I spent the last month (yes a full 30 days) off away from the gym, no weekly long runs, no 3 hour bike rides, just me and the couch. I finished my test season with completing the Kansas City Marathon. I decided after that to listen to my body and a lot of pro athletes and just step away for a break. It's crazy to think of what a year of testing your body will do. I started with the hopes of pushing my limits and prepping my body for what I assumed was going to be a rough year of just signing up for different race distances and seeing what my body would do under the severe pressure and I tried to make peace with the idea of starting a bunch of races and most likely not finishing them, simply for the fact that I had never did anything longer then a 4 mile race I figured it would give me a gauge to what I needed to do for my Rookie season as a Triathlete. Then some craziness happen during each race I made the decision that the pain alone was not reason to not finish so every time I thought I was going to quit I put my head down and decided it wasn't a real option. Then a wild thing happened I became a 70.3 Ironman and as I finished the race and the announcer said welcome to the club I realized I would never be the same. I did something I honestly believed wasn't possible and I thought how did this happen ? It sounds crazy but when I woke up on that morning of a real deal 70.3 Ironman and drove to the race I was worried I had never swam in open water I had never swam that distance (and it was the roughest thing ever) then I was going to quit I couldn't bike I just sit there done and a volunteer ran over and said get on your bike if your going to catch anyone you need to get on your bike so I did and I rode as hard as I could for 56 miles (before that day my longest training ride was 32 miles) and as I came into view of the bike to run transition area I thought just get your shoes on a walk a little bit before quitting so at least you know what is like to try and run after you swim and bike. Yes if you follow my blog I make a horrible decision over and over and train for a race while I run a race, it's a decision I hope never to make again but no promises. As I got my shoes on and exited the transition area and hit the track a weird thing happened I saw other athletes and decided to jog (really a combo of crawl, walk, and hobble) towards other athletes because I knew as I passed each one my competitive nature just might drag me closer to the finish line and it did in fact somehow it dragged me 70.3 miles all the way to the finish line. Which tricked my brain for a very rough ride.
The Kansas City Marathon
about 2 weeks before my very 1st Marathon I injured my left knee (hyper extended it) sprained my ankle (very severe sprain) and threw my hips out of alignment (all on the left side) so as I always do I took a day off only because the pain wouldn't allow me to run and I decided to slow down I only ran 2 more runs a 9 miler and a 11 miler before the pain became to much and I would have to hobble home. I got some advice from my wife "don't run stay off your leg maybe try for a half marathon, you can always try again next year".. I decided the night before the race that I would show up and stretch and try the half marathon, its a good distance for me and I was comfortable with walking some if I had to. As the race started I was at the back of the pack around the 13 minute pace group I knew that a 14 minute pace was needed to qualify to finish the marathon in the allowed time. As the race started I was blessed by the cold it was around 37 degrees and I did no warm up so my leg just worked with me and was too cold to hurt after about 10 minutes I was with my normal 9 minute pace group and decided I was going to push it and try to make it under the cutoff so at least I would make it onto the marathon course (I wasn't going to be able to finish it but at least I would make it to the course) Then all craziness happen I did the half marathon course in 2 hours and was no where near them even thinking about cutting anyone yet. I was ok as long as I didn't stop moving. Due to the pain I shifted all my weight to my right side which was too much stress so I started cramping bad but as a training Ironman cramps is something you run through so I did and I was lucky enough that in my desperation was yelling to race fans "does anyone have a banana or an orange" and some saint on Ward Parkway ran into his house jogged up to me and handed me a banana and it saved me. I just kept moving. Around mile 22ish I also got careless they had us crossing 4 lanes of traffic and between the lanes was one of those small 2 foot dividers with a little hump in the middle to divide traffic. I didn't adjust my stride and came of the island with my hurt left side and as I landed it didn't support my weight and I fell and fell hard. My iPod had died so I was carrying my phone and when I fell I crushed it. I got up and kinda walked for about 20 feet up a hill spoke real bad to myself then said a short prayer asking God to just let me finish. As I got to the top of the hill it was a steep downhill so I tried to jog and my legs starting moving again and I kept jogging for the rest of the 3ish miles left. After finishing I walked to my car and put my head down and thanked god then I cried a little once again I did something that the morning of I thought was impossible. when I got home My wife said "so you ran the whole thing" I said "barely" and she said "I knew that was going to happen" which is funny because I didn't...
