Click Here to Get One for Yourself

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Janesville Half Marathon

Janesville had a cold snap yesterday. Thursday - shorts and flipflops, Friday night - winter parka, gloves, sweatshirt, and jeans and still freezing my buns off wrapped in a blanket in the stands at Monterey Stadium watching my kid kick ass and take names.
This morning there was frost on the ground - yikes. It was 44.6 degrees out - Had to wear tights and a jacket and hat. It was a small group taking off from Lions Beach, likely in part due to the weather. We talked a few minutes with the SWATs that were there. Anne Thatcher (who is training for a marathon to qualify for Boston) asked me what my goal was other than to finish. I answered "not to cry." I think she thought I would give her a time goal. I thought answering that I was shooting for sub-3 would probably make her laugh.
From the start I was last. After a while I was quite a ways behind. I became aware that there was a van behind me driving really, really slow. I thought at first it was just trying to drive down the road. I kept motioning for it to pass me for several minutes, but it didn't. A little further down the road, I realized this was the car that was following the last runner and that was me. I spent a while being kind of pissy about it. I couldn't remember what it was called, so I made up names to call it. I finally decided on "The Hearse" since it kind of felt like it was waiting for me to keel over and die since I was so slow. I could see a single guy ahead of me a ways up the road and ahead of them, and 3 guys ahead of him. Beyond that - no one, nowhere, nada.
The Hearse followed me until mile 7, where I managed to pass the geriatric jogger that had been kicking my ass until that point. Then it followed him. I smiled and told him good job as I passed, doing a little cartwheel on the inside. I was no longer last.
The plan I followed was this.... walk the water stations, drink my sugar free Walmart Replenish (like Gatorade without carb), and munch sparingly on Black Cherry Shot Blocks, 1 every 15 minutes so I didn't get sugar gut and threaten to puke. The second half was easier. There were a couple guys ahead of me that were fartleking..... well they were walking but would let me get almost to them and then jog til they were further ahead. I finally got ahead of them about a 1/4 mile form the finish just before we rounded the last corner and I stayed ahead. I couldn't tell if they let me get ahead of them or if I actually kicked it in the last little bit but whatever - I'll take what I can get. Final time according to the Garmin: 2:33:01.... an 11:53 pace. I thought around 2:30, so was pretty well on the money.
It was such a relief to be done and to have kept going without having to take walk breaks that I teared up a little, especially when my nephew Jake met me at the finish and gave me a high five and a hug. That was cool. Got hugs and congrats from the SWAT folks there and my sister and Jeff. Felt kind of stupid accepting them - they all had time to go home, shower, and catch the news before they had to be back to watch me, but I did appreciate it.
I also need to shout out to the Milton High School cross country team. They manned the last 2 water stations and THEY.WERE.AWESOME. They cheered and whooped for you all the way through the station, then as they drove by on there way back they hung out the windows of the cars and hollered and cheered all the way past. As the person who was next to last, those cheers came at a great time when I was tired and kind of down, they really picked me up and kept me going. It was great.
I am feeling it a little tonight. My left butt cheek hurts. And my back hurts a little, like in the T3/T4 area. The legs are good so far, not real sore. So I broke my back and my butt, but not my legs or my spirit.
Tommorow's exercise in stupidity: The Dousman Duathlon. Stay tuned.

17 comments:

bigmike600 said...

Once again, you amaze me. What's next J-Wim? Can't wait to find out.

I agree that Lana's cross country team was awesome.

TAK said...

You are so cool Jen! I'd like to say that I laugh out loud at just about every post you make because I can hear your tone and you make me giggle!! So proud of you for finishing and doing so well. Who gives a hoot where you came in you did it...AND beat the geriatric jogger :) Love you!! Way to go! SOOO proud of you!

TAK said...

P.S. Just went to Itunes and bought that song.. LOVE IT!! Keep 'em coming!

Unknown said...

Hey I also downloaded Hail to the Geek by the Deaf Pedestrians - one of my new favorites.

tayjizzy said...

Jeff is sore too if that makes you feel any better. He is drowning his pain in Corona as we speak :)

S. Baboo said...

Great job on the half mary and good luck with the Du!

Di said...

Your race totally trumps my workout last night. 8oz curls, double fisted with 2 for 1 margaritas.
Great job Jenny!!

Unknown said...

Good job! And best of luck today.

Jenny Davidson said...

Great job! And seriously--completing a half-marathon is a huge accomplishment--but I must say that I think that a VERY respectable time, I know you want to go faster but if you ran that time in one of the really huge half-marathons round about where I live, you would have HUGE numbers of people finishing way after you! Just saying....

Bigun said...

awesome! just keep moving, and for your first half, you did great! Racing again the next day - you're a glutton for punishment!

Dan Seifring aka "OBRATS" said...

Great job on the half. Can't wait to read about the DU.

Pat said...

Great job. Glad you stayed away from the 'hearse'. 2:33 is a great time. At the RnR half that I ran in that would have been in the middle of the pack. Are you going to get a tat to mark the occassion. Geekgirl could do a design for you.

Good luck today. I know it's over already.

Unknown said...

I am thinking about a tat. It will have to be a good one becuase I think my mother will have a little heart attack if I actually do it.

the Dread Pirate Rackham said...

You did great on your first half - way to go! And you're still upright - so you did really well!

Just a thought - the clif bloks will probably stay down better with just plain water - I've had problems with those repeating on me in the past, if I take them with plain water it works better.

Jeff said...

Great race report, Jenny. I'm with everyone else on the time. At 2:33 in Philly yesterday, you'd have had over a thousand people finish after you!

Oly said...

You did good J, thats not a bad time at all. More like a tough field.

Did you make Mike kiss your ass, you know to make it feel better. :)

Anonymous said...

[url=http://vonmertoes.net/][img]http://hopresovees.net/img-add/euro2.jpg[/img][/url]
[b]macromedia flashtm software version 8, [url=http://vonmertoes.net/]software for purchase in[/url]
[url=http://hopresovees.net/][/url] acdsee freeware government discount software
spybot search destroy for windows xp [url=http://hopresovees.net/]filemaker pro 9 serial number[/url] to buy adobe software in
[url=http://vonmertoes.net/]discount software discount game software[/url] coreldraw graphics suite x4 with painter x
[url=http://bariossetos.net/]buy adobe photoshop 6[/url] buying photoshop
office 2008 software [url=http://hopresovees.net/]cheap version of microsoft office[/b]


View My Stats

Calculate your Calories