Marathon Pace Thursday, 3/1/2018

Rain was predicted for the afternoon, so I had no choice but to run before work. Oh how I didn’t want to. Watching yesterday’s track meet was fabulous, but grueling. My kids have been running track since they were very young, but they have never been on the same relay team.  They are two years apart, but that is just old enough so that they have never been in the same age group (at least that I can remember).  My youngest son is a freshman, and he ran varsity in his first high school track meet. He ran the third leg of the 4 X1. His older brother ran the first, and the team won the race. It was very exciting. They also ran in the same heat in the 200. The older one won the heat and the younger took second. The younger one may not run varsity again this year, so I was so excited to see them both together.

However, it was cold, bone chilling, freakishly cold. I thought I was all set to deal with the cold, because I packed my old, warm, red coat. When I got to the meet, I realized that I was wearing the color of the team that was hosting. I had to take off the coat and carry it. I had on a long sleeve running shirt,  a padded vest, beanie and gloves. I had the coat on my lap and a blanket, but I was still so cold. Everyone was freezing.  My poor husband gave me his sweatshirt, but it didn’t even seem to help. Families huddled together. Eventually, I was snuggling with friends under another blanket. I got there at 1:45. I didn’t leave until 7, and I shivered the entire time. When I got home, I started asthma coughing. I’ve never gotten asthma from just being in the cold before. After a couple of shots with the inhaler, I was fine, though.

Thursday Marathon Pace Training
Back to this morning...I was dehydrated, and I had had enough of being cold, but the weather was actually not too bad at all (a little windy) and would get much worse. There was a storm predicted this afternoon. I planned to take my inhaler right before I left for the run. I, also, prepared some tailwind for my handheld, and I was going to take that with me.  I forgot to take a couple of whiffs of the inhaler, and I left the handheld on the counter.  I remembered all this about a half mile into the run.  I had 11 miles with no water and certain asthma symptoms in front of me. I managed to screw that up. I could feel my lungs constricting from the very beginning of the run. It actually was a problem, but I figured I wouldn’t die and there was nothing to be done in the middle of a MP run. I struggles, especially with that last ½ mile.

The minute I stopped, I started coughing crazily. There was nothing to do but get home, but I still had a few miles to go. It was a little bit miserable, so I figured what the heck? I’m practically dying anyway, I might as well just do another MP interval. So, after a ½ mile recovery, I did a mile at a fast MP. Don’t be too impressed. It was mostly downhill. When I stopped after that interval, the coughing wasn’t nearly as bad. It was a slow crawl home after that. I tried listening to my book, but I couldn’t pay attention. I didn’t care. Finally, I had to pull out the emergency tactics. I turned on The Dog Pound. The best and worst of gangsta rap all in one album. Something from that album will get me home. I might have a detailed, intellectual discussion with myself about the effects of misogyny in rap music on black culture, or analyse the social markers in Murder is the Case that They Gave Me, or just roll to Gin and Juice. I save Snoop for desperate times...lol

Believe it or not, in the rush to get to work, I still forgot to take that darn inhaler, so I coughed through the first hour of work. I’m glad I made my paces. I’m glad that run is over. I’m glad that I don’t have to run in the cold rain this afternoon. I stretched my calves and rolled my my feet. It’s a wrap!