Biting off more than I could chew?

Possibly what I did this weekend. I bit off way more than I could chew.

I have talked about how I've been trying to run and train for the marathon, and I've been doing it over time so that I can get used to it. Since Dan has been here, I haven't been as good as maybe I should have been when it comes to running. I have slacked off a few days, but I haven't let myself get down about it. Every day I've skipped, we've been doing an intensely physical activity outside. We went rock-climbing twice, we took VERY long walks, we canoed huge portions of a river. So I haven't gotten too much running in. However, when we were planning our weekend, I mentioned that I really wanted to go back to Asheville. We loved it in the winter, had so much fun, and both of us talked about going back in the spring. Dan found out that there was a race in Asheville on Saturday, and we decided to get a hotel room on the Friday night before the race.

When we went to dinner on Friday night, Dan and I had agreed that he was going to do the ten-miler, and I was going to do the 5k. I've never done ten miles before, and this race was supposedly really hilly. After a glass of wine, though, I decided that I would be mad if I did a measly 5K and he did ten miles. So I said I would do the ten miler, and we both agreed that we didn't care about our times.

Saturday morning proved to be a difficult morning. I woke up not feeling well, and I will spare the details. Put it this way: the person who emailed me (and will remain nameless) to suggest Immodium before a race? Yes, they are correct. I took one, and during the race I was fine, but I was NOT fine until about a half hour before. My running partner did not feel well either. We got bagels and coffee, though, and we got on the road. We registered for the race all of ten minutes before the start time, and we finally started running at 9 am.

Let me tell you: when I heard of the course as "hilly", they WERE NOT KIDDING. The first FIVE MILES was a SOLID CLIMB. The second was a steady descent. This sounds great, but don't tell that to my joints. It HURTS to run downhill for a long time. I really did HORRIBLY in the race. I didn't finish last and it was a really small field to begin with, but I was CLOSE to last. I mean REALLY close. But I finished. All ten miles. Roughly a 3500 foot climb, up and then down. I noticed that the race was sponsored by the local hospital and wanted to voluntarily check in and have my feet amputated.

All in all, however, we had a great time once the race was done. We went to the outdoor sports festival and quickly left once we realized that we could not find any non-vegetarian food. Hey, it is Asheville, hippies are everywhere. We had a rather large post-race meal downtown, and then felt no guilt when we drank lots of beer at a couples baby shower we were invited to in Charlotte last night.

So yes, I bit off more than I could chew at the race. Still made it through (with a few walking periods) but I'm hurting a lot today. Taking today and monday off, then it's back to my 2 mile run on Tuesday. Ugh, I am not looking forward to that at ALL.