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March Madness 2012

March Madness 2012

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Part of the beauty (or maybe “risk” is the better word) for running the March Madness half marathon in Cary, Illinois, in mid-March is that you never know the type of weather you’re going to get.  Last year, runners were treated to a nice windy and rainy thunderstorm for their 13.1 jaunt through rural IL, while in the years I had done it (2009 and 2010), both times the day was crisp and bright but cool, around 30s or 40s.  This year’s race blew everything out of the water, though, as it was a balmy 60 degrees at the 8:35 start time without a cloud in the sky, no wind to speak of, and nearly 80+% humidity.

Milling about in the high school gym before the race starts

I’m pretty sure none of us thought when we were registering for this race on 12/31 that we’d be wearing shorts in mid-March.  God bless the midwest (and global warming).

So how was the race?  Well, in a word, challenging.  This race is tough any day of the week because it’s set-up pretty similarly to the Boston course: lots of downhills in the first half, followed by lots of ascents, and in the mix, some little rollers and not much flatlands.  Silly me must have thought I was a novice runner on Sunday, so I went out much too quickly–sub 7s for my first three–and of course, I only got more tired as the race continued, as the sun got hotter, and as my legs got more fatigued from all the ascending and descending.  Check out the course map below for a visual.

March Madness Map 2010

All told, I posted a 1:41, which was a good 9 minutes slower than my last half at F^3, but I guess it’s also important to remember that F^3 was in flat Chicago and on a day that was barely 20 degrees.  I’m not a fan of warm weather or humidity running, so I gave it my best shot on Sunday and tried to run with it (terrible pun, but I couldn’t resist).

One nice thing about running in Cary is that I get to see many of my runner buddies, especially those from the suburbs, whom I usually see infrequently.  Below is me with my buddy David C.

Salty, stinky, and sweaty with David after the half

After racing and chatting with my buddies, I also got the pleasure of going to see another friend, Laura, and her husband and new baby, since they live relatively close to the race.  Here’s a pic of Laura and me chilling with baby Theo on the ground.

Chillin

 

Despite the beautiful weather and the lovely time with my friends on Sunday, the day ended on a crappy note, as I ended up spending over two hours at a clinic where my in-laws live to be told that what I thought were allergies was actually “viral sinusitis.”  I’m thinking that I had this during the race, too, which could have made going full-tilt even more difficult (in addition to it being toasty and humid and hilly).  I hope I can shake this soon, though, as I’ve got a 20-miler staring me in the face on Saturday and the shuffle 8k on Sunday.

Also, interestingly enough, the level of soreness from this race has been unmatchable.  On Monday, my body felt like it had just run a marathon, not a half marathon, the day before.  My quads were completely trashed–feeling like they had gotten hit repeatedly with a bag of oranges–and I resorted to descending stairs backwards or sideways to make the contact more comfortable.  Between the muscular soreness, then, and this illness that I’m sporting, I’m a bit of a mess.

To better health in the next 72 hours…

And so the difficulty begins

And so the difficulty begins

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Well, I guess that’s a little misleading, seeing as how today marks the 31st week of when it “began”– the pregnancy, of course.  It’s hard to believe that 31 weeks have already gone by and that if Yoda goes to full-term, s/he could be here in as few as 5 weeks or as many as 9.  Let’s hope for the latter!

Earlier this week was, I think, the first real “blip” in the pregnancy so far.  It’s hard to describe what exactly it was– maybe GI-related, maybe gas, maybe Braxton Hicks— but our midwife assured us that it wasn’t pre-term labor.  Phew.  The back and “guts” pain that I had earlier this week were incredibly intense.  Fortunately, they’ve mostly subsided, and I finally managed to get some sleep last night.  I guess this is just a taste of what’s to come post-Yoda arrival.  Yikes.

I couldn’t help but wonder if part of the reason these pains randomly began on Sunday derived from me not running.  Last week, post-Vegas trip, I ran on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and elected to not run on Saturday or Sunday mornings because I was feeling tired and a bit achy.   Come Sunday after breakfast, the mystery pains began, which got me wondering if maybe their onset had something to do with my not running (or not really being physically active at all) for 48 hours.  Who knows, maybe my body is so acclimated to “doing” something most every day of the week that if it doesn’t, it goes into freak-out mode?  Once I returned to work on Wednesday, I did a really EZ 3.1 miler during my lunch break and actually walked in the final .75 miles because I still wasn’t feeling “right.”  Talk about a confidence-slasher.  Since I was feeling better today than I was yesterday, I just went out for another little mid-day run, just about 2.1 miles, and while I’m not breaking any speed records (I was averaging around 11 minute miles today), at least I was feeling better… and I didn’t have to walk it in.   11-minute miles aren’t my norm yet, so these past couple runs have been humbling, to say the least.  What’s important to remember, though, is that I have yet to regret going out for a run.  I’m always, always glad I did.

Now might be the beginning of when this pregnancy is going to start getting “difficult,” whatever that means.  Today was also the first time I wore some “maternity” running attire, though I’m being a bit misleading with the quotations because they’re “maternity” insomuch that the lightweight jacket and long pants are non-maternity clothing, just larger than what I usually wear.  At least they gave me some more room to move around and be comfortable… and they should be able to accommodate my increasing midsection for the next 9ish weeks.  Here’s hoping, anyway.

The runs of the past two days have got me thinking about whether I’ll realistically be able to run in Cary’s March Madness half marathon in about 4 weeks.  I think it’s too soon to tell, to be quite honest.  I think it’s just one of those things that I have to assess a day at a time.  If race day comes and I’m feeling well and interested in running the race, I’ll make the trek out to the greater northwest suburbs to go after it.  If not, I won’t.  According to last year’s times, there were some participants who took over 2 hours to run it–some, even 3–so if I do do it, at least I’ll have some company.

Maybe these past couple days were just blips and not necessarily indicative of worse conditions that are yet to come.

Let’s hope so, anyway… 🙂