Food Poisoning on Saturday….8 Mile Run on Sunday

The title say’s it all about my run this weekend.  I am exactly 12 weeks away from my 9^th marathon and for the first time in years I have time goals.  Training is starting to ramp up and I am focusing a great deal on my runs, especially my long runs.  Saturday was a day off from training and I managed to get food poisoning from leftovers.  I spent Saturday afternoon throwing up and dry heaving, Saturday night curled up on the couch with my club soda and Ritz crackers. 

Unfortunately my diet of club soda and Ritz crackers is not exactly ideal the night before an 8 mile run.  Which means I had some decisions to make.  1. Was it a good plan to go running on Sunday after throwing up on Saturday?  2.  Did I have enough reserves to get through the 8 mile run?  And if I didn’t and was really bottoming out while running would I be able to make the tough call to scrap the rest?  I decided before going to bed if I didn’t throw up again and had no other GI issues after 2 A.M. I would get up planning for my run.  When I woke up I was no longer nauseas which was a good sign and as far as I was concerned this meant the run was a go.  I took down a granola bar with some water and gave it about 30 minutes to see how my stomach handled it.  All seemed well so I got my water bottles ready and time to head out the door.  For my last few runs I have been filling my first water bottle with water and then at the halfway point my loop brings me by the house and I switch out for the water bottle filled with Gatorade.  Today I decided to fill both bottles with Gatorade so I could help make up for the lack of caloric intake on Saturday.

Overall this run went very well.  I was able to keep my scheduled pace of 11:10 min/mi without an issue.  The last mile was a struggle for me, however this was more of a mental issue than a physical one.  This is the first marathon where I do not run with anyone – ever.  I was bored and had to work hard to get over my mental block of just wanting to stop.  Above all else when it comes time for the marathon, my mental strength should be stronger than ever.

Just over 12 weeks to go?

It's been a while.  I wasn't officially training, just working out when I could.  I got married, moved across the country 3 days later and now am trying to settle in to my new life.  But within my first few weeks here I got bored and realized I needed to train again and have a focus.  So I registered for the PF Chang Rock 'n' Roll full marathon in January of 2014.  It will be convenient since it is right in Phoenix.  I hired a marathon coach (from afar) and have committed myself to a level of training I have not done in quite some time.
The runs are comfortable for now but I am finding I have new challenges.  This will be the first time I have trained all of my long runs on my own.  I have to get through the mental challenge of running 8, 10, 16 miles by myself.  And yup it can get boring.  In the long run I feel this will end up working to my advantage, I will be able to mentally get through the 26.2 miles, I will have already prepared myself to run by myself.
The other major challenge is trying to explain to my husband so that he truly understands the commitment I have undertaken.  I have not run a full marathon since we have been together.  It's explaining that it isn't always easy to just change which day my long run is on.  Or that I have to eat after my long run, not a few hours later, like within an hour.  It's trying to have him understand my training is now a huge focus in my life.  Finally I went through all of my old emails and found one from my very first marathon on team Joints In Motion with Coach Vic.  Vic wrote weekly training emails and he wrote one to the friends and family of the marathoner, something 8 years I still think parts of it are very useful and others I ignore.  I had my husband read this email hoping it would provide him with a little more insight of what this is all about.
Now that I am training again it is time to start writing about it again.  I am getting to run my 9th marathon with ankylosing spondolysis, something that every single one of my rheumatologist gets excited about.