Matthew Brenegen took this picture of me, and then found me via alexisthegirl. Killer picture.

So, I've decided to attempt to train "right" for the Vegas marathon and see if it makes a difference. I won't have as much support along the way this time, so I'm going to have to rely on myself a lot more than usual. My training starts this week; here's the schedule I'm following as suggested by Hal Higdon with only slight changes made by me.













I totally made that table with the Word Source editor. *preen* Although, that's probably why it looks retarded.

A picture Erin took of me at 17 miles.


Warthog and his favorite sign; eriker with a fab sign in the corner.

More still coming. Anyone who took pictures, please email them to me. Phone pics, whatever. mollypop at gmail dot com.

FUCK. YEAH.


More later. Molly tired.

I'm up, I'm dressed, I'm putting my number on. About to eat a bowl of oatmeal and drink some more Gatorade (christ, I get sick of this stuff) and then stretch. I'm calling a cab at 6:30 to come and take me to the Dome, where I'll be meeting up with a bunch more people than I'd anticipated, which is really really cool.

Scott sent me this amazing basket of pasta and sauces and italian treats, with a very sweet note. My mom bought me a watch so that I can keep my pace steady and so I'll think of her thinking of me everytime I look at it. Wayne (my father) called me last night at 10:30pm (yes, he's a bit of an idiot) and asked when I'd be at the 10 mile mark, and changed his mind and decided to come and find me after all.

I'm lucky to have such a support system in you.

Well, shit, Internet, here I go.

Spent too much time typing yesterday (like, oh, 15 hours... *cough*) and now my shoulders are killing me. *sigh* I'm stupid. But when I went for my 3-mile easy run today, they didn't hurt after the first 1/2 mile, so I'm not worried. They hurt like hell when I'm *not running, but c'est la vie, that's why they make BenGay patches.

Time for a hot bath, my tulip catalog, and a big bottle of water. Then harlequinskiss is taking me out for a never-ending pasta dinner and a glass of wine. (Got some advice from another marathoner that a glass of wine is totally okay and can even help with the nerves a few days before, so I'm going to take it.)

( And now, my Tarot Card quiz results. )

I was hoping one of my knees would start to hurt 5 days before the marathon. Yay.

Yes, that's right. Went for a 4 mile easy run and my right knee hurts so much I had to walk the last mile for fear that I'd hurt it seriously. Guess I'll pop an IcyHot sleeve on it and just hope that helps. I hate the smell of menthol. Goddammit.

I ran today for the first time in 11 days. 11 fucking days, seriously. That's how long I was sick. Well, I was sick for 9 days and then I didn't run Friday because of my cracked kneecap and I didn't run yesterday because of all the rain. But today, I strapped on the Tangents and took er out for a 7 mile spin. It was good, and it felt fine. Honestly, I didn't even hit any kind of wall, which makes me feel really positive about this coming Sunday.

I did cough a bit. My 7 mile loop has 4 steep-as-hell hills: on Broadway just after Lowry, on Broadway just before STA Parkway, on STA Parkway just before Central, and on Central just before Broadway. I ran the first and last one and walked the middle two hills. Seems that running hills makes me cough more, so I'll stick with my plan of walking all the hills in the marathon.

Today I'm going to make a final grocery store run for the Official Hardcore Race Diet. You thought I was on a race diet before? Pshaw, says me. You have no idea. I'm really glad I gained all my weight back after losing 7 pounds during my 4 really-sick-days and don't have to worry about the Hardcore Race Diet killing me or something.

I'm going to go back and read my post about last year's marathon so I can remind myself what I'm in for on Sunday.

12 days until the TCM, and I am pretty sure I have bronchitis. I'm going to Boynton today to see if they can squeeze me in. If they can't, I'll proceed to Fairview-University for urgent care. I need a chest x-ray and some antibiotics, says Nurse Mom. We'll see if they agree. All I know is I've been sick for 7 days and had this cough and low-grade fever for 4. And I'm still not hungry, so this is day 4 of me not eating anything more than a few saltines here and there. I'm trying to make sure I'm drinking enough, but I know I'm probably not. I haven't run since Wednesday. I spent all day yesterday in bed, except for the hour I spent on the couch watching TV with Alexis. I slept for 17 hours in total (a 5 hour nap and then 12 hours of sleep last night) and I am still tired. I am too weak to do anything more active than walk Ein around the block, and even that exhausts me.

Fuck.

Here is a FAQ I made about the the marathon.

Training is going well so far. Once again this year, I did not train the way you're "supposed to" for a marathon. My longest run thus far has been 9 miles (last year, the longest I'd run was 6.5), instead of the 20-miler I should have done a week or so ago. Fuck that! I did fine last year. I've been eating better and training more consistently this year, as well.

I am busybusybusy from now until Sunday night. And I'm declaring my dance card officially CLOSED from September 19th until October 2nd. I won't be attending any events, I won't be making any plans, and I won't be going out drinking/singing/dancing/raccoon-rolling. Thanks for thinking of me, though.

Few quick notes about things before I head off to buy groceries for RAW:

-I bought some black wood or bone (not sure) spirals at Fest last weekend, and promptly shoved them in my ears. The pain was exquisite, and then the next day, my lobes seemed fine. Over the next two days, they swelled up a bit and looked rather rough on the inside, despite my many sea-salt soakings. So I took out the spirals and put in my old normal earrings. But today! Ha! Today I bought a pair of stainless steel spiral 10g. I hope they are appropos and that they are the right size (I was estimating a bit) and that they look smashing.

-I went with my brother and sister and nickiq to Fest and the kids had a ball. They were so cute. I forget how old they are. Riley sang along loudly to "Wake Me Up When September Ends" by Green Day and then told a few dirty jokes. Frightening thought: Riley is only a few months younger than I was when I started BBSing. *blank stare*

-I made stroganoff for dinner and it was delicious. I think it's about time to make my Hungarian Gypsy-type soup. That may have to wait until after the marathon, though.

-My new insoles came today, which should make my running 100% more comfortable. They're triple cushioned, which I need because my Grid Tangents are flat like racers and need some bounce before the Big Day. I'll be buying a whole new pair then, and using those through Vegas.

-I am on the brink of becoming antisocial for awhile because of this race. I have school, I have to run 6-8 miles a day, and I have to prepare damn near all of my meals at home. So I won't have the time to go out a lot, so please don't be affronted if I turn down suggested plans. I have a few things on my schedule already and I can't add anymore until the race is done. Thank you for your patience.

-For those who are wondering, my race diet means I can't have soda, nor can I have any fat (I get my carefully-watched fat from healthful sources, so I avoid it everywhere else). It means I need LOTS of low-fat protein and carbohydrates. I eat lots of vegetables and fruit and rice and potatoes and chicken and fish. So if you're wondering what I can eat for some reason, there ya go.

-Starting Saturday, I am done drinking alcohol until after the race. That's going to *suck. That is all.

-My mom is a wonderful and generous woman and I was really happy to stay at The House all weekend with her.

-Ein has a new ID tag. It says "Ein Zwei, B.A.M.F."


Now I'm off to buy somethings I can eat tonight and then head out to Crystal with the cool kids and watch some wrestling. Ciaobella.

RunnersWorld.com suggested that I weigh myself naked before a run and then do the same post-run after towelling off all sweat. I did so, and discovered that I lose 2.6 pounds of sweat when I run. And that was today, a not-all-that-hot day! Man. I have to drink a *lot more water. That's a lot of water weight lost to the heat.

Ran 5.5 miles today and took a crazy tour of NE. I took Broadway to New Brighton Blvd, and then discovered that there are no sidewalks on NB Blvd. So I hopped on Stinson (crazy uphill part) and took that until I hit St Anthony Pkwy. I took that to Lowry, and ran down Lowry until I hit Central. Once on Central, I zipped back over to Broadway and then home. I readily admit that I was quite lost and had to ask which way to run on Central to find Broadway, but at least my *instinct was correct. I also thought it was a lot longer than 5.5 miles, but Google Maps doesn't lie.

I felt better today than yesterday, but it's still hard going. It will be for another week, until I get my legs under me again. Speedwork tomorrow, maybe some hills.

Three cheers for Kelli B at the TCMarathon! She is making sure I get my Wave 1 start because I tried to fax the information last night but the fax machine was down. Hurray, hurray! She rules, I am happy, I get my Wave 1 start and all is well in Mollyland.

For my musician friends in the Twin Cities...

http://www.twincitiesmarathon.org/Spectators/EntertainmentPermits.cfm

Pass it on!


In other race news, I suddenly just woke up from a dead sleep thinking about the marathon. Specifically, thinking, "It *was August 10th that was the due date for the Wave 1 race time submissions, right? Because I never got my race time card from the P.O.S. Lakeshore people, and I suppose I could submit a website print out... huh, better check that." Oh, guess what? It's not August 10th, it's August 1st. FUCK ME, YESTERDAY WAS AUGUST 1st. FUCK. I had to submit my proof of my race time for Wave 1 start by *yesterday. GAH! I emailed them and I hope they will grant me the leniency. I thought it was August 10th, but I was wrong wrong wrong. Oh, god, I will be so pissed if I don't get the Wave 1, after all that damned work, just because I misread a DATE.

[cross posted to Ed's Room, sorry if you read it twice]

I am in an utter state of shock and happiness. So, I was freaked out for months about not being able to finish in 6 hours. Lucien, LBP, and sxoidmal can tell you how worried I was; I talked about it a lot a lot. Originally, my strategy was to run around 5 miles, then walk a mile, and repeat as necessary. Yeaaaah, that didn't happen. We started off and the miles just flew by. I thought we were still on mile one when I saw the 3 mile marker. I saw sxoidmal at his water station and gave him a huge hug. Next thing I knew, it was mile 5 and Lucien, Kevin, and Scott were there. It felt like a minute went by and it was mile 7.5. Then another water station came up and I asked a woman next to me where we were and she said "Between 9 and 10." I almost died.

I didn't stop running for the whole first 13 miles. AND I ran it at a 9 minute mile pace. My dad and the kids were at mile 13, and then LBP, GoU, Scott, Lucien, and Kevin were all at mile 14 with a huge kickass banner and beer. (Love love love.) I hit my first wall around mile 14. My back started to ache, a dull constant ache in my lower back. By mile 17, where Lucien, Kevin, and Scott were waiting for me, I was in BACK AGONY. It felt like someone had kicked me, hard. Really hard. Also, at about 15 or 16 miles, my left knee felt like it exploded. That went away after 3 miles or so.

There was awhile here between 17 and 20 that I wasn't sure I was going to make it.

Made it to mile 20 with very little walking. After mile 15 or so, I only walked the hills. Every now and then, I would walk for 200 yards or so after a powerade station. Mostly I was running. LBP and GoU (and warthog? Was he there yet?) were at mile 20, and it was good to see them.

Miles 20-25 were rough. Really rough. It's cliche, but I took it one mile at a time. I stopped every mile or so and stretched. I felt like I was made of broken glass from the waist down. It hurt more than anything has ever hurt, ever. My back pain mysteriously disappeared after mile 22, but then my feet hurt and my knees hurt. I got a cramp in my thigh at mile 25. That hurt.

I told myself I would run the last mile.2 because I needed to do that. I knew I was on an insanely fast pace still, but I was so close to finishing sub 4:30 and I had to do it. I wanted it so bad. SO. Bad. I got a side cramp, a bad sharp side cramp at 25.5. I kept pushing through it. Fuck it. I could almost see the finish line.

When I got within about 200 yards, all my old training, my cross country and track training, kicked in. I sprinted. I sprinted so fast I heard people on the sidelines exclaiming about it. One woman yelled "Holy shit, look at that pink girl go!" I passed about 25 people on my way to the line, and when I crossed the line, the big clock said 4:25:??.

This pleases me so fucking much. My birthday? 4/26. Official marathon time was 4:25:37. I think that's close enough to count.

After the race, wrapped up in foil, trying not to cry and failing, I found my mom and she took me to my friends. Kevin, Scott, Lucien, sxoidmal, 433, GoU, and Warthog were all there, drinking and smoking and cheering for me. It was awesome. I liberally applied the many Ben-Gay patches we had collected and then somehow got to my feet and made it to the car. Today I can barely walk. My knees, especially the right one, feel like they're broken. My hips are incredible sore. and I think I have a stress fracture in my left foot. I can't really breathe too well this morning. My mom thinks it's from running 13 miles before the temp rose above 50.

The lady in front of me at the start was talking to her friend. This was her 6th marathon. The friend asked her what time she was shooting for and she said "I'm *hoping to run a 4'30." !!

I'm so fucking proud of myself. Also: I'm never running another marathon again. It could never feel better or be better than this. Nothing could ever feel better than this.

Thank you to everyone who showed up, who wished me luck, who gave me support, who said I could do it. It meant more to me than I can ever express.