Sometimes Your Husband is Right

Here is a case why you should actually listen to what your husband says...

On December 8th I ran my fourth half marathon of the year (13.1 miles) and I did so 24 hours after getting over a stomach bug.  Not my brightest moment.  Not by a long shot.  And before I left for the day - he warned me it probably wasn't a smart move.  But I paid $80 and already had my race bib etc.... I just had to do it.  Plus I felt pretty good - even if I knew my time would suck.

So once again my neighbor and I had a 7am race start - this time in Walnut Creek.  Sorry about this photo, I handed my phone to some old guy who had technical difficulties (he was just excited he got the cop car in the background).

So while it was cold and foggy just past the start line, I did pretty well in the beginning.  Especially for not being able to run except for one or two times in more than a month!  I ran the first 3 1/2 -4 miles before starting my run-walk plan.  I was going to run for 4 minutes and walk for 1 minute before repeating.

I did that until I got to the big - and I mean BIG hills around miles 4-7.  The last hill which started around mile 6 was a killer, I could barely walk up the sucker... and it was Foggy!  But the reward at the top was great!

This was after we rounded the corner after the super steep hill - what you can't see is that we're finally above the fog and in the background there's just a blanket of it.  I was able then to run the full downhill portion - roughly miles 7-8 1/2.. in which we ran right back into the chilly, wet fog.

Once I reached the 8 1/2 mile point I went back to my run walk combos, but the 4:1 ratio turned more into 3:2... then into 2:3... until it was more like 30-45 seconds of running for about 4-5 minutes of walking.

Turns out all that running kicked up the tummy troubles... uh oh.

Around mile 10 I found a porta potty and went in not sure which end it was gonna come out... I figured if nothing a porta potty's gotta be good for a little relief.  Well it was a no go, so I decided to just keep going - at this point I only have a 5K left to go.  I figured I'd do more walking than anything.

And that's what I did.  I ran into my neighbor just shy of the 13 mile mark - she finished 30 minutes ahead of me.  Only about 2-3 minutes slower than our race in October.  And she hasn't run once since that race due to shin splints!

My final time was just under 3 hours (2:59:05) my worst time ever.  But this race wasn't about time.. it was just about getting to the Finish Line which I did not before nearly losing my shoe in the mud at the finish line.

My reward - to walk in the door and throw up for the next 13 hours - constantly.  And then have those "other" stomach troubles all day Sunday.  Apparently I wasn't really over that bug....

I was in bed the rest of the weekend, minus the two hours I needed to be at church.  I told Dave the thing he loves to hear the most (and rarely does) - that he was right.  I shouldn't have gone.  It wasn't worth it.