I need advice.
If you have been here for a bit, you know I “ran” the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler with Izzy last year. It was brutal. I had not trained. I was carrying extra weight. I definitely saw my life flash before my eyes several times that day. At mile 9 I called Lance….I really didn’t think I could finish. Lance knows me really well….or so I thought. Yet he decided to try and persuade me to finish by telling me there was “confetti and music” at the finish. CONFETTI? MUSIC? I mean, cute puppies and good chardonnay, maybe. But CONFETTI and MUSIC?! I was able to put one foot in front of the other just so I could cross the finish line and yell at Lance for being terrible at persuading people to finish races.
Anyway, I swore I would never do the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler ever again. When the lottery opened up this year, Izzy created a team. Team Schone’s Scones.
Lance and Bensten joined. Izzy’s friends from work were in. It was so tempting. I hate to miss a good time….plus I was pretty confident we would not get in for a 2nd year in a row. So I rolled the dice and signed up.
FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY.
We got in again. Izzy and I started training as soon as we got the “good” news. And then life took over, and while Izzy started running more often, further and faster - I pretty much stopped running.
Here’s the thing, I do enjoy running. BUT, when I hit 45, my body stopped loving running. In fact, my body stopped loving me entirely. Perimenopause and middle age hit me HARD. I have never been totally comfortable with my body, but suddenly my body felt like it belonged to someone else entirely. I would exercise more, eat less, and gain more weight. It was beyond frustrating. I am super active, but feeling like crap makes you less active…..which just compounds the problem!
At the end of summer, I finally completed genetic testing and started HRT. I am a big fan. It hasn’t fixed everything, but I definitely feel like I am working my way back to feeling like myself. BUT, running is still hard for me. My joints hurt. If it’s even mildly cold out, my lungs decide to act as if I have smoked 10 packs a day. (I have never smoked. Baked goods and wine are my preferred vices.) Plus my life is nuts. Something insane is always happening and throwing off my schedule, and finding time to run just seems to fall to the bottom of the priority list.
So the race is April 6th. Yesterday I ran my 3 mile loop and felt good. But that is not even a THIRD of the distance I would need to run in less than a month. But backing out feels like failure. But running 10 miles for time feels like self-inflicted punishment.
Can anyone give me advice on whether I can actually increase my mileage enough in less than 30 days to successfully finish the race? I would rather die than get picked up by the sweeper bus.
Izzy does like to remind me that all her friends from work will be there….which is code for ‘lots of doctors and nurses will be there to help save her geriatric mom.’ I think part of me doesn’t want to believe I am old, but I am indeed getting older. But I really hoped that getting older didn’t necessarily mean slowing down…..
Anyway- I would love any advice. And since I have now finished my bakery work for the day, taken Boomer for his post-op check (he is doing GREAT!) and taken Biscotti to his official adoption….I think I have time to go for a quick run. If you see me huffing and puffing inthe hood, feel free to roll down the window and blast some music or throw confetti (studies show it won't help at all!!!)
Heather, I'm with you on the peri symptoms! It's a tough transition to say the least. Good on you, though, for continuing to sign up for the race. I've found that when it comes to running longer distances it helps to run with a group. There are some women who run on Churchill Rd twice a week, and other groups around Mclean going longer, and I find that it's easier for me to go further when I'm chatting with others. I'm a slow runner, so you don't have to be super fast to join. Also, there is no shame in walking!