D.N.F.

Sigh. I did not conquer that race, not even close. 

I traveled to Madison, WI this weekend to participate in the Madison 1/2 marathon with one of the ugrads who used to work with me. He's now doing his own Ph.D. at UW-Madison, and I'm super proud of him. We were supposed to do the race together, but he broke himself a month ago and decided he would try to run the 1/4 marathon instead. 


It was 70 degrees when the 1/2 started, and I had some crazy idea that I would try to PR the race. So I started with the 1:45-ers. That would be about 25 sec/mile faster than my fastest race, but I had been training and I know I'm faster that I used to be. We entered the sunlight at mile 1 and were in it until mile 3. I realized that I wasn't going to be able to do that pace in the heat and dropped back to the 2:00 group. But by then, the sun and heat was taking its toll. I had trained and had a successful 12 miler the week before, but none of my runs had been in anything over 70 degree weather. By mile 4 I was feeling nauseous and was walking the hills and water stops. Shortly after mile 4, I saw my fiance in the crowd and decided to bail. I could've run further, maybe to 6 or 7 miles, but I knew at that point that the full 13.1 was out of the question. If the race were in Des Moines or a city I knew better, I would have stuck a little longer, but I didn't know the course well enough to be able to bail and walk back to the start/finish.

I am really sad about this one. It was my first DNF at a race.

However, I think I made the right decision. I felt awful for hours, and shortly after bailing, I developed a headache that lasted until 10pm (from 8am!Ahhhhh!). This one is particularly upsetting because it's one of two races I've been too tired/sick for this spring (I previously got a migraine the morning of another race). I think graduating and the stress associated with my job change has taken its toll. While I've been training and been active, I'm always feeling stressed and stretched for time. I honestly can say that from March-mid May I did not have a good run. They were all exhausting, slow, and tedious. And once graduation passed, I started to have these amazing, fast runs. That is testament to how much your mental situation effects your physical game.

That said, I think I'm going to take the summer off racing. I will do a couple 5ks for fun, but nothing serious. I'll re-emerge for DSM 1/2 in October. Until then it's time for me to focus on being healthy and fit and removing stress from my life. 

There were highlights from the weekend. I caught up with my friend, saw his new lab, saw Madison, ate some great food and drank 1 whole beer. I also met my first real-live blogger: Ashley from healthy ashley. It was like meeting an actress or something, I was SOO awkward. But Ashley is super nice, and it was great to meet her in person, even for a second. 

Ok, back tomorrow with some eats and probably terpenoids. 

ERA: Friday 4 miles and 15 min abs, Sat OFF, Sun 4 miles of death. Today I plan to bike if I get out of work early enough.