I HATE MICHIGAN WEATHER!!

Ok, so we just got like 3-4 inches of snow. That's fine. Thursday is my "day of rest". Weatherman states that it will be cold but no flurries likely. I'm thinking "cool", I'm on vacation so I can do what I hardly ever do... run in the morning. I get up this morning... why is there another 2 inches of snow on the ground, unpaved. Traffic going at a snails pace, so I know that the main roads are not paved and salted. At the rate I'm going, I'll never make it to marathon level. I REFUSE to run that race without proper training. Its not until october, but still, I plan on running a few halfs in between, with my first in 12 weeks.

So I'll digress a little... I ran my first half last year at the Grand Rapids Marathon. At that point, I had never run more than 6 miles continuously in my entire life, and I only did that once for my first ever 10k race, for which I had maxxed out at 4.5 miles. I was more of a 5k runner... trying to get back to high school form (this will become a recurring theme). The first 3 miles were a breeze, albeit I was prodding along near a tortoise'esque 7:45 pace. I started with the 3:44:00 (G.W. Bush's marathon time) pace group, but I could walk faster than they were running. So I catch up to the 3:29:00 (Billy Baldwin [Alec's bro] marathon time) group, and run with them until like mile 6. At this point, I'm like "Ok, I'm getting tired here... I aint never ran this far before". So I pass up this pack and run alone. Alas!! Thou hearketh a lady with a giant bowl of gummybears... just in time!! So I reach my glove covered hand for some... missed horribly!! I felt like Candide of Westphalia, and wanted to kill the closest 3 people around. I did not believe that my body could hold up, but I decided to show an auto-da-fé, so I trot on.

Mile 7, I'm REALLY feeling it now!! Then all of a sudden, I remembered the Gu stashed in my key pocket of my shorts. So I guzzle it down (no H2O), then wouldn't you know it... mile 8... a Gu station!! So I grab another Gu and down it with some water and just decide to hang on for dear life!! The reassuring thing was that the Marathoners had split to do their thing, and I was just catching up to the 3:14:00 (Pi... math... get it??) group. I had no idea about a BQ, but I guess I was nearing that pace if I were to run a full. Mile 8 - 10 was the most guttrenching thing of my life!! THIS is where I was 99% sure I was going to walk. But out of nowhere, I got this sudden surge of energy. Maybe it was the girl that passed me and said "you only got 5k left!!" or it was the Super-Gu!! One guy stated that my Gu must have been manufactured by Balco!! Amazingly, according to my Garmin, my last 5k was run at 7:15 / mile pace, the same pace I had run my 10k race earlier. Near the finish, I could hear the crowd cheering... and some guy yelled "Hey!! How are you feeling??" I stated... "Bad!!". He yelled back "Yeah, you look bad!!" LOL. I didnt know whether to get mad or laugh myself to an oxygen deprived fit!! So I cross the finish line in 1:39:17. I dont know if its good or bad. I just ran.

Now all of this rambling to conclude... this was the most difficult thing I have ever done in my entire life. I was not prepared and didnt know what to expect. I hadn't run in like 1 week. Never ran more than 20 miles in a week. I ran in Brooks T3 Racer... granted i'm a 195lb pronator... and had blisters on both feet, felt like a stress fracture in my right foot which lasted a few months, my quads were so tight you could call it virgin, got an immediate massage to no avail, and I chafed so bad in the most inconspicuous place... just put it this way, I wish I had a colostomy bag for BM's instead of it coming from that end. Dont even ask me about my shower!!!! So this weather is really getting to me. I want to get out and run, but I aint going to waddle like a penguin all day. So treadmill here I come. Boring and all. I HATE MICHIGAN WEATHER (in the winter). I had a lot to say because I had the time, my next blogs wont be near as long!! Until next time...