Sunday, October 16, 2011

This Week in Kate's Big Adventure

I accidentally ran a marathon this past week. I'm not sure that statement has ever been uttered. Ever. Let me start at the beginning so you'll know how I ended up in such a peculiar situation. 

Last February Molly and I had a skype date where we signed up for the Denver Marathon. We talked about how we would train and have so much fun doing it and it would be awesome. I figured it would be a great way to get back to running and maybe have some motivation to actually do it. I got cleared from my PT to start training for it, because of my busted leg. I started running, a little, but the weather was crappy and I could only handle the treadmill for about 20 minutes. Around March we thought we should sign up for a half marathon to help us stay on track with our training. 

Well that didn't exactly happen because I stepped off a curb wrong at the beginning of May and had to spend about a week getting the swelling out and I stopped running. I scratched the half, but so did Molly, Barb, and Pat but we still got our t-shirts so it worked out.
I thought the training would pick up over the summer, but I only ran about 3-4 miles at a time. I'm not really a fan of running 10 min/miles, like at all. I'd through in occasional sprint work but my leg strength was still kind of lacking so not a whole lot. Much of my summer was like this and I went to see the Doctor at the end August and he told me I couldn't run it, that my leg was still far too weak and a marathon was not in my near future. I accepted defeat and didn't mind not feeling obligated to run for a while. I got the out I needed, the Doc said no. About 2 weeks ago I went to my parents for a few days and ended up running late at night for about and hour. That was actually the longest run I had done in the past 2 years and I was a wee bit sore the next day, and the day after, and after that. 


The weekend of the marathon I had to work on Saturday but got to cut out early, just because we weren't busy, not because I had told my coworkers I was running a marathon the next day, because I figured I wouldn't be. My plan was to just run until I couldn't so I figured 8 miles would be good and then I'd call it a day. I even had strawberry shortcake the night before because I wasn't going to be running the next day, especially if it was cold. 


The morning of we made our way over to the starting line and I told Molly that if she had to stop I would wait for her but if I needed to stop she should just keep going because I would probably tap out and find a medic tent. We started running and the nice thing about Molly is she is a really goo pacer because I usually just try to run really fast. We settled into a nice pace and around mile 3 I found an awesome sparkly purple headband which I sported the rest of the race (don't worry at this point if it was infested with lice I'm pretty sure I'd be itching). We ran into Barb around mile 8, which was awesome. At mile 12 the course split for those doing the half and those doing the full. I was feeling pretty good so I told Molly I'd take the full turn with her and told her I just wanted to make it to Mile 17. Around mile 14 I wasn't feeling too great but missed my chance to cut out at the half so kept going. I really wanted to make it to 17 too (I know such a random number, I'm sure somewhere in my subconscious there is a reason for it). I told Molly to go ahead I was going to take a walk break. At about mile 15 I saw the greatest thing in the world- people standing on the side of the street with a keg, handing out sole cups. Is this real life? I make my way over to grab one when of of the guys asks "Keg Stand?" At which point I thought when am I going to ever be running a marathon and get offered to do a keg stand-you have to know when to seize the opportunity right? So I did, not long, definitely nowhere near my record, but enough to at least call it a keg stand. I walked away with a solo cup full of PBR and decided either it would give me carbs and help me to to not feel anything or I would throw it all up and feel better so a win-win. I kept it down and it helped me to get to mile 17. I spent the next mile after that contemplating stopping while I choked down a GU pomegranate gel, yum! I somehow staggered into mile 18 and met up with a woman named Kerri, who was walking faster than I was able to run so I started walking with her. Misery loves company. We made it to mile 20 and at that point I figured, hey it's only 6 more miles, that's it? Ha well....it was actually the longest 6.2 miles of my life. I thought about stopping but didn't want to leave this woman on her own. We talked about our injuries, she was battling back from a knee injury and I told her about my leg. She was a mom of 5 (!!!) and 2 of her kids were running the half, and her husband did the full. She grew up in Iowa and got her degree in mechanical engineering, lived in TN for 3 years and didn't like it and now is in Colorado Springs. Trust me I got her whole life story. Somehow we were able to keep walking, moving and talking. We started jogging with about .60 miles left and crossed the finished line together and then went our separate ways. I hadn't seen any of our group when I was headed towards the finish and figured they made their way back to the hotel so I started walking back to the hotel wrapped up like a burrito with a bottle of water when I heard "Kate!?!?!!" and looked and saw our group.
We Made it!!!
"Kate, you little shit! Did your run the whole thing? Ha, yah but I didn't really mean too.
"We thought you headed back to the hotel after mile 17 and were taking a nap." I wish.
I couldn't really walk the next day, but neither could Molly so we went to a hot tub where would could actually bend our legs to stretch. On completing the marathon I learned a few things that people never mentioned about marathons so I thought I'd share my wisdom


1. It helps to train (this is probably a given for most)
2. Take the beer!!
3. Your hands might swell, this is gross, but not permanent
4. That feeling in your stomach only gets worse if you stop
5. That stress fracture you think is developing, is actually just a blister, and no it's not bleeding.
That's about all I got but if you need any real advice you should ask Molly, she is the textbook example, she trained, brought her own food, plenty of clothes, and said thank you to everyone who was cheering for us. The funny this is now that it's over I actually want to train for one.


I thought I would add a little bit of my other adventures this week because as Paul David told me "All you do is talk about that car, you think you'd been hit by a freight train." I think that's his way of saying he likes my blog. So in other news...

Insulin shot not included.
On Tuesday night I made Colossal Diabetes cookies for one of my coworkers who is leaving. I baked oreo cookies inside chocolate chip cookies and then baked those inside Mississippi Mudpie brownies with marshmallows. I didn't eat one (because I don't like chocolate) but I heard it was amazing. And I'm going to believe it because when I took them to work I got a marriage proposal, a roommate request and a guy's phone number. So I'm going to go with that they were pure awesomeness. And they had better been because I skipped knitting club to make them, but that's another whole blog on stay at home moms needing a social outlet...

I also did a mountain bike night ride with some of my coworkers which was way too much fun probabaly because it was dark so it actually seems like you're going faster than you actually are. I only suffered one crash when my back tire slid off a rock and I only remember sliding parallel into the ground - I scuffed up my elbow and got a couple of bruises and some grass stuck in my bike but that was about it, I'm just glad the guy behind me didn't run me over because that might have made work the next day a little awkward. 

Those were the big things this week...and so far so good I am ER free!!!!

Thursday, October 6, 2011

ROCKTOBER

Good thing these are so common
I think I have put off writing this because I haven't really wanted to admit that it's October. See I'm not exactly a fan of October as it's my highest rate of ER visits in one month. And I'm a little nervous to have it already be here. This is where you have to bare with me for a minute while I explain this abnormal fear.
See two years ago on October 20th, I destroyed my leg, to the point where it still gets stiff and sore. In that time I spent 2.5 months on crutches and another 5 in a walking boot while doctors tried to figure out exactly what was going on. For that entire time my foot looked like a huge club- it was so gross and the worst part was that my brain didn't even know it was there (pretty neat, huh). I must say that one of the more entertaining parts of being on crutches was getting a bloody nose in Micheal's (a pretty common store for moms, right? Not). I start dripping, more gushing and without thinking it through immediately clasp both hands to try and stop the blood, rendering me unable to move without my crutches looking like a murder scene. Somehow none of those women in line behind us had kleenex's and the cashier only had one so I hobbled as fast I could out of there while informing them my blood on the floor was clean. Another thing that was mildly entertaining was to put a crutch out so someone would accidentally knock it while walking and have them immediately apologize and make sure I was okay. What can I say I got a little bored.

Then last year I made a minor trip to the ER in the middle of October, which really wasn't that exciting at all. Then thinking I was home free when I reached October 21st and I was walking normal, unfortunately that was a little premature as October 28th was when I got ran over by a car, well not so much over as I went over the car but more ran into. Thus requiring hot firemen to respond and a very attractive neck collar, which my neck marinated in for the next 6 hours, and my 2nd trip to the ER in 2 weeks. Maybe one year I won't meet my health insurance deductible.....

So you can see why I'm a little apprehensive coming into this month. I made it through the first couple of days without really thinking much about it. But then on October 4th, a car decided to be a jerkface and play chicken with me. It wasn't bad and I just kind of toppled over, well I was so mad I didn't exactly have control over what I yelled out and can only image what the construction workers thought as this little girl picked up her bike, dusted off her legs, and screamed profanity after profanity at this driver- Only to wave at them when I rode off. My thoughts leaving the scene were If only my mother could see me now, she would definitely take a whole bar of soap to my mouth. The crash wasn't bad, minor scratches, a bent hood (easily fixed), a scratch on the rear derailleur and that was about it, no flare up of PTSD- so pretty minimal. One of the mechanics was kind enough to help me to clean up my bike and went through the entire drive train (for a small fee of a 6 pack- (Mom and Dad that's the charge to the liquor store I swear)). So I guess it worked out.

I realize that this is such a minor thing and it could have happened any day, I really do. But like I told Wayne I went to a liberal arts college where they taught me critical thinking (and yes he rolled his eyes). If you look at the calender, the 4th, 20th, and 28th form a perfect diagonal- all that is missing is the 12th (whomp whomp). I know this is a little insane thinking, like psychic readings, or tarot cards (and no I haven't done those) and I'm sure DF would have choice words about me relying on some random patter to dictate my life but if it means the only day I have to worry about is the 12th, I'll take it. 


Sick New Whip!
In other random biking news I bought a new bike. It's a real beaut! Robin's egg blue, fenders, leather accents, and a coffee cup holder!!!!!!! Basically I've come to realize that the amount of money I'll save in gas I will probably be spending on coffee because it's sooo cool. So cool that today when I was riding and hit a bump the coffee I had in there jumped out and went all over the road. So not to look unhip I rode to another shop and got a new cup to replace it just to look awesome (Plus I needed it.) Ha, it's pretty sweet though and one nice thing about about getting hit by a car is that it made me ride a bike just to ride a bike. I'm not spending hours analyzing data or looking over new routes or how to improve my average speed or up my max HR but actually to just cruise along - it's quiet nice.


And in other related biking news I'll tell you this story of this guy I had come into the shop the other day. He was looking for a 500 dollar bike and I somehow managed to sell him a 2600 dollar bike. After the transaction was complete he asked me how long I had been working there, I said July- but then not wanting him to think I had no idea what I was talking about mentioned that I worked in a shop during college too. To which he replied, "Oh? You went to college? Well the economy is pretty tough right now to find a job." To which I wanted to reply that actually I make above minimum wage so like my brother says, college has made me above the minimum. But instead I just said, "Yah and I'm choosing to work here" Beotch. 
I should probably cut this off as Wayne said it's way toooo long for him to read it at this point. Hopefully I can post in November (fingers crossed!) And whatever may happen this month at least I didn't buy titanium spoons (Dave).