Monday, August 6, 2007

Tossing Cookies & Overcoming Challenges...

Run: 7.8 Miles
Time: 1:32:33
Pace: 11:53

Wow, where do I start. My long run was supposed to be 9 miles yesterday and as you can see I fell 1.2 miles short. I decided, like an idiot, to do my run over at Donaldson Center around 2:30pm yesterday.

I put on my fuel belt and was off by 2:45 and feeling ok through the first 2 miles. The first 2 miles are rolling hills and the last little section of the hills really put a hurtin' on me. At the 2 mile mark it was so hot, almost hard to breath and I felt like my shoes were going to melt off my feet at any moment but I plugged along right at a 10 min pace. I made it to the 3.5 mile mark and felt my stomach really doing flips and sure enough my morning fuel found its way on the side of the road! Heat 1, Jason 0! After the quick vomiting session I parked myself under a tree and just soaked my face with water and drank about 8oz. I probably hung out there for about 10-15 minutes before telling myself I need to keep moving. So, I picked myself up and began what I would call a slow death march.

I walked from mile 3.5 to 3.8 where I started feeling much better. I ran from mile 3.8 to 4.6 where round 2 of the technicolor yawn began. The second vomiting session had me concerned because now I have nothing left in my system and I'm down to about 4oz of water and still over 4 miles left to go. Heat 2, Jason 0! I started back to the slow walk and walked from 4.6 all the way to mile 6.1. As I was walking I looked up at the sky and noticed a very large storm moving in on me with several rolls of thunder at mile 6.1 I began to run.

With the sun behind the clouds and a light sprinkle in the air I was back to running. I was just glad to have my legs back underneath me and the sun not beating me into submission. As I ran I got a nasty side stitch that just would not go away, I thought to myself, well at least I'm not throwing up! I took a couple of real deep breaths which really seemed to help. As I neared the car the clouds really started to rip open with heavy rain fall and lots of rolling thunder and I made a decision to stop at 7.8. I stood there, by the car, in the pouring down rain, bent over in pain...

I was questioning myself, I was putting doubt in my mind! Can I really do this? Is 26.2 miles really achievable? What am I doing? I broke down...

Then all of a sudden in my broken down state something popped in my head. Saturday evening I watched the Pro Football Hall of Fame Induction ceremony where inductee Michael Irvin, the famous wide receiver most remembered for his off the field troubles, gave his speech and what an amazing speech it was. What popped into my head was the very end of his speech...

"LOOK UP, GET UP, AND DON'T EVER GIVE UP!" "You tell everyone or anyone that has ever doubted, thought they did not measure up or wanted to quit, you tell them to look up, get up and don't ever give up."

So that's what I did. I sat up and told myself yes I can do this, yes 26.2 is achievable, and yes I will run a marathon on November 10th. I jumped in the car and took off for the house.

When I arrived home I jumped on the scale to find I had lost almost 7 pounds! Yikes! From about 5pm to 11pm I had probably 40oz of Powerade and 30oz of water. The Powerade was so good going down. I also ate a very large portion of spaghetti and a small salad around 7:30. After all of that I gained most of the fluid loss back.

This weeks long run is 10 miles and I can assure you it will be done either early in the morning or later in the evening! No more high humidity runs for me! Here's my week...

Tuesday: 3 Miles
Wednesday: 5 Miles
Thursday: 3 Miles
Sunday: 10 Miles

I hope everyone has a safe Monday. I will just be resting tonight! - Jason:)

16 comments:

David H. said...

Be careful out there. This heat is brutal. On top of my feeling tired and needing a short break, I really didn't want to run in the heat these past two days. But sure enough, tomorrow is another day and a new attitude.

Wes said...

Jason, you could have gotten yourself in serious trouble. Be careful out there and train smart, as well as hard. You can break a long run into two seperate runs the same day. There are treadmills, and then there's the beloved Run with the Owls :-) Glad you are OK dude! Negative thoughts are not exclusive to Jason. We all have them. I'm glad you conquered yours!!

J~Mom said...

Oh man Jason that sounds awful! You can totally do this...don't let one bad day get you down! Feel better bud!

David said...

Sometimes the hardest learned lessons are the most vividly remembered. Just make sure you catalogue these issues and pass them along to listening ears in the future. And I think you can count vomitting as ab work, too!
;-)

Randy - Maniac #788 said...

You be careful out there....the heat can be very nasty...run wisely and run smart....

You can do the marathon...close out the left brain...and go to work on the positive thoughts and vibes from the right side....

Scott McMurtrey said...

i wasn't laughing about your vomiting escapade until the phrase "technicolor yawn." then i was laughing hard, but still very concerned. :) i'm not laughing at you, i'm laughing with you.

way to fight through. you're one of the strongest and most dedicated here in the blog world so i know you'll be fine.

Marcy said...

OMG I can't believe you even continued after the first round of vomiting. You are hardcore my friend!! Of COURSE you can do this!! Never doubt it! We ALL have off days but for every "off" there's an "on" :-)

Darrell said...

That was a tough one, but keep looking up. There's no doubt that you WILL finish the marathon.

Mendy said...

LOL Scott!

My hubby's been killing me for years, with his weird sayings for natural body functions for puking: technicolor yawn, spew or unswallow, calling the dinosaurs.

Jason, I, too, can't beleive you kept going after the puking... wow.

Laurel said...

Ugh, that sounds like the worst run EVER! I'm glad you made it out OK!

I say one time puking is ok, but after number two, time to pack it in for the day.

You just had a bad day. 26.2 is totally doable. You are in great shape and completely motivated. Don't let a bad (ok, really bad) run get you down.

streak said...

The heat and humidity is not our friends at all. It has been dangerous hot lately and best to take it easy and not over do it! Way to go to conquer your doubts, that is a great accomplishment! Have a good week and take it easy in the heat.

Unknown said...

I would love to say that I have never done a run like that, but I would be lying. At least you had enough to sense to know when to stop and walk and take a break. But you can do that 26.2. Lance Armstrong used to talk about how bad he looked in February on training rides. He suffered then so that he could be a champion in July.

Just try to avoid the heat, buddy!

Michelle said...

Wow, Jason. I am glad you are OK. I agree with the others, heat and humidity are dangerous when you're training. Scary stuff.

I hate to admit it, but I also giggled at the "technicolor yawn." I'm sure it totally sucked for you, though.

Bob - BlogMYruns.com said...

David Said:I think you can count vomiting as ab work, too!;-)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LOLOL ahhh well kinda funny now, maybe not when u were out there.

Jason the heat is crazy, most of my runs are at that time of the day so I am getting use to it & fuel up pretty good, but back a few months ago when I did my solo 35miler I was a mess when I got home and said HOW the F~!@#$ am I going to do 50...

well I learned a lot and totally did a bad job on my fueling that day ...so I have no doubt you will be fine with ur marathon, Keep Focused Bro & hopefully u learned a few things too.



"LOOK UP, GET UP, AND DON'T EVER GIVE UP!"

Mary Gee said...

Holy cow. If this is your gauge of a bad run, I hope you never come close to it again! I would have pulled my trusty cell phone out of my belt clip and called someone to pick me up. The side of the road during a run is no place to ralph and buick.

Unknown said...

Smart decision to cut the run short and I am glad you found the inspiration you need to continue your quest towards the marathon. YOU CAN DO IT!

Try to stay out of the heat on the next one. Early morning runs are your friend:)