Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Free

All that chatter in my head I had mentioned my last blog post turned out to be something more.  My mind was scattered and my head was tense.  I just thought it was the stress of being at work full time and over time.  The reason why my head wouldn't shut off is that I had a sinus infection.  My doctor put me on a giant horse pill antibiotic, which was very toxic to my system and made everything else seem worse for the entire 7 days I  was on it. The up side is that my mind and head issues are gone.  Today was my last day of the horse pills.  Yay.

While being on antibiotics, I did  participate in the Carlsbad Half Marathon on Sunday.  I said  "participate." It would have been worse for me not to participate. There is something very therapeutic about running along side the ocean.  I was happy and my head was clear, it was freeing -- which is why I run in the first place. I certainly was not prepared and by mile 10, or there abouts, I started walking. I rarely walk a half marathon, but I was pretty tired. I walk/ran the rest of the way, making this race my slowest ever. Going slower than normal isn't a bad thing, it's actually good, because I saw a lot of friends (who were behind me) pass me up. I would not have seen them otherwise.

 Oh yeah.

The bonus to this race is that I started and finished the race with blogger friend Penny. I'm not quite sure where we lost each other, but with the finish line around the corner Penny runs along side me and passes me. I figured I could muster up something to catch up with her and finish running. Much to my amazement we finished at the exact same time. I've never finished a race with a friend before, and I must say that it was wonderful to share finishing a long race with someone, and to share the joy of making it to the finish line.

We finished!  2:41:58.
(We did not plan to wear pink and black together.  It just happened. )


This is also the very first time my husband finished ahead of me. I knew he would pass me up at some point, but it took me being sick and under-trained for him to do so.  He even PRed by over a minute. The past several races he has run in have all been PRs.  It's all about the training and not being sick or injured, that's for sure!

Post race with Hubs and Rich.

Bonus points that I didn't end up in the medical tent this year.

Song from Tuesday, January 18, 2011:
Rattled - The Traveling Wilburys

PEACE

6 comments:

Jill said...

YAY for a no med tent amazing finish :). Ok, no more ailments, you are DONE for 2011! I think I'd be so engrossed in that ocean view I'd forget what I was even doing; how blessed you are!!! Nice job, girl - I hope you are now feeling better!!
Congratulations on another half in the book - and having such a nice with finishing with your twin, Penny :).

Aka Alice said...

I'm glad you didn't end up in the med tent too!

Michael looks great! It stinks when your previously slow hubby starts to run past you...unlike me, I think your situation is temporary! :-)

Chris K said...

Irene, I was working the water station at mile 6. I was in a Toga. Really. You can see some cool pics on my blog. What a day, eh? Meg was also at the race cheering people on. Way to stay tough.

Anne said...

What a great photo of you and Penny at the finish! And hooray to Michael on his PR. Glad all it took to clear the head was a week's worth of horse pills, even if they produced some side effects.

I'm sure now even the work stress is easing now that you are well again.

Glenn Jones said...

Very cool Irene! Great for hubs too!

Unknown said...

congrats on finishing without a med tent stop.

glad you are feeling better too.

i still have 24 hrs before i'm off antibiotics, but who's counting?