You won’t get many pictures because it rained on Friday, no it sleeted and dumped buckets on Friday morning, and my phone died. I hadn’t done a cloud backup in a while. So yeah that’s Quadzuki 2014 for you. That’s me above at the Seattle Ghost.
Finishing the Wittle Waddle with a smile
Thursday for the Wittle Waddle was beautiful. The race was fun and easy. r threw out his back earlier so I did this one by myself. I danced a little, I hung out and took photos (that I lost), and I had fun. I took it easy. Probably easier than I needed to.
Friday it rained. We got lost. We ran 15 miles. It rained. My rain proof bag for my iPhone leaked and my iPhone died. It was cold. Did I mention rain? Artboy tried to run this one with me, but his back hurt. That slowed us down. Did I mention rain?
Saturday it snowed. Now this is my weather. Happy as a clam, I had a great time. This year I knew what was coming on Sunday and I took it easy on Saturday because I wanted to conquer some hills, so I walked the first half of the race. On purpose. Really I strolled. I was pretty much last. At mile 6, I started to run, passing other walkers. I finished strong and happy.
Sunday I woke up to news reports of 17 degrees with wind chill making it lower. I suited up in the same outfit from the day before: Sparkle Skirt over some LuLuLemon Capris, Tank Top, and my Smartwool Jacket. I had a plan: run slow the straightaways, run all the downhills, and interval the uphills. That is not what happened.
I hit the first downhill and every bone in my body hurt. Each step caused a jolt to go through my body. I walked down the hills. Before I ever hit the uphills (the major uphills after the 90) I had pretty much given up. My body ached, so I was just doing a slow interval, running when I could. Then I hit the Arboretum.
At mile 10, I was supposed to call Artboy to tell him when I’d be in so he could pick me up. I called at the mile 22 marker and told him I was barely moving and I would be at least an hour, probably closer to 90 minutes. I was walking. Slow.
Then some woman shuffled past me and I decided I needed to at least do some intervals. I started my timer and ran a little. Suddenly the pain didn’t hurt, it felt good. When the timer beeped again, I kept running. I just kept going: is this a runner’s high? I felt amazing, like my muscles were working for me.
At one point I passed a med table, and they asked if I was okay. I smiled what I thought was reassuring smile and gave a thumbs up. I mean I was running. Apparently someone at the back of the pack running was bizarre enough or my face was more insane than reassuring, but they sent a biker out to check on me. I’m pretty sure I looked like death, but I felt good.
It may have taken me 2 1/2 or so hours to do the first 10 miles, but the last 3 were done in 26 minutes. My sweet spot is about 49 miles. It’s too bad Dopey is only 48.6.
