Why, hello, new world! It's been a crrrraaaazy start to Fall... moving into our house in July, setting up a new classroom for a new grade level... oh yeah, and finding time to train for the Columbus Marathon, running 20-40 miles a week. My 2nd FULL MARATHON is in exactly 2 weeks, and I couldn't be more excited to 1. KILL IT, and 2. Stop running and have some personal time back... until the next race I sign up for, that is :)
Here is some verbal diarrhea/highlights of my training along the way. :)
Week 1 was a little blurry... the day I was supposed to do that first long run of 8 miles, I bought my wedding dress. Duh. Not running. :)
Week 2 was rough... My cousin, Christine, got married in NYC the day I was supposed to run 9 miles. I ended up skipping most of the week-day runs to prepare for travels, but decided on Friday night before we left on Saturday morning, "Sure, I can bust out 9 miles." Bad. Idea. Sciato. Whatever, I did it. Wasn't the best choice I've ever made, but I did it.
The week we moved in July ended up being a big mental black-out of a week... moving knocked out a lot of those week-day runs, but also, the week was so emotional. Heffe's sweet grandfather passed away, and the day we got back from the funeral and spending time with his family, I was supposed to run 12 miles. Running was the LAST thing on my mind.
The rest of training has been... ?? Can't really find a word that means predictable, shocking, easy, anxiety-enducing, encouraging... Normal for anyone training for anything... right? As school started, I quickly remembered how difficult it is to either wake up at 5am for a pre-work run, or pull out even 4 miles after a 12-hour-day. I think the training TIME is what always sneaks up on me. I can do the running. It's the time (and the time preparing for the time one is running) that's hard to give up.
The thing that always bogs me down as a runner are those awful runs that rear their ugly head when you least expect/need it. I have 3 especially LETHAL runs that come to mind.
1. A 7-mile mid-week run: After, I remember texting my sister-in-law, Amanda, and telling her how I'd been literally chased out of the woods by bats, cramped the whole time, had serious indigestion (which really hit the final nail in the Chipotle/Sciato relationship coffin), and was running slower than molasses. It's hard to have that kind of self-doubt.. especially on a 7 mile run... and especially when that 26.2 is whispering in your ear. Running has brought me to my highest points... but also brings me to my darkest, deepest points of self-loathing and fear. The fear, mostly was because of the bats that I could hear screeching above Willow Smith "Whip My Hair"... stupid wildlife trying to cramp my pseudo-hipster-forest by the river-trail-running style. ;)
2. A taper-week 13-mile long run: BADBADBADBADBAD. I had to walk the last 2 miles, and felt completely embarrassed and defeated. I don't even want to talk about it anymore.
3. My 12-mile long run that I did today. It was supposed to rain, so I was anxious about getting stuck in the rain... I knew I didn't have the mental capability to play those ridiculous mind games on a treadmill for 2 hours. It was 6000% humid, and my trail was sopping wet, caked with fallen leaves and mud, so I was anxious about slipping. My nose literally didn't stop running the entire time, which made it really difficult to find a rhythm with breathing. I was sweating like a pig an animal more disgusting than a pig from said humidity, and still battling the monstrosity of chaffing on my rib cage from last week's 20 mile run... which is why I cried in the shower and will be wearing band-aids and neosporin on my rib cage all freaking week to do damage control.... Do I need to continue? Today's run BLEW.
Like I said above... running takes me to the deepest, darkest places of my mind that I truly didn't know existed until I started running. (sidenote: All you non-runners out there, don't feel discouraged if you want to start running, and all you running-haters out there, I'm just being honest, you can't have peaks without the valleys! Now to the peaks...) Running also takes me to the highest and most self-confident moments I can remember.
1. A 15-mile long run: The longest I had run since the full marathon in 2012. Whew! I remember getting halfway and realizing 1. This is the longest I'd ever been on the trail... I wonder where it leads? and 2. I've already done 7.5 miles? That was easy!!! First time in this round of training that I felt like I could actually finish the full 26.2 with dignity. <enter runner's high>
2. My first 18 mile run. I knew the trail would take me all the way downtown, to somewhere around Ohio State's campus, so I was excited to see where the trail ended. I got to run from the start of my trail all the way to Ohio Stadium and back... pretty freaking sweet. :) Who has 2 thumbs and can say they've run to The Shoe from their home (more or less;)) in the burbs?! This chick!! :)
3. My first 20 mile run. I was terrified and SUPER anxious. But, I set up my super cool water bottle belt with water, gatorade, and Clif Shot blocks... and just started running. Made it to The Shoe again... psych, that wasn't half-way on this run. SO, I had to turn around, run the 9ish miles back to where I started, and THEN kick out an extra 1.5 going the other way on the trail. You know those Gatorade commercials where the guy keeps saying, "One more! One more!"? I could be on that commercial!! I've been playing my songs on shuffle as of late, and the last song of my run was Hunter Hayes, "Wanted," which always reminds me of the night Heffe proposed. :) So to top off 20 miles, I also found out how difficult it is to cry (although happy tears) when running. ;)
4. My second 20 mile run, last weekend. Super busy time of year, right? Heffe and I drove to Cincy on Friday after work. I was battling a nasty cold, but ignored the pangs in my chest and head and I woke up Saturday morning to bust out 20 miles in my parents' neighborhood. It was actually nice, I got to see the sun rise, and I haven't run around there since training for our Cleveland Marathon; but sheesh... I forgot how hilly my parents' neighborhood is. ;) I knocked it out, then had to motor through the rest of the weekend... my nephew Drew's 8th birthday party, football watching all day, Papa Sciato's birthday celebration, and Heffe's and my engagement pics on Sunday. I kept up with it everything and everyone (including 3 sweet nephews!) ... even after 20 miles. :) BOO.YAH. :)
5. Run Like a Girl 5k Yesterday. Not only was this awesome because I got to do this race with my future sisters-in-law Amy and Carolyn, my sister-in-law Amanda, her sister Laura, and their sister-in-law Megan; we got free bottles of wine after we finished; but most importantly, I got to be there to see Amanda cross the finish line on her first 5k ever. She trained. She cramped. She lost her breath. She kept going, and finished strong. I'm so proud of her, and hope she knows what a motivation she is to me to just keep going, even if it hurts, even if you don't think (or know) if you can. I'm SO lucky I got to be there to celebrate with her. :)
SO. Even though I have bad runs. Even if it hurts. Even if I'd rather have 3 bottles of wine and sleep all freaking day. I'm going to keep going. Why? Because I'm half crazy. :) And because I, Anissa Casciato, am a runner. :)
Watch out, New World... I'm going to light up Columbus in 2 weeks. :)
Until next time,
This is me. Bein me.
Cheers. :)
