slcathena

This race report really explains the super focused look you had on the trail. Great race, and good times!

Ha! This was supposed to be saved, not published....I clearly have no idea how the new loop works... I will finish it tonight, and add pictures.

I have a confession to make. I haven't run a good half marathon in over 2 years. Even my last Rehoboth wasn't great. Admittedly, it was faster than the 2015 iteration, but 2015 felt...stale. I ran walked from mile 6 on, I felt undertrained, I felt like I didn't have any stamina in me... I feel like I'm getting ahead of myself. Again. Sorry about that, it seems to be a thing I just do when blooping. There was a moment earlier this year when I was going to run the full marathon at Rehoboth. See, I was drinking one night and pissed off that I thought I hadn't gotten into Chicago (newsflash: I had) and I started drunkenly ranting in Loopville about it, and the verdict came back: Rehoboth! And then there was a time I realized I'd gotten into Chicago and I thought I might actually be able to run the fulls at both Chicago and Rehoboth (newsflash: I didn't) because the races were months away and I had seen some training plans that would allow me to do both...even though I'd never done that before. As the summer wore on and my training kind of sucked, I audibled and decided that I'd run the full at Chicago and the half at Rehoboth. I regret literally nothing about this decision. I initially expected very little from this race. It took me way longer to recover from Chicago than I thought it would, although I was cautiously optimistic about 2 good runs Thanksgiving week. I just didn't really think that a bad marathon training cycle, a bad marathon, bad runs since that race and 2 good runs a week before the next race longer than 5 miles was a formula for success. In retrospect I underestimated a few things, specifically how much tenacity I'd gained during my horrible, awful, no good, marathon training cycle and the mental strength I'd gained. It turns out both of those things matter a lot more than I thought they did. As I packed the day before the race, I was pretty sure I had a 2:40 in me if everything was good. My goal was to beat the speedy full marathon runners and get to the after party in time to enjoy a lot of beer. I had a really early flight (6:54 departure from O'Hare, which is about 45 minutes from my apartment with no traffic) so I really needed to be up by about 3:45 to be sure I could get out of the house by 4:15 and get to the airport on time. I was worried enough about this that I mentioned it on Facebook, so like you do when you're worried about something, I stayed on the phone with an ex until 12:30 am just to keep things interesting. I woke up utterly shocked at 4:45 am having totally overslept my alarm and somehow managed to get 90% of my shit together, take a quick shower, and be sort of human as I raced downstairs, ordered an Uber and prayed that I wasn't going to miss my flight. I did not miss my flight and was on my way to Detroit to catch my connection. Loop magic: 1 Reality: 1. In Detroit reality decided to test me, so the handle that lets you pull your suitcase behind you in a fairly effortless fashion broke off my carry-on. I then carried my bag 29 gates to my connection. But when I got on that flight, it turned out I had a row to myself, and I decided that even though reality was really testing me loop magic was clearly in full effect. Loop magic: 2 Reality: 2.

It's definitely still supposed to be unpublished...I was trying to save what I wrote last night...did I do this wrong?

I love this. I must have found my limit, and ran right past it. "You must do what you don't think you can do."

DC in April? <3

Crushed it.

I need to do more hills...even though I hate them.

You're definitely a fucking bad ass. <3 Great race and thank you again for cooking us such a wonderful pre-race meal. Can't wait to run with you again.

F*ck yes! <3 I loved this.

I really wish I had pictures for this one, there were some good ones, but my phone has been on the fritz and, well, let's just say the battery dies if I try to do anything cool. So the only pictures I took for this race were a selfie before and a selfie after. But really, I feel like I maybe turned a corner (although it wasn't soon enough to make a difference for the upcoming Rehoboth festivities). Dear Loopsters, we last met after I vanquished the marathon demon. I sacrificed many toenails in that endeavor and it took me way longer to recover than I anticipated was ever possible. I'd originally planned to run the Hot Chocolate 15K. I laid out my flat me and took a picture and posted it on Facebook, and it didn't matter, because the next day I woke up like "who exactly do you think you are and what made you think you were ready to run a half a mile, let alone 9.3 of them, crazy woman?" and I stayed in bed. It was rather embarrassing, and I now have a really nice half zip that I'm pretty sure I never get to wear because I couldn't drag my butt out of bed 3 weeks after a marathon. But I digress. I spent the remainder of October and the first part of November wondering why my legs wouldn't just GO. I'd try to run and stop. I'd pack my running clothes for a work run and stop. I'd attempt to harness some running energy on a weekend and walk most of it. Frankly, I couldn't tell what was actually going on. In retrospect, I'm pretty sure it was a particularly vicious combination of needing to recover, Seasonal Affective Disorder, and lack of a new goal (yes, I know I'm signed up for Rehoboth, but it was never a goal in the same way Chicago was...IDK how to explain it). After briefly wondering if I'd ever run again in November (this is a slight exaggeration, I did some decent run/walking to cover some miles, but I've NEVER had so much of a problem just RUNNING), I finally got it back together for my annual Turkey Trot. It was a lovely day and the race didn't start until 9 am, so I could sleep until 6:30 and still make it with plenty of time. It was also only an 8K and even though I'd barely run since Chicago, I knew I could do an 8K. And I did. It was brilliant. I ran it at an easy 11:17 pace, which frankly was on the fast side of what I thought I had in me. I had a blast, it was sunny, and fun, and even though I thought about walking a few times I was able to mentally defeat that. I'm glad I did, because, guess what? Not only didn't I need to walk, I sped up a bit, and my legs were fine. My lungs were fine. Everything was fine. It was like my Mojo was slowly returning after a year's worth of bad runs that had been laughing at me. I almost laughed aloud as the 8K field met up with the 5K (and walker) field in the last mile because I was so annoyed that all of the walkers were slowing me down. And then I remembered that I had been walking a lot lately, and a week earlier, I would have used that as an excuse to walk, and I didn't. I resolved to run at least one more time during the Thanksgiving break. AND TODAY I RAN!!!!!!!!! I wasn't as far as I would like, it wasn't pretty, but I ran. I ran the whole thing. 8.32 miles around one of my favorite loops. It didn't hurt my legs or my lungs. It was a nice way to clear my head. I have the time for a couple more runs. I'm not sure what they will be. Part of me feels like they should both just be 3ish miles, part of me feels like one would be okay to be a little longer. I am in no way shape or form ready to run a great half marathon at Rehoboth, but I'll finish. I'll likely run 5 or 6 miles, or however long I can, and then run/walk the end. I'll enjoy friends and keep it crazy slow and laugh and have a good time. I don't have a race I care about the time of again until April in DC and Rehoboth is really just a time for me to run with great friends. I've run that 13.1 miles before and I'm looking forward to running it again. I'll likely run it slower this time, but I'm okay with that. I'm just happy to feel like I can love running again. There is something magical about feeling like your mojo is back.

I hear this so much. I actually just came here to write a similar bloop, admittedly, with slower times. Here's to some Rehoboth magic picking us both up. <3

Grrrrr, Achilles! I think you're just saving your goal race for Rehoboth so we can all celebrate with you. #LoopMagic

Tilting at windmills is awesome sometimes, thanks for sharing.

I love that your son called mid-race. So awesome. And holy hills, batman! Great race and read.