Ran Like A Girl (or at least, really wanted to!)
The Nike Women's Marathon finally arrived!
The first official TNT event this weekend was the group picture and pasta party on Saturday night. I sat with some friends I had made over the course of the training, and we all enjoyed the various types of pasta as well as the presenters from TNT and from Nike. I was surprised and pleased to find out that one of the Nike folks who has been a member of the NWM planning committe from the very beginning has her own personal connection to leukemia, which has made this event all the more meaningful for her.
Sunday morning, in the crazy and dark pre-dawn hours, runners and walkers of all types roused themselves and prepared to go the distance. There were two starts: 5:30 AM for the 15+ walkers and runners doing the full marathon, and 7:00 AM for everyone else. One by one, they got started on the 13.1 or 26.2 mile trek that they had long been training for.
I was waiting for the full marathoners at mile 22, with pom-poms and purple boa proudly displayed over my "East Bay Rocks" t-shirt. I was so proud of everyone who came by! The TNT'ers especially looked well composed for having just run 22 miles. People were having a grand old time, and it was a lot of fun to watch! It was especially amazing to see some of the folks dancing along to the music the Mile 22 DJ was playing - where did they get the energy after just running 22 miles???
For about 4.5 hours, I rang my cowbell, waved my pom-poms, danced to the music, and shouted the name of every marathon runner racing by, encouraging them to hang in there and keep going! My arm was quite sore at the end of all that, but thankfully I didn't do too much damage to my voice.
I debated going to the finish line to gather with everyone at the TNT tent, but the parking and the traffic in the area sort of made my decision for me. The traffic was crazy, and a legal parking spot wasn't to be found anywhere so I decided to head home for a quick break before coming back into SF for the victory party.
At the victory party, I tried to touch base with everyone I'd seen on the course as well as the folks who had done the half instead of the full to see how they had fared, and how they were feeling now that it was over. I'm thrilled to report that everyone I talked to completed their event, and that most everyone was really pleased by how smoothly it had gone.
There were some people who had encountered glitches for the first time today (my friend Alicia, for example, reported getting blisters today when she's never gotten blisters on any of the training runs for the last 5 months - go figure!), but that whatever the challenge was, they overcame it and pressed on. Everyone looked relieved, proud, and happy.
As for me, the whole weekend has been bittersweet. I debated long and hard with myself about ignoring my doctor's advice (and the fact that I haven't been in training for almost 3 months) and attempting to walk the half marathon anyhow. That was a really strong temptation, and only the thought of injuring myself further kept me from doing attempting it.
The added sadness is that for the last 6 months my life has been completely filled by TNT and now there's a big empty hole in my heart where the training, practices, and coached runs were. Instead of knowing I'll see my new friends every week, or every other week, now we have to figure out when and how to get together on a social basis. I'm sure we'll work it out, but it's sad to see that regular camaraderie at an end.
My next training steps include working with a physical therapist to get my IT band back in shape and keep me from re-injuring it, gentle walking on the treadmill to keep up my fitness in the least aggravating way, and hopefully by the end of the year, I'll be able to re-introduce running.
I'm going to continue posting as I go through PT, and I haven't decided which event I'll be doing for the Spring season yet - so stay tuned!
The first official TNT event this weekend was the group picture and pasta party on Saturday night. I sat with some friends I had made over the course of the training, and we all enjoyed the various types of pasta as well as the presenters from TNT and from Nike. I was surprised and pleased to find out that one of the Nike folks who has been a member of the NWM planning committe from the very beginning has her own personal connection to leukemia, which has made this event all the more meaningful for her.
Sunday morning, in the crazy and dark pre-dawn hours, runners and walkers of all types roused themselves and prepared to go the distance. There were two starts: 5:30 AM for the 15+ walkers and runners doing the full marathon, and 7:00 AM for everyone else. One by one, they got started on the 13.1 or 26.2 mile trek that they had long been training for.
I was waiting for the full marathoners at mile 22, with pom-poms and purple boa proudly displayed over my "East Bay Rocks" t-shirt. I was so proud of everyone who came by! The TNT'ers especially looked well composed for having just run 22 miles. People were having a grand old time, and it was a lot of fun to watch! It was especially amazing to see some of the folks dancing along to the music the Mile 22 DJ was playing - where did they get the energy after just running 22 miles???
For about 4.5 hours, I rang my cowbell, waved my pom-poms, danced to the music, and shouted the name of every marathon runner racing by, encouraging them to hang in there and keep going! My arm was quite sore at the end of all that, but thankfully I didn't do too much damage to my voice.
I debated going to the finish line to gather with everyone at the TNT tent, but the parking and the traffic in the area sort of made my decision for me. The traffic was crazy, and a legal parking spot wasn't to be found anywhere so I decided to head home for a quick break before coming back into SF for the victory party.
At the victory party, I tried to touch base with everyone I'd seen on the course as well as the folks who had done the half instead of the full to see how they had fared, and how they were feeling now that it was over. I'm thrilled to report that everyone I talked to completed their event, and that most everyone was really pleased by how smoothly it had gone.
There were some people who had encountered glitches for the first time today (my friend Alicia, for example, reported getting blisters today when she's never gotten blisters on any of the training runs for the last 5 months - go figure!), but that whatever the challenge was, they overcame it and pressed on. Everyone looked relieved, proud, and happy.
As for me, the whole weekend has been bittersweet. I debated long and hard with myself about ignoring my doctor's advice (and the fact that I haven't been in training for almost 3 months) and attempting to walk the half marathon anyhow. That was a really strong temptation, and only the thought of injuring myself further kept me from doing attempting it.
The added sadness is that for the last 6 months my life has been completely filled by TNT and now there's a big empty hole in my heart where the training, practices, and coached runs were. Instead of knowing I'll see my new friends every week, or every other week, now we have to figure out when and how to get together on a social basis. I'm sure we'll work it out, but it's sad to see that regular camaraderie at an end.
My next training steps include working with a physical therapist to get my IT band back in shape and keep me from re-injuring it, gentle walking on the treadmill to keep up my fitness in the least aggravating way, and hopefully by the end of the year, I'll be able to re-introduce running.
I'm going to continue posting as I go through PT, and I haven't decided which event I'll be doing for the Spring season yet - so stay tuned!
Labels: Nike 2006
posted by Erin at 9:04 PM
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