I ran my second half marathon last weekend. My sister ran her first. If you've seen the Ricky Gervais skit about the Lazy Mouse and the Industrious Mouse this post will make a lot more sense. This video cracks us up! My sister often refers to me as the Industrious Mouse...and she is the Lazy Mouse. But really she isn't, my sis was always the natural athlete in the family...when she was on varsity basketball as a sophomore I was sitting keeping score on the sidelines. What ever athletic ability I have now I've really had to work for it and the Lazy Mouse well...watch the video and then I'll tell you our story:
This is the tale of Laura, the Industrious Mouse, and Jenny, the Lazy Mouse...who set off on an adventure to run a half marathon.
The Industrious Mouse trained for over three months every Saturday morning. Industrious Mouse ran hills, did cross training work outs, and speed work outs. Industrious Mouse also monitored her diet, tracked all her training times and knew she was going to finish the race better than she did last year. Industrious Mouse kept reminding Lazy Mouse to sign up for the race before it sold out. Industrious Mouse signed up plenty early to take advantage of the lower entry cost and secure her spot in the race. Industrious Mouse also told Lazy Mouse months before the race that she needed to train or she would never survive the race.
Lazy Mouse missed the sign up dead line and had to go on the wait list.
Lazy Mouse did not train for the race.
Industrious Mouse was sad that Lazy Mouse wouldn't run the race with her, but low and behold a spot opened up three weeks before race day and Lazy Mouse was able to run the race!
Lazy Mouse still did not train for the race.
Race Day finally arrived. Industrious Mouse was pumped! She trained, she properly carbed up, she ate a protein/high carb energy bar before the start to give her that extra boost. On the other hand, Lazy Mouse was feeling a little nervous.
So the race started and Industrious Mouse was in the lead...at one point Lazy Mouse caught up with her but Industrious Mouse said "NO WAY You're not going to beat me". She soared ahead and did not see Lazy Mouse for the rest of the race.
However, Industrious Mouse ignored a foot injury that started out of no where around mile 2. She continued to run hoping the pain would go away but it escalated instead, by mile ten the Industrious Mouse had to stop and walk because her foot was throbbing. But the finish line was near so she forced herself to run again. By the last half mile she was sprinting to the end and finished the race in 2:22:11. Lazy Mouse was no where in sight.
The only problem was once the race ended Industrious Mouse couldn't walk on her foot that was bothering her during the race. She went to the medic tent to get tylenol, but then pain shot up her calf muscle. The medic staff made I.M. get in a wheel chair and took her to the main medic tent and had her lay down on a hospital cot. Industrious Mouse started hyperventilating because of the pain.
Then strolls in Lazy Mouse...cool as a cucumber with a medal around her neck. Lazy Mouse...WHO DIDN'T TRAIN....only finished five minutes behind the Industrious Mouse (2:27:30). Lazy Mouse then called out to the nurse... "She's faking it!!"
Industrious Mouse was not happy.
Once she was able to breath normal again, the nurse gave Industrious Mouse a little kit kat bar for doing so well. (which I was going to save for later), but Lazy Mouse snatched the kit kat bar from Industrious Mouse and took half of it! Oh the humanity!!
So what's the lesson in the tale of the Lazy Mouse vs. The Industrious Mouse? Clearly those who slack off still win...and get kit kat bars out of the ordeal as well! Damn her!
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Haha seriously...what type of person steals an invalids kit kat bar!! It's just not right...not right I tells ya! Lazy Mouse Jenny is also an ICU nurse so she has a certain level of immunity and intolerance towards suffering...ie. She's a suck it up type of person...and sometimes I'm a bit of a drama queen (as if quirks of this blog weren't any indication). Anyway, I was just upset after running this race because I was so prepared ,so excited to run the race and really REALLY looking forward to crossing that finish line with a sense of accomplishment.
Last year when I ran my first half I made the mistake of throwing my interval training plan out the window and attempting to run the race straight though. I burned myself out by mile 7. This year I restarted my training plan with the goal of running straight though. I started at 5 miles and worked myself up to running 12 miles with out taking any breaks. I was consistently running 10.5 minute miles through out all my training and I was running the toughest hills in my area as well. I had no pains other than the usual aches I've been getting from running long distances (calf cramps and hip aches), but never had a problem with my foot. I was ready for this race! So to end up getting injured randomly during my run and being in so much pain after I crossed the finish line was a real let down. It makes me question if my body is physically cut out for this type of exercise. Maybe I'm just not cut out to be a distance runner...but at the same time I really REALLY find a lot of enjoyment out of running and it's amazing stress relief so the only thing to do is to carry on.
On the upside my time was 15 minutes faster than last year and my mile time was 10.8 minute miles (so almost 11 minute miles). If I wasn't injured and could keep up my pace and if I didn't have to stop those two minutes I KNOW I could have run a faster race. Maybe I'll have to try again next year.
I haven't actually worked out since the race, and it's been a really strange feeling not getting up in the morning, but I know I needed a few days to put my foot up and let it heal. I was going to attempt to work out this morning but I haven't gotten my sleep cycles back to normal yet so I'm going to see how I feel this afternoon. Keeping my fingers crossed!
Eye of the tiger baby! running through the pain!
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