to do mid December but then I found out Mac was going to be on the other side of the world and I would have no one waiting at the finish for me. It was going to be a two lap race in a kind of boring area so the thought of not having a familiar face to look forward to made the race sound less appealing so I decided to save the entry fee. I tried to get a few runs in but it just didn't happen like I wanted.
Finally the Biggest Loser Half rolled around. It was my final race of 2013. It was not a great race. I was actually shocked the other day when I was looking at all of my results on Athlinks.com and saw that the Biggest Loser half was actually my fastest half ever. It sure didn't feel that way. It was another case of starting too fast maybe combined with a hill that was more than I ever imagined. When I do my training runs, there is a hill that I purposely run on every lap. It sucks but I know it is good training. It didn't help with the hill in this race because it wasn't really a hill, it was a bridge, a big ass bridge. The race was in Panama City Beach and the bridges there are no joke. What made this one so bad was the fact that the half way point for the out and back race was the bottom of the bridge on the other side so you immediately turned around and went up it again. It killed my quads. I had kept a very steady pace for the first half of the race but once we hit that bridge, it just sucked all of the energy out of me. I ended up walking the last half. I considered lying down on the ground a few times and quitting here and there but I kept moving. Finally I finished the race but it wasn't pretty. Once again my feet killed me and I felt like I had never trained at all. I hated that feeling.
So as I forced myself to go for a run before Tink, I seriously considered hanging it all up. I spent so much time trying to train and prepare for these races and they all went to hell. I just didn't want to do it anymore. I prayed that somehow Tink would be better but I didn't expect much out of that race. I was so down on myself about the bad races that I slipped into old habits and regained a chunk of the weight I had lost. Things just didn't end very well in 2013 and I was glad to see the year go.
Tink turned out to be a pleasant surprise though the weekend had it's own bumps. I will post a full recap of it soon but I felt that you all deserved to read what 2013 was really like for me first. I've tried so many times to write recaps for each of the races during those last months but I just never could bring myself to do it. So these condensed versions of them will have to do because I don't know how much more I could say about them. I'm really hoping that things have turned around and that 2014 will be a much better year.
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One good thing did come from the Biggest Loser Half though. This awesome pic of me running. I am not one to ever jump or smile or ham it up for a race photographer. I focus on my running and finishing the race. I really love this shot of me which is something I very rarely say.
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