Race Day - Nike Women's Marathon

Race day started EARLY. What is it about these folks and early races? It wasn't as early as Disney, but I was at the metro at 5 AM. I had arranged to meet several ladies from the Moms Run This Town facebook page so I wouldn't have to go into the city alone.

 I don't look ready to go...really. 

I was feeling good and it was so nice to have company. We took a tour of the area and took in the sights.

There is nothing better then a race in DC. The monuments are so beautiful and the routes downtown are great. We had a meeting place set up for our group picture. This group loves pictures. :)

Aren't they beautiful, tough women? Ready to race

Everyone was in the corrals ahead of me, and we thought I could sneak in. I ended up deciding that I wanted to start in my assigned corral. It worked out for the best as their corral was apparently very crowded. I didn't have any trouble finding a place in my corral - maybe it pays to be slow sometimes.

There were lots of Team in Training runners there, all in their purple. There was a pacer with a sign right next to me for a 12:59 pace. I decided to try and keep up with her as well as I could. I was feeling good and ready to race. Fair warning, I didn't take any pictures because I wanted to focus on my race.

We had a moment of silence for Boston and then we were off.

Praying for Boston and everywhere else

As I sit here watching the coverage of the race (finally, I won't watch it when the kids are around) I am just as horrified, if not more so, since the news was broken at work today. I think about the runners who worked so hard to be there. So hard that their families would never think of missing them cross the finish line. That one person's goals put whole families, new couples, children at risk. I won't try to recap the news here. The facts as we know them are changing rapidly. I think about those that were impacted and those that might be reconsidering a goal race such as London next week or MCM in the future. I wonder about the runners who deferred from last year due to the heat and if they feel like this race is cursed for them.

Boston is a goal race, a big goal race. It has its own language. To BQ is to Boston Qualify. It is one of the few races in the nation where you have to meet a time target in order to run. Races advertise themselves a flat and fast for BQ. All of that was shattered today.

I heard about 17,000 people had already crossed the finish line. How do they feel about their accomplishment? Is it all overshadowed by the victory. Will the winners always be connected to this tragedy? Will they be more determined to come back and conquer this course and show that runners will not be defeated by such senseless violence. As you can see, I haven't been able to formulate any real thoughts around this. Just more questions.

The racing community is spreading the word to wear race shirts tomorrow in support of the runners, the marathon and Boston.

So this is how I am ending the day.

I began it at boot camp. Today was our first day outside. There was a light rain. It didn't bother me except for when were laying on our mats doing crunches. I am not sure how the weather will impact our schedule, but hopefully the rain will start after 7 am on most days. I feel like it is a major victory that I made it this morning. Tomorrow I am going to try again!

I think I Lost My Wagon

Not only do I feel like I have fallen off the wagon, but I can't even see it. It isn't all that bad, I assure you, but it FEELS that way. Some days that is enough.

Monday was a rest day - that 11 miles from Sunday did me in. I was ok with that, and I had a great reason for not getting my sweat on in the evening. My baby brother was in town! He lives all the way on the west coast and he had a meeting locally. While he comes east on a semi regular basis - every 6 months or so - sometimes I have to twist my schedule into knots to see him. This time he showed up at the house, shared dinner with the family, we had some adult chat time after the kids went to bed and then I took him to his hotel. Easy and relaxed. Just the kind of visit I enjoy!

I went to bed too late and knew I had to get to bootcamp. WHY can't I go to bed earlier? It is a real issue for me. I made it and we did circuits. Ouch. I was feeling very weak in general. I was supposed to run tonight as well, but with an event at school, I ended up on the couch with Obama on TV and my computer on my lap.

I think perhaps I am resisting. Resisting what? Well last night I spent a few minutes working out what I might need to do to train for a marathon. I know, really? After that 11 miler, it was just pure crazy talk. In January, on a day I had a great run apparently - I mentioned to my MIL that I was considering registering for the Green Bay Marathon. I could tackle anything, and why not that?! My hubby grew up in GB and the race runs through Lambeau Field for goodness sake. On the more important side, it is FLAT and with a very generous time limit. I think the folks at the water stations just break out the beer while they are cheering on the turtles like me. :) Anyways, I decided now that Disney is near and the Cellcom page is hyping weekend runs, I should figure out what I really needed to do. It is ugly. All of April has long runs of 4-5 hours each. I just don't know. The half just filled up yesterday, so I can't even play that for the family trip. I think traveling to GB for a 5k would be a little much.

So back to Disney - the task at hand. I have 2 weeks of training left and need to be on it. Finish strong. I want to be able to enjoy the race knowing I did what I needed to and just have fun!

How do you decide to take on challenges like a marathon?