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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…

Taking care

Taking care

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Going into our first of three 20-milers this weekend out in Barrington, I was genuinely nervous.  I tried to control what I could to ensure a good training run–going to bed early, having a good dinner, fueling appropriately in the morning–but no matter how many marathons or 20-milers I’ve done, that distance commands respect (and forces a bit of humility onto everyone).  Fortunately, temps were good, with little wind and no precipitation, so we finished in just under 3 hours.  And we had a blast in the process.  Rock on.

Fast forward to later Saturday and early Sunday, and the cold that I’ve been harboring since sometime last week seems to have gotten exacerbated.  Though my nose, at times, has been rather spigot-y, or my throat feeling like it was getting scratched out of commission by an angry feline, I didn’t feel any of these pains when I had run last week or last weekend.  I decided to take off Sunday and not do my usual easy 3-miler, and now, Monday evening, it looks like I may listen to my head (as opposed to my relentlessly happy moving feet…) and NOT run home, thereby forgoing my 7 miler tonight.  I’d rather have a cold, deal with it, and have it leave my system in 5 days as opposed to kinda-sorta-linger around for 10.

Sometimes it seems the jury’s out on how to tell if you should run when you’re feeling under the weather.  Some guides say not to run if your ailment is below your neck; others say you should run through your pain so as to learn how to deal with adversity.  This guide gives you a step-by-step questionnaire that you answer to help you arrive at a decision… but ultimately, what it comes down to is listening to your body.  Listen to yours, and you’ll figure it out.

If nothing else, remember that not running for one day (in an effort to promote preventative medicine) is FAR better than not running for weeks (due to not heeding your body’s warning signals and cries for help!!).