Shamrock Beer Tent Report

When my running wife, TMB, writes a blog about a race, she writes about The good. The bad. The Ugly.

 

So ~ yeah.

If we’re writing about Shamrock Half Marathon it self, it would break down exactly that way.  If we’re writing about the weekend, I would say it was

99% PERFECT

1% UGLY AS (insert ugly word here).

Ultimately, the Half Marathon EVENT became less about the RUNNING and more about The Social Aspect of The Event.

The Good Dr and I went to Va Beach for the Half Marathon Weekend.  We had dinner at our favorite place, met my family for some family time, had dinner with IronJ and her family, met new runners, and found some delicious food and beer.  We went to the expo, walked on the beach, sat in the hot tub, and did all the things one would do on a 75 degree day in March at Va Beach.

The race plan was to run a sub 2 with IronJ, but on the morning of the race, as we started out, I had a feeling that IronJ was feeling EPIC where I was just feeling ... well, I was not feeling epic.

By mile 5 IronJ was pulling us and we crossed the 5 mile marker around 45 minutes.  Right on Schedule.  But again, I wasn’t feeling EPIC.

And at Mile 7 I sent IronJ on (to a 1:57) without me and settled in to try to hang on to my sub 2.  At about mile 7.001 I realized that my insides were actually kind of angry.  Very. 

So I hit a porta potty.

And then a mile later, I stopped to wait in a different porta potty line.  

Yeah.  It was going to be like that.

It was a long line.  I drank a cup of water.  Ate part of a Gu.  Drank a touch more water.  Doubled over once or twice in pain.  I knew that I was going to be less hydrated after coming out of the potty... and I was right, and I figured – when life hands you porta potties, you don’t make lemonade but you may as well drink something before walking in the door...

I finished the race in 2:07:59, which I kinda loved. A few years ago I ran a 2:07 at Shamrock.  I know exactly where I am now.  And isn't that nice?

And then I went back to my hotel room via a few potty stops, which I kinda hated.

Interestingly enough, the potty stops resolved within 20-30 minutes, and I was able to shower, get dry warm clothes on, and find a beer or two in the tent.  It gave me a chance to hang out with some old friends, make new friends, and generally, make it into a great day.

The Beer Tent went GREAT.  Good Food.  Good Temp.  As far as the "report" goes, the Beer Tent was PERFECTLY EXECUTED.  If I had to do it again I'd do the Beer Tent exactly as I did it.

"You know it's a good day when BEER."

I love that race.  I highly recommend wrangling your running group and doing the race next year.  It’s not always about the PR, sometimes it’s about the BEER TENT and the people with you.

An Open Letter to Mother Runners Who Are Better at This than Me

Dear Mother Runners who Work...

Dear Bad A** Mother Runners who work,

How do you do this and train?  Specifically, how do you get up, wrangle your posse, go to work, and train for a race?

I’m no novice here.  I’ve trained at crazy hours to get my running in while I’m in nursing school.  It’s just that now I’m working in the hospital in an immersion program and it’s completely flattening my mojo.

Motivation = 0

If it was 0.2 I could multiply it by SOMETHING and get motivated.

But it’s not.  It’s 0.

The issue is that I can’t run in the morning because it’s too early.  I mean, realistically I can’t get up at 345 a.m. every single day and run an hour, be done, get the kids lunches packed into their backpacks, get ready for work, greet the babysitter, commute to the hospital, work a (12 or 8) hour shift on my feet for (11.5 or 8) hours, and function...

it's the functioning part that has me crippled here. I mean, if that wasn't a requirement of my relationship with my kids, The Good Dr, professors, etc, then I could so totally do this...

And if you remove the run, have me sleep in till 5:15, so that I could work out in the evening.... well, I’m usually so freakishly tired at the end of the day that I’m barely functioning enough to collect my kids from the sitter, get them home, feed them, get their homework done, get my homework done, and get the (Laundry, Dishes, House picked Up) that training isn't on the menu by that point. 

Today I came home from a 10 hour on my feet work day and got on the trainer for exactly 20 minutes.  I told myself that 20 minutes was better than nothing, but I gotta be honest, not sure where that 20 minutes is going to get me when I'm on a 3 hour bike ride in June, or a 13.1 mile run in mid-March...

So, I need to know:

How do you do it?  

What is the trick that I’m missing?  What lie have I told myself about training that is preventing me from seeing the answer?  What do YOU know that I haven’t figured out yet?

I don’t want to be a slug.  I’m registered for two pretty solid races in 2014.  One in March and one in June.  Both are important to me, albeit, the June race is more important than the March race so if a sacrifice was going to happen it’s there... still... I don’t want to sacrifice, I just want a solution to get me moving in the right direction.

Anyone?

Bueller?

Regards,

GBA gf