Iron Girl. Rubber Ankles?

The good:    I learned some good lessons yesterday.

The bad:      Three evil inclines.

The ugly:      My ankle.

I knew that since I hadn't run in two weeks, Sunday morning would be a tough mental game for me.  RBK came over Saturday night so she wouldn't have to drive so far the morning of the race.  We ate our Iron Girl granola bar we got in our race packets before we went to bed. 
We woke up at 4:00 Sunday morning and got ready for race day.  Smooth went with us to be our photog and spend some time on the beach while we were running.  He is A for Awesome!  I had a bagel thin with PB and banana and a cup of coffee.  I had a sore throat Saturday so I took some Halls with me and we were out the door at 4:50.  Ask I was driving, I saw this cute little tree frog on the hood of the truck.  He was having a hard time sticking.  Luckily there was a stop sign so I could shoosh him off, I think he was our mascot for the day.

We parked at Coachman Park and waited for the trolley to the start line.  If we were coming from out of town I could see how that would be nice, but since we are kind of locals now, we would have been better off parking closer to the beach.  We had to wait a while for the trolley to come and it would have been safer to drive ourselves.  Our trolley driver kept slamming on the brakes to tell other runners to catch a trolley somewhere else.  That was considerate of her, but she had forgotten to close the trolley door. 

When we arrived at Pier 60 we took some pictures and waited in line for the bathroom.  Oh, then they told us there were honey buckets by the starting line.  We drank our 5hr energy.  First time we did it before a race.

Excited to start.

Jumping for joy.

After we peed, we headed into the starting corral.  They didn't have separate corrals but they did have pacers.  We got as close to the 2:30 guy as we could.  We didn't have to wait long for the race to start.  RBK wanted us to stay together, but something told me this was going to be a tough race.  Her goal was 2:20, mine was a PR hopefully close to 2:30. 

Starting line.



Beautiful line up.

 The start went well, not a huge pile up.  It didn't take long into mile 1 to loosen up.  RBK told me on the way to the start, 'I think this is the same way the 5 miler I ran started, if so, there is a big incline in the beginning.'  I think that is good that they put the hill at the beginning.  Ha.  I'm hilarious.  I did really good up the first hill and felt like I had a good pace.  My first 6 splits were:
11:14
10:44
11:13
11:39
11:20
11:28

I used my inhaler a couple times in the beginning.  I couldn't believe they had the roads open while we were running.  They just had road cones to separate the lanes.  Truck exhaust is the last thing this asthmatic needs when running up hills.  I felt like I was getting a blister on my right foot, but other than that I felt ok, the course just seemed really hard.  I hunted the 2:30 pacer guy down like he was prey.  I got in front of him for a couple of miles.  I had great tunes and was trying to focus on my form.  Something was feeling off.  I didn't expect such a hilly course in Clearwater.  The course was really beautiful.  When we weren't running over the evil bridges surrounded by the water, we were running through a pretty residential area.  This one house had a fence covered in honeysuckle and it smelled really good.

Then my left ankle started the popping thing.  Ugh.  It is tolerable when whatever is popping out pops back in and as long as I kept running it would usually be ok.  But I could feel my form getting worse and worse.  I lost the pacer guy, I walked through the water/Gatorade stations and on the last 2 hills.  The humidity was pretty bad at this time.  I was slowly losing my umph.  They had more water stations at the end of the race which was a big help.  There was also a crazy dancing girl along Gulfview who reminded me of the SunDrop girl (I am dressing like her for Halloween, so if you see a SunDrop ringer t-shirt, keep me in mind).  I was chuckling to myself in my head.  Kudos crazy dancing girl.  I passed her 4 times.

My next splits were:

12:00

12:24

12:35
13:21
14:03
14:45<--I'm pretty sure I had to talk myself from jumping off the bridge. 
11:57
Chip Time:  2:39:56

As I'm running the last mile I know I am running pretty close to my Princess Half time.  I refocused, found some Coheed and Cambria on my iPod, and got back into it.  Finally I saw RBK and Smooth.  The finish line was kind of weird.  There were 2 blue timing pads.  I just went for the one under the blow up thing.  I was beat.  I couldn't wait to take my shoes off.  As soon as I got my medal and made it through the finish shoot the shoes came off.  Ahh.  The sand felt so good.  I met up with RBK and Smooth and we walked down to the beach.  It felt so good.  I walked in knee deep.  Smooth pulled cute shirt out of his pocket he bought for me while I was running.  It is a flower 13.1 shirt from asportygirl. I couldn't have asked for a better finish. 

RBK 2:17:26  A great PR!!!

Hi Smooth, I'm dying, but I'm smiling.

Done.

Clearwater Beach

Bling!

Turtles!!

We walked over and got our food bags.  Yogurt, banana, gross muffin, hot OJ and a nasty breakfast burrito.  Nice try, but fail.  Am I the only person who doesn't want sugar after a race?  I ate the yogurt anyways.  I really wanted a pickle.  I told Smooth I wanted a pickle while we were waiting in line for the trolley to get back to our truck.  The ride back was hot and smelly.  Runner's are gross.  On the way back to the car we passed a sign that said "Pickles Plus Deli<---."  Oh that sounds so good.  When we got to the parking lot, I realized Pickle Plus Deli is in the same lot as our truck.  Score.  I limp as fast as I can into the deli and ask if they had pickles, maybe those big jar pickles.  The girl looked at me like I had 3 heads.  It was called Pickles Plus Deli, why is that a weird request?!  She said she had some deli pickles and I asked if I could have some.  She brought be a bowl of 4 nice sized pickles and told me I didn't owe her anything.  She made my day.  They were delicious and really hit the spot.



I <3 Pickles.

 On the way home we both had to go to the bathroom, now.  Was it the granola bar, 5hr Energy, the yogurt, or the pickles?  We had both eaten the same things all day and had to go at the exact same time.  Thank goodness I have 2 bathrooms.  I whipped up some blender drinks and we headed to the pool.  While I was laying out relaxing I couldn't stop thinking about the race.

The bottom of my right foot felt uncomfortable from the beginning.  I have a blister on the bottom of my foot below my big toe on my right foot and on the tip of my second toe on my left foot.  My left ankle was popping during the race,  but was feeling ok now.  My right ankle felt a little sore, but not too bad.  Even though I used my inhaler, my lungs felt ok for the majority of the race.  I think when I felt my ankle popping I was really overcompensating with my right leg. 
It felt so great to jump in the pool.  My legs and ankles actually sighed.  I heard them.  I texted my mom that I just finished my third half marathon.  She thought I finished THIRD, like third place.  Aww.  We were exhausted but didn't want to fall asleep in the sun.  We came in and took a nap before our dinner at The Melting Pot with some coworkers.  It was my first Melting Pot experience and I can't wait to go back.  Blogger fail, I forgot my camera. 

After dinner I came home and tied ice packs to my ankles and fell asleep.  They were so sore and swollen.  Today I was supposed to go rollerblading with a friend before our sushi lunch with RBK.  I had to cancel on the blading early because I can bareley walk.  My calves are super tight.  My hammys are sore from the hills.  My ankes are still swollen and I either have a stress fracture or planter fasciitis.  I have never had either one, but I know it hurts.  I have never felt this bad after a run.  I've spent my day with BenGay, Aspercreme, Mortin, my foam roller, compression socks, and ice.  Was it the hills or my beloved VFFs?  Beside the sore calves occasionally, I haven't had any problems with my shoes.  I don't want to have any ill feelings towards my shoes, but I don't think I can keep racing in them.  Especially if I don't know the course very well. 

My next race is the Stillwater Half Marathon in Stillwater, Minnesota.  I better get to working on hill training and wearing my Sauconys.  I also want to stick with crosstraining during this training session.  But, first things first, I gotta be able to walk.

Don't forget to sign up for my Virtual March of Dimes 5k.




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