And, when I woke up from my nap, I was feeling fantastic! I went on a walk, could climb stairs! I was thinking, "this is a breeze!" All in all, it was. A couple of days post surgery I was sore, and I took a week off of training myself and my clients; and the following week, took it a little bit light because I could feel the internal swelling and this pull around the mesh that they'd inserted. It felt like when you wear a rubberband around your wrist and it gets too tight; and you lift it up and realize your circulation's cut off, so you rub it, and as the blood starts flowing it becomes tingly. But, my surgeon had advised that I just keep popping ibuprofen before and after workouts so that I could keep pushing myself and that I'd be on the road to recovery super fast. That was one of the main reasons I chose him over another surgeon. That, and because truth be told, I'm vain. The other surgeon wanted to do the surgery laparoscopically, meaning I'd have 3 new scars on my abdomen....so when I asked Dr. Nuss why he was going to go about my surgery as an open surgery, and he asked me whether I wanted one hole or three....I happily obliged.
It's interesting. Anytime I've been hurt (e.g. fractured sacrum, popped my shoulder out of place, gallbladder removal), I've always had this deep, internal knowing that I was going to heal completely, and absolutely fine. That I wasn't going to sit still and convalesce. That I would push my body gently to keep on healing. It's something that I've never had a doubt about. But, all of those times were surprise events. Nothing that I'd planned on. Whereas, this repair, was my choice to go in, have it repaired so that I could enjoy the rest of the summer and not worry about it getting worse, or bigger. So, I admit, I was scared. In an earlier post, I mentioned that it was a decision I was making because I felt it to be the right timing and the right decision. And, I wasn't going to go back and forth and hem and haw on it.
Having a surgeon who believed in and advocated for me getting back on track as soon as possible was helpful. But, I know that it was my belief in my body's ability to heal that was the most powerful force of all.
So, this past weekend, just under a month post surgery, I did the Dam to Dam 5k. I was bummed about doing the 5k, because at the beginning of this year, I'd really aimed to do the full half marathon. But as the hernia situation started getting irritating, and the block on the calendar opened up for the repair, I decided to forego the longer distance and aim to be in racing shape by the 5k. I'd finished a round of P90X3 just prior to the end of April, then did all sorts of traveling, so I really hadn't run more than a handful of times pre surgery. I took the 2 weeks kind of off, so that left me with 2 weeks to train.
I'm competitive in running. Primarily with myself. But, I do like to have a good race and push myself with other fast people. Usually, I'm very mellow and non-aggressive. But, come race day, I get race rage. I don't like to be crowded. I hate when people get in my path, or elbow, or harsh my mellow in any way shape or form. In looking at the previous year's finish times for my age category, I knew I could finish in the top 5 (*note, this is me thinking this and comparing to my race times from two years ago when I was in really good race shape). So, I had this mental goal of knowing that I could finish top 5. BUT....in training, I've been running with Gidget, and she's been limping a bit and slower than usual, so our runs had averaged between 8 and 8:30. Nothing near place pace.
Race day it was 55 degrees, and drizzly. This was the first race I'd done in over a year and I was nervous. I don't know why....I guess just nervous energy. Expectations of myself. I have a pre-race routine, I like to be early for things and make sure that my body is feeling good. I drank a glass of iskiate (chia drink) as soon as I got up, had a strawberry/beet Vi shake mixed with cashew milk and coconut water, and two cups of Ancient Happiness green tea. I went back and forth on what to wear, because it was colder than I expected, so I went with an Athleta shirt, and my bright orangey capris because, I love bold colors, and totally think they make me faster. And, then, I started to drink my Vi Pro drink mixed with alkaline water. As you might imagine, by the time we got downtown, I had to pee very badly. And, we parked near a QT, that unfortunately only had one toilet for ladies, and everybody else had the same M.O.
We meandered down to the starting area. And, it was cool to see all of the half marathoners finishing. I felt a twinge of desire wishing that I was there finishing with them. But that passed quickly as I started getting into race mindset. Of course, I had to go pee one more time....and rather than fight like a salmon upstream to get to the portajohns, I popped into the restroom next to Starbucks, and again found a line. And, then I got my music set. I don't have a music subscription to any service any more, so not wanting to be interrupted by commercial breaks, I asked Gary if I could sign in with his Spotify account. Don't judge that I wanted to listen to the Ke$ha station. I'd listened to it earlier in the week on Pandora and loved her vibe - the 808 drum definitely gets me going!
So, I got my music started and they announced that it was 10 minutes til go time. I lined up right ahead of the 8 minute pace sign and all of these people started flooding in. I found myself eyeing all of the ladies who looked to be around my age to see what my competition looked like. Several small kids lined up with their parents, and I was thinking "duuuuuudes...you're not going to be fast, line up in the back." To those of you who are non-runners reading this, and are considering running a race, please line up according to the time you think you'll finish. I know you think, "oh the fast people will just pass us, anyway...." but, it's really annoying to have to pass you. And, like I said, when I get into race mode, I don't have particularly nice thoughts going through my head as I'm running you down.
We started at 10th and Locust, and I placed myself in the middle of the street. And, had a fairly clean shot through the starting area. I had to weave a few times and then got settled to where there wasn't anyone crowding me and I had a clean line of sight. And then....because of my race bib, my shirt started rolling up over my belly. So, I had to futz with it in rolling it down. But, the damn thing was determined to keep rolling it's way up. I was a bit flustered....and then it got even worse, when the Ke$ha station started playing Beyonce's "Drunk in Love." Don't get me wrong, Bey's got some great songs to run to, like "Love You Like XO"...and "Crazy in Love" but "Drunk in Love" is NOT a song to run to. So, I had to start looking at my phone and hitting skip, skip, skip, till I got the 808 and high beats per minute back. FrUsTrAtInG. But, that's completely my fault. I should've made time to create a playlist, or recycle an old one.
At the .5 mile point, my Runmeter shouted out to me that I was at a 6:08 pace! Holy smokes! That was fast!!! Maybe my fastest speed ever, but I was feeling amazing, so I told myself that I'd just keep going. I was pacing myself with another girl who looked to be my age and very much a runner build. And, I wasn't going to let her pass me. She was cool. Totally ran her own race and didn't infringe on my space...but then about a mile in, she slowed down and I dropped her. Just at that moment that I started to see the pedestrian bridge, these two older women zoomed past me. They were SO fast and I was like, "where did they come from?!" And, then this woman in brightly colored pink blocked shorts and short hair that bounced all around passed me and cut directly in front of me when there was plenty of room. That made me mad, and made me speed up a bit, because I had started to drop my time back into the high 6's low 7's. I kept Pinky in my sights, and as we approached the water station, she took up both lanes...drinking and passing! GGGRRRRRRRR!!!! But, Pinky was a beast of sorts, and could drink while still running fast, and soon she built a lead on me again. I knew I couldn't catch her, so I just kept her in my sights....until the 5k merged with the half marathon and it got a little bit crowded. By this time, it was 2 miles into the race, and my Runmeter had alerted me of the distance...and since you run 3.1 in a 5k, I had to dig a little bit deeper when I saw the banner officially marking the 1 mile to go point. I had just dug in, when I felt someone clip my shoes...and I turned around, with a mean death stare and this older man was like, "Sorry." I turned around, and kept running...but mile 2 was by far the longest stretch, and I knew that up ahead there would be an incline that I wasn't looking forward to.
I was so grateful for Runmeter in that it shouts out to me anytime anyone leaves a comment on my status. So, that was fun because I got my messages in a time that I really needed to hear them. As I turned up the street to approach the incline, I saw Gary waving at me and that gave me a boost of energy. And, directly after him was a drum corps right on the incline marking the last 400 meters of the race. That was SO awesome to have them there because they really were at place where motivation was needed and to have the beat of the drum push you along. Super cool!
At the 400 meter sign, I was running out of gas, and was mentally thinking, oh gosh, that's one lap around the track....but, as it was at the finish, there were so many people cheering and making noise. And, counted down the 200 meter and 100 meter, and ran straight through the timing mats....and immediately wanted to puke. I had to walk and take a couple of cups of water.
I'd done my best and absolutely left everything out there that I had. In checking the results, I saw that I'd placed 4th in my age division, and was the 17th woman in the 5k! Which I was really proud of considering where I'd come from training wise. I'm not gonna lie, I was thinking how could I have made 3rd? But, I let that go. That was neither here nor there. And, I focused back to what I'd just done! I returned to appreciation for my accomplishment. Knowing that I'd done everything I possibly could've done. Appreciation for my body's ability to heal - to race just under a month post surgery, with 2 weeks of training. And, inspiration to keep on running!
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| Pre Op 5/1/15 |
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| Charging the incline 5/30/15 |
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