Hi, my name is Kristen, and I...am a runner. There, I said it. I've fallen victim to the addiction that must grip everyone who decides to train for a marathon, because I've decided there's no way anyone would ever do something so ridiculous unless someone was addicted. And I knew it had hit me when I found myself duct taping - yes, DUCT taping, as in the stuff they tape ducts with - over the raw spots my shoes wore on my ankles during the half marathon so that I could run 18 miles this weekend. Duct tape. To cover raw spots. Seriously.
It's a good thing that I'm addicted and maybe a little insane, because if I weren't nothing, and I mean NOTHING - not even my small, obnoxiously chipper running partner the Fair Weather Runner - would have kept me going through the 18 miles of pure hell that was this weekend's run. Don't get me wrong, the run was perfectly fine for the first 3 miles or so, I was even pleasantly surprised at the pace I was keeping being just a week removed from my race. Then we turned south. Into the wind. The gale-force, take-your-breath-away-and-suck-the-life-right-out-of-you Kansas wind. That wind. After about a mile of that, when we'd finally turned another corner, Beka looked at me and said "that was like running into an effing wall."
The Kansas wind comes at you from all sides, there's no avoiding it, no matter how much you try. And try we did - running 18 miles (me) and 20 miles (Beka) we had plenty of time to try and figure out how to avoid running directly into the wind for extended periods of time. The only thing we figured out is that it wasn't possible to avoid the wind. Every mile into the wind sucked more and more life out of my body, until there was nothing left for running. My legs were like complete dead weights. I seriously doubt that I've ever wanted to quit a run as much as I wanted to quit that one. And I seriously doubt that I've ever questioned my sanity in training for this marathon quite as much as I did during that run.
I can't even say that I gained any wisdom or insight from that run. The only things that I learned are:
1) running into the wind sucks, and
2) having duct tape on your ankles when you're running also sucks.
Next weekend I need a good 20 miles. With no wind.
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Woo-HOO, 18 miles down. Small. Annoying. Chipper. But you heart me. :) Like a knat all buzzing up around you for 18 MILES. Mwwwahahahah. I'm trying to think of a good t-shirt involving duct tape and small annoying running partners...
ReplyDeleteI love reading your blog! You prepare me for the misery ahead, yet remind me of how much I actually love it deep (waaaaaaaaaaaay deep) down. ;)
ReplyDeleteAnd yes - I've fallen victim of the addiction as well!
ReplyDeleteAnd lastly - you should share your blog with this guy: http://uses4ducktape.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteYes, FairWeatherRunner - I heart you. Despite the fact that you talked me into this insanity.
ReplyDeleteAshley - hilarious! But I'm not recommending the duct tape to anybody, the after effects were not pretty!
It's me again! :) Thanks for your comment. Glad I'm not the only one who has anxiety over long runs. I'm so new to the running world. Until last week, I had never really ran much over 3 miles (except maybe once) and now I'm preparing for 8 miles tomorrow?!?! What??!! Running is a funny thing....I've never looked forward to and also DREADED something so much, lol.
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