Surviving the weekend..

This past weekend was pretty action packed for me. As a result, my close friends and co-workers have realized that I'm a pretty big grump when I'm either a) exhausted or b) sore/achy. After this weekend, I was both. Sorry guys :)

On saturday, Jan 5th, I attempted my first half-marathon with my two running buddies, Kim and Karah. Karah is an experienced runner, who was using this 13.1 trek as part of her training for the Houston marathon the next weekend. Kim started running when I did back in February of 2007. Kim, however, is a natural athlete and therefore is awesome. The original plan was for Kim to run with another group of faster runners that she'd raced with before while poor Karah was stuck with the slow-poke (i.e. me) for as long as I could keep up. Yeah, so much for plans. At the start of the whistle for the inaugural Mississippi Blues Marathon and Half-Marathon, we were off! Only problem is with 1200 people starting together, it can get a bit crowded. Literally 20 yards from the start line, Karah and I got separated and from then on, I was on my own. Bummer, right? Not exactly. I was able to make a few new friends along the way. As I puttered along the beginning of the first 4 miles, I chatted with Preston, an LSU fan from Monroe, LA. We talked about the upcoming game and had a good time, until the first big hill came along. I had already planned (here i go planning again) that I should walk UP any hills. Why waste precious energy when I know I can't run the whole time anyway? I had also planned that if I needed to walk straight-aways, I would limit my time to less than a minute duration. Believe it or not, I was actually able to keep my walking schedule, although mostly b/c of all the darn hills in this race! The knee issue that I'd been having for the previous two weeks seemed non-existent, that is until Mile 7.5 anyway. At some point in my short runs before this race, I developed a sharp pain just below the kneecap whenever I fully extended my leg. I probably should recognize the source of injury, but I'm so far removed from medical school these days that there wasn't much point in trying to figure it out. Regardless, this sharp pain showing up in the middle of the half-marathon was quite disheartening. Was I seriously going to have to walk nearly 6 more miles? Soo boring! Turns out, running through the pain actually made the pain go away (until I took the next walking break, at which point I had to limp through a few running strides before the pain left again). So Yea for me, I was able to work through my pain and succeed in my half marathon attempt. As you may know from my New year's resolutions, my goal was 2 hours and 45 minutes. My chip time for the inaugural MS Blues Halfmarathon (and my first half-marathon ever!) was 2 hours, 42 minutes and 50 seconds. Go me!! Even Brad showed up to cheer me on at the finish! (He had earlier fessed up that the only reason he had planned on going was due to the high likelihood that I would injure myself on the course and need 'rescuing,' haha)

Even though I was the last person to finish of my friends (Karah finished in 2:26 and Kim wowed us all with a fabulous 2:09 finish), I did finish and just before my goal. The three of us celebrated with a free massage from the students at the school of therapeutic massage, as well as with the free pizza and subs from local restaurants and a cup o joe from Cups (that was not free unfortunately).

That night we gained free admission to see Super Chikan (James Johnson, i think) and Bobby Rush, a few of the famous Blues musicians from our state. (This is where the picture of the girls in the cute outfits came from). Super Chikan was awesome, but Uncle Bobby sorta scared us with his hootchie-mama dancers. We decided to make our exit shortly after they took the stage. It was definitely a day of first experiences. Kim and I completed our first official half marathon and Karah danced in public (I'm assuming it was her first time considering the HUGE amount of resistance she put up to doing so...)

As far as the next day, OUCH! Brad was on call, which left me the entire day to lounge around and limp my way to clinton and back for Sunday lunch. I may not do another half-marathon this year (why would I? I already reached that goal for 2008!) but I definitely think I'll be making another appearance at the MS blues event. It was a perfect day for a recreational jog through the capital city :)