WEEK 14: No pain, no gain?

First off, Thanks to JANETTE BAXA! Janette and I worked at House of Blues together for about 2 years, and she is a whole lot of fun. We don't get to see nearly enough of each other now that we don't work together, but it is always so great to see her and catch up. THANKS JANETTE!

OK, now I've got a confession to make: Sometimes, I really still hate running. Yesterday was one of those days. First, let me explain- we moved our normal Sunday runs to Saturday this week, because the San Gabriel Valley TNT team put on a "mock" 1/2 marathon for all the LA TNT Teams. It was really cool- there were probably 300+ folks out at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena at 7:30 AM on a Saturday- each one raising money for this great cause. So I got up bright and early and drove inland yesterday to participate. But I thought I'd do one better, and make up for the miles I missed on my trip to Palm Springs last week. So I arrived at 6:30 and met another teammate to do 2 miles before we started on the 13.1.

Those first 2 miles were no problem- it was still pretty cool and there was quite a bit of cloud cover. So I was feeling good about the 1/2 we were about to run.

Then we ran the 1/2 marathon. It was suppose to start at 7:30, but in typical TNT fashion, it didn't start until nearly 8. (I'm really glad I'm training with them, but my one pet peeve is that we ALWAYS seem to start late. I am not a morning person, and I'd really rather get things over with that early in the AM.) We did one loop around the Rose Bowl (about 3.3 miles,) and then part of another loop. Then we headed off on a trail, and that's where it got tough. It got hot and there was no cloud cover, and large parts of it were up hill. I think I was pretty OK up until mile 10, but I kind of hit the wall after that. I had a hard time letting go of the fact that I was really on mile 12, and kind of regretting my idea of running those 2 extra miles in the beginning. The last 3 miles were a pure battle of mental toughness. And I almost lost, unfortunately. It's good that I've had tough runs before where I don't feel so great, because I'm learning that I can press through it, but man, it isn't fun to do. I got a cramp in my left IT band at about that point (10/12 miles, depending on how you are looking at it,) that made finishing seem impossible. But I stretched and walked and kept going, and made it to the end. It was the kind of run where I was asking myself why I was doing it for the better half of it. But I finished, and it felt good. I now know that I can drag myself through 15 miles, even if it hurts.