While in Colorado I had a weekend off and the weather turned for the better the day after my 10-mile run. With clear blue skies, temps above freezing and a little time on my hand I decided to make the trek up to Leadville, CO. I first heard about this historic race in 2011 when reading the book Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. For the past 12 years this place has been on my bucket list to run and visit. It was great to get up there and see where this race takes place. I couldn’t imagine trying to run at +10,000ft. It’s possible, just seems incredibly difficult.
It is my solemn belief that running builds resiliency across the four pillars of the human makeup. That is the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual elements that each of us must contend with on a daily basis. I’m thankful that I’ve been running for more than 20years and thankful for the friends I’ve met through the running community. We have a shared experience and shared interests, regardless of our distances, paces or races. Running isn’t always easy. Not every day is 70F and sunny. Sometimes running just downright sucks. Sometimes a run will start off great and by the end it’s really hurting. That’s what happened on my Half Marathon this past Saturday. It started great, but my last 2-miles were very rough. Much like friendships and life. Running prepares you for the others highs and lows of life outside of running.
After spending a great day up in Leadville, CO, the next day I met up with a long-time friend I hadn’t seen in over a year. This person and I go back 20 years, back to the Invasion of Iraq. We’ve been in foxholes together and spent holiday’s together. We’ve been to each others houses and seen our kids grow up. Despite living in different states, we’ve remained friends for 20 years. That is, until March 20th, the 20 year anniversary of the Invasion of Iraq. It appears our long-standing friendship has ended.
Without getting into the details, there was no falling out or difference of opinion. From my perspective it just appears that the friendship has run it’s course and my friend’s life is going in a different direction than mine. His journey doesn’t require my friendship, in fact my friendship may actually be a burden to his future goals and desires. Needless to say I was pretty upset. I’m thankful for the friendship as I’m thankful for the ability to run 11 miles, even if the last 2.1 went to crap.
I pack up my suitcase, closed out some work requirements and made my way back to North Carolina where I had a “Scavenger Hunt Run” organized and ready to go on Wednesday. After arriving home around 4pm, my stomach isn’t feeling that great and I realize I must have food poisoning. The pain comes in waves along with the vomit and diarrhea. It’s absolutely miserable. At 5:45pm I cancel the Scavenger Hunt Run and move it to the following week. I simply can’t perform or go more than 10ft from a toilet in this condition. To describe it in any more detail would leave you in a state of disgust, you may never read this blog again!
The sickness runs it’s course and I’m feeling back to normal by Thursday morning. I spend the day hydrating and preparing for my All American Half Marathon on Saturday. As it’s Thursday, I am also going to participate in the weekly club run followed by our Annual General Meeting!
I ran with a new member of the club and logged in a 5K that felt relatively easy following the running in Colorado. Leading into the Half Marathon on Saturday I’ve only ran once the week leading into it and the longest run I’ve done since November was the 10-miler I did the Saturday before. You can read about that in my previous post “What Hill?”.
The Half Marathon was here and I was committed to getting it done. There is a historical reason for completing this run. Fort Bragg is changing it’s name to Fort Liberty on June 2nd, 2023. This is the last year this medal will be available that says “Fort Bragg” on it. From this point forward it will say, Fort Liberty.
I never did any real training leading up to this run and it would show. I was good for 11 miles and then the last 2 were a real let down. I was lucky enough to have Dave running with me the whole time. Our friend Robert was going for a new Sub 2-hour Half Marathon PR! It was a decent course with some long-slow inclines and a couple of steep hills right there at the end that were tough! Robert did it, set all kinds of PR’s from 10K, 10-mile and Half Marathon! Easily finished Sub 2hrs! He had a great race!
As for myself, my average pace ended up at 10’23” which put me at a 2:18:07 Half Marathon. My legs were tired for the last two miles which seemed to be a constant uphill battle. Luckily for me, Dave stuck it out with me and gave me all the encouragement to “not walk” the last 0.75mi to the finish which included two hills. Robert finished and met us about 0.25mi from the finish and ran with us up the last hill. It was great to have two friends with me while I was physically in the hurt zone.
My mind and spirit were good, emotionally I was upset with myself because I didn’t properly train for this race and physically I was just dehydrated and tired. It was probably a mix between the food poisoning on Wednesday and the increased heat during the run. I was tired.
I finished the race. Not a PR but also not on the struggle bus, but rather just tired at the end.
On a good note, I started this run at 223.0lbs, that’s down 9.8lbs since I started this weight loss journey on March 28th. I’m aiming for having lost just over 10lbs by the end of this month, which will put me in a good spot for the Tar Heel 10-miler in April and the 5K I’m going to run in May.
Life, like running is full of highs and lows and everything in between. In the last 7 days I’ve seen close friends of mine lose a family member unexpectedly and have to plan a funeral. I’ve had a long standing friendship end and was recently told another very dear and close friend has less than 2 weeks left to live in his fight against cancer.
It’s been a rough week, but if it weren’t for the resiliency built up over 20+ years of running and fitness, this week would be much harder.
I’m grateful and thankful for the friendships I’ve had and the friendships I have now. Especially my best friend, my wife Elizabeth.
Next week will be better with more group runs, time with the family and more High Intensity Interval Training: HIIT.