Better to Laugh

I got the race confirmation card for my 13th OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon in Indianapolis, Indiana, and I am starting in corral D! I just stared, speechless, at the confirmation card, but in my mind I was yelling yippee, heck yeah, woo hoo, and any other burst of appropriate, celebratory words I could think of! I ran upstairs to show my husband (who starts in corral B every year). He said that when he got the mail and first saw corral D he thought, “Why did they move me back to corral D?” Then he realized he was looking at my card. He was really excited for me and himself, since he won’t have to wait as long for me to finish.

In previous races, I walked with spurts of running and finished on average at 03:20:00. My usual start corrals over the years were T, V, W, and even Z. Starting in corral Z and seeing the back cutoff for the 30,000+ runners is a strange feeling, not to mention boring, as it took almost an hour to get to the start line after the horn sounded.

Last year was my first attempt at running most of the race, finishing in 2:24:12. That time qualified me for a preferred start in corral D! Me, the one who used to despise running because it was too boring! Am I ready for this? I hope so, because I am doing it in 19 days and a wake-up. Yesterday’s nine mile run felt really good, so I say bring it on!

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I didn’t realize it until I looked at the results, but I beat my PR by almost 3 minutes at the Sam Costa Half Marathon today! The start was a chilly 27 degrees, and there was a 10-15 mile an hour NE headwind for the first half of the race. There were lots of hills, too. But the sun was shining, and the 11 year-old boy who eventually beat me kept me pushing at the end. I did what I came there to do:  Run the first 8 miles at under a 10 minute pace and run/walk the rest. It was a great, personal race!

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We went from warm, sweaty 70s on Wednesday to cold, goose pimply low 40s on Thursday…for the high! Where did spring go? We went from summer to winter in twelve hours. Or did we get time warped back to February?

I have my first half marathon of the season tomorrow morning. I plan to run the first 8 miles and walk/run the rest as training for the half marathons coming up in May. I thought I would have to worry about getting too warm, but the temperature at sunrise might be in the 20s. At least I have my gloves and mask clean and ready to go. Since I ran outside all winter, I should handle it pretty well. I would actually prefer running with the temperature in the 40s than the 70s; I hate being too hot. I am just weird that way.

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Today is the last day of winter, on the calendar, anyway. The cold weather may not be entirely gone, but today is a beautiful, sunny day with temperatures in the 50s. I maintained a schedule of running outside the entire winter, but rain almost stopped me yesterday.

Even though it was overcast, the rain had stopped, so I got my gear on and started to head out. About 100 yards from the house, it started to sleet. Actually, since it was 48 degrees, it was probably more like very small hail bouncing off of the ground. Seriously?! I kept going and shortly it started to rain fairly hard. A break in the clouds was coming, so I just shook the water off of my hair and kept going. If it kept raining, I would do a short run and try for a longer run on Sunday. After a few minutes, the rain let up, so I kept pounding away. Boy, am I glad I did! At about mile 6 the sun came out and the birds were singing. Beautiful! True Indiana weather, if you wait a few minutes it will change. It turned out to be a great 7.25 mile run. Hopefully I can maintain my outdoor running schedule during the Indiana spring weather. I don’t plan on running through any tornadoes.

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I am really starting to turn a corner with nutrition. I’ve turned several corners; surprisingly, I haven’t gotten lost, and it seems I am staying more often on the right course. In the latest development, I now base more of my food choices on how it will affect my running. In the past, I made choices based solely on how long I would have to run so that I could eat junk and still fit into my pants. Now, I look at food and think more about protein, potassium, sodium, fiber, good carbs, etc. and less about texture, flavor, and comfort. Not that nutritious foods don’t have those yummy qualities. Tonight, I ate two phenomenally sweet and juicy mandarin oranges, and they were as easy to open as candy bar! I may never win my age division in races, but eating to fuel my run and recovery makes me a lifetime champion in health!

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