Race Report: Another DNF ... This Time Closer to Home

Three weeks after successfully completing the Tinkerbell Half and eight weeks after my Disney Marathon, I was at the start line of the Inaugural Woodlands Half Marathon.  Why, you ask, was I doing this?  For lots of reasons:

1. Inaugural bling;
2. (Relatively) cheap registration fee;
3. "Flat & fast" course;
4. Some high school friends had tossed around the idea of running it also;
5. (Relatively) close to my parents house;
6. Qualify for Half Fanatics (this was actually an unintended side effect that I realized after I'd already registered); and
7. Inaugural bling!

Pre-race with Dad

What I hadn't counted on, however, was my lingering nasty cold/flu/crud (whatever it was) and my previously mentioned bad case of post-race blues after Mickey and Tink.  All of that led to me lining up in my start corral feeling less-than stellar that cool and damp morning.  I had even told my mom several times earlier in the morning that I really wasn't "feeling it" and that I should probably just be cheering.  But I decided that I could power through it and just finish - certainly not my best idea.

Early on.

At Mile 2, I realized I had no business being out there on that course - with every run interval my chest would tighten up and send me into a coughing fit that I needed the entire following walk interval to recover from.  So I made the tough, but right, decision to stop.  I walked to the next water/medical station at Mile 3 and stopped.  Of course, I was so upset that I was stopping (with flashbacks of Donald 2010 playing through my mind) that I was crying and having trouble getting words out.  Which totally freaked out the medical team - they called for an ambulance for a female in respiratory distress!!!  I quickly pulled myself together and managed to convey that I was fine, did not need an ambulance, was just upset, but did need to get in the sag wagon back to the start.  Apparently there were some serious delays getting the sag wagons through, because I sat there for a couple hours - I even saw my Dad come through on his second loop for the marathon course...

Post race.  No Medal.  :-(

Once I finally made it back to the start/finish line, I met up with mom just in time to cheer Dad on as he finished (and set a new marathon PR - 4:01!).  I was really bummed to not have gotten the cool finisher's medal and finisher's shirt, but I knew I'd made the right decision.  Plus, I knew I had R'n'R Dallas coming up in just three weeks, and didn't want to push myself to finish this one but screw myself for the next.

So that's the story of my second DNF.  Truthfully, it should've been a DNS (Did Not Start) but apparently I'm a little too pigheaded for that.  And hopefully, this DNF has helped me learn my lesson about starting a race when I shouldn't.

Starting the Blog

I participated in the Walt Disney World Half Marathon in 2009 & 2010.  In 2009, I ran the 13.1 "magical miles" in 3:20:19.  In 2010, the combination of inadequate training, freezing temperatures, and a nasty chest cold meant I could not finish the race.  I made it to mile 9.6 and had to flag down a medic on a bike, get on a bus, and be transported to the medical tent behind the finish line.  I didn't finish, I didn't get that oh-so-coveted Donald Duck medal, and I didn't get to experience that incredible high that comes with being able to say "I did it!"  Instead, the emotions swung in the other direction and I cried because I was so upset over not finishing.  I vowed then and there that there was absolutely no way that was ever going to happen again!

So, 8 months later, here I am, with 18 short weeks until WDW Marathon Weekend 2011, and I'm once again feeling unprepared.

So what do I do about it?  I go into full-on planning mode, of course!  I've got my training schedule and my gear ready to go.  Our neighborhood has a great paved multi-purpose trail that connects with many other trails throughout the city and county for good-weather days.  On bad weather days, we have the treadmill, but that only works for about a max 5 mile run before I am ready to die of boredom - no matter what's on the TV in front of it.

I officially started following the above training schedule last week, and have been successful so far in sticking with it.  I'm hoping that posting to this blog will keep me honest, and keep me motivated.  Sooooo...wish me luck, and ready, set, go!