Well, in keeping with the "whah, whaaaahhh" theme, here goes my night marathon report.. So as I mentioned before, I kinda knew going in to this race that I may or may not be able to complete the full distance for this run, but I did want to give it the old college try and see how things went. Well, where to start. The first section of the trail was, for the most part, pretty good and the weather was about as good as could be expected for Indiana in late January.. It hovered around 30 degrees, maybe dropped a bit.. Cold, but really could have been much worse. The run started ok, but I quickly found myself alone out there in the woods..and then I also quickly realized that my headlamp was useless. Luckily I had my hand held light, but after following that for a while, I started to get really dizzy and nauseous (my current state of early pregnancy might have contributed to that), so that was no good. In preparing for this race, I only focused on trying to make my stomach handle the later running time, which is typically difficult for me. When you are used to early running, your body can really revolt against a big change, like trying to run on a belly full of a days worth of eating.. So that's what I tried to work on. Just simply running at a later time, but some of that was on a treadmill, some was in my neighborhood, NONE of it was on a trail and NONE of it was very long distances. Also not on my list of things I did to prepare.. test out my equipment!! Again.. I think I just really underestimated how hard it would be to run in the woods at night.. for a long distance.. in the cold.. I just thought, well, I can run a marathon and I can run a marathon on a trail.. how hard could it be to do it at night?? So I was pretty ill-equipped.. I can admit that. I think it also would have been more fun to run with another person or people. I tried to talk someone in to joining me for the full, but looking back, when I failed at that, I should have just committed to doing the half with a friend of mine. I don't know for sure if I'd have had a different outlook and if I'd have wanted to do the full half distance, had I made that mental change at the start of the run, but it's something to think about.. though a totally moot point because it's all said and done. Anyway. So there I was, dizzy and nauseous.. alone in the woods (most of the time.. except for when I passed slow quarter runners, none of which seemed to be enjoying their experience!), worried about what would happen when my flashlight went out.. then my stomach started hurting.. and then.. I hit the LOOooonng stretch of un-runable, ankle-deep, slick, cold, unavoidable mud. That was enough to seal the deal that I would not be heading out for another loop. It just wasn't meant to be. As much as I hate bailing on a race, there was just no part of me that wanted anything to do with another loop (or 3) of that. I think it's a cool concept and I'm not ruling out another go of it.. But I would definitely train better for it. I would need to get some friends together and hit the trails at night at least a few times for a decent distance to really get a good feel for it. I'm pretty sure folks said that the state parks would be legal for night running.. and they're actually working on changing the laws to make night running in the parks around the city legal.. so maybe by next year, I'll be all set to go. I did notice that the folks that were more experienced and in it for the long run had MUCH better headlamps and lights.. They'd run up behind you and you'd be like "wow.. so that's what it's supposed to be like!.. can I run with you for a bit, kind sir??". I'm sure that my knowing of my pregnancy probably didn't help my desire to push through all the discomforts that I was facing.. But there was also the issue of safety.. and I had said even before the 'bun' was known that if it wasn't fun, if the trails were too slick to be safe and run-able, that I had no shame in bailing.. So I'm not sure that really changed much.. except the nausea might not have been as bad & my stomach might not have been hurting as much.. I was also crazy tired, which I know was because of the early pregnancy stuff.. I had rested pretty much all day, so normal circumstances I would have been fine, but I was almost falling asleep on the drive home and it was only 8:30?! Imagine If I'd been trying to drive after a FULL marathon after midnight? yikes. But I think the best part of it all was when I went to explain to the race directors/timing guys that I would not be completing the run that night.. I just said I wasn't feeling great and that I had learned of my pregnancy, so knew I may or may not be able to have a great run, etc, etc.. I tried to give the cliffs notes version and not bore them with ALL the reasons.. One of the guys was very nice and just said congrats on the pregnancy and gave me a medal saying that it would be to remind me of the good news.. The other fella, however, decided it was a good time to inform me about pregnancy.. because, obviously, he's been through it before.. He said "actually, they say that if you've been running before you become pregnant, it's good to keep running".. the nice (smart) fella kind of patted his overweight, chatty buddy as if to say "you really don't want to do this, man".. I just smiled at him and said "there's some other effects of early pregnancy that are making this run difficult for me, not just the fact that there is a baby growing in me" (ie: the nausea, GI stuff, sleepiness). He IS right, however ill advised his advice was at that time.. BUT, the number one rule in taking on exercise while pregnant is you must LISTEN.. and not only listen, but respond to what your body is telling you. Sometimes it's good to push through pain and discomforts to come out the other end a stronger person, but since a healthy baby is more important to me than any athletic achievements, pregnancy is not that time. SO. My run totals dropped down to 20 miles last week.. So far I'm at 3 miles from last evening's lovely 50 degree sunset jog through the 'hood. I had also done a 40 minute spin that morning and did a crossfit workout. I was starting to feel the effects at crossfit a bit more this week.. more dizzy, out of breath.. It was a box jump, kettle bell, double under workout, so I guess cardio was involved.. but I had to slow a bit to keep my HR/breathing under control. I did have a major 'double under' success yesterday, though.. connected 25 for the 1st time! So that was exciting and took the sting out of not being able to perfom as well in the workout. Today I got a decent swim in this morning.. long set day, so 300 warm-up, 4x100 kick/swim set, 3x400's descending, only got through 2x150 descending before I had to get out to head home.. Not a long swim, but felt pretty good. Now I'm off to crossfit and I may or may not play my last soccer game for a while.. it's at 9:40 tonight, though?! So we'll see if I can hold it together for that late. I do want to play because it's the last game of this session and I don't think I'll sign up for next session. As much as (I'm sure the heavy fella from the race would tell me!) I know I can continue workouts through pregnancy, there's just too much gray area with soccer.. too much that I can't control.. getting pushed, kicked, hit with the ball.. just probably not the best idea.. SO. I think that's all I have to say about that!
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