10 Mile Run - Saturday 9/10

You might be looking at the title of this entry and thinking, "I thought she was doing 20 miles today?" You would be right. Unfortunately, I fell and scraped up myself pretty badly around mile 7 or 8 of the first lap of a 10 mile loop. I made the tough decision to stop at home base, ice myself, and run to the convenience store to get some first aid.

There have been times before when I tripped, but this was the first run that I flat out wiped out. There was a raised area right before the Arlington Memorial Bridge (on the DC side). I was in my normal running flow, not overly cautious about my terrain because it was cobblestone sidewalk. Before I knew it, I was down. My water bottle flew out of my hands. Luckily, I had four other Arlington Road Runners around me to support me: Jason next to me, and Amy plus two other women directly in front of me. Jason asked if I was okay before I resumed running. As soon as I got up and grabbed my water bottle, I said, "Let's go." If I did have to fall once during training, I was thankful that it was when I was with a group of people.

I felt in okay shape, minus the gashes in my hands and the light scraping on my left knee. Then, as the run progressed and we ran past the Iwo Jima Memorial (the concluding spot of the MCM!), I felt my scrapes starting to swell up. I decided I would stop at the ARRC home base in Rosslyn when we reached there, prior to beginning lap two. Thankfully, they had ice, but unfortunately, there was no first aid. I feared that my cuts would get infected, that the wounds would hurt so much that they would detract from my running - so I made the very difficult decision to cut a long run short.

At first I was dejected about having to stop, but now I see it as an opportunity. I am going to finish up my mileage either this afternoon/evening or tomorrow morning. I will run somewhere between 10 miles (to make 10+10 from today), or I will start from scratch and do 20. I am not going to go into my second run with huge expectations, aside from the desire to complete a minimum of 10 more miles. I am going to listen to my body and do as it tells me to. If it says that it can do 20 more miles, then that is what I will do - and then I will rest tomorrow, extremely confident that I will be prepared for MCM. Plus, if I run tonight, I will see how I do with eating prior to a long run - something I have not had a chance to experience since a 9 miler earlier this season. As MCM gets closer, I wonder if I should consider having a small snack in the hours before the race; if I do not eat before the race, then I won't have my first meal until 1 p.m. at the earliest on October 30. I would never consider experimenting with this the day of the race, so this afternoon/evening will give me a chance to do so.

Aside from my graceful fall, the run was fantastic. I felt capable in all regards - including my ankles. I have had no tendon problems for a few days now, and they did not come up on today's run. The temperature was great. My lungs handled the weather well, even if it was somewhat humid for late summer. My stomach gave me no problems, and I didn't need a Pepto or Imodium before the run.

The start of the run was the site of today's Rosslyn Jazz Festival. At the beginning, I saw them setting up, and toward the end, I got to hear the warm ups. I saw promoters all over getting people to attend the festival, even at a very early hour in the morning.

As we crossed into DC, Chris from ARRC mentioned that there would be a water station with oreos. They might as well have been orioles (the birds), because we saw more of them than oreos. They were mystical "Never-cookies" that did not exist today. Although I would not have eaten any, the promise of cookies on the trail made me think of what I would like to see during MCM: a station that hands out fig newtons. Elite runner Deena Kastor has said that this is what she eats as fuel for long runs; I love fig newtons, so I imagine I would enjoy them during the race.

Part of the run took me along the National Mall. I saw some tents, and as I headed east, I instantly thought they were being set up for 9/11 remembrance. When I looped the Capitol and started heading west, I saw that they were for the National Council of Negro Women, Inc.'s 26th Annual Black Family Reunion. They had fired up the grill and were singing and playing music. Members from the running group were looking for a water stop around this point; I think that if they had asked for a burger, they would have successfully gotten one!

After I traversed the Arlington Memorial Bridge, I saw many points of inspiration. As mentioned earlier, I got to run past the Iwo Jima Memorial and up the road that in 50 days will lead me to victory. I got to run past the Netherlands Carillon and Arlington Cemetery, the first time I have ever done so. I briefly thought about all who have sacrificed their lives for us so that I can run on these streets in freedom and without fear, even around the 10th anniversary of 9/11. My only fear today was uneven sidewalks.

All in all, today did not go as planned, but it was still a good 10 miler. I will make up my mileage the rest of this weekend, and I will learn about my body in the process. With each crisis comes danger plus opportunity, a truth that I get to test out soon.