Winter Fail!

Maniacs freezing before the HMRRC Winter Marthon

Today I proved that you are only as strong as your weakest body part as I took my first DNF at the race today. Apparently my weakest body part are my fingers! Don't worry... once they stop burning (in 2 or 3 days) I'll be giving them a stern lecture and a hardy workout. Further, I have proven that I am, in fact, not a robot. But don't worry Mel, the "wings" theory has not been ruled out yet! 


I was home this weekend visiting my family in Albany NY and there happened to be a marathon held this weekend. If you've been following for a year+ I actually got my first BQ here in 2010 and thought it would be fun to run again. I started running and at first felt great, running 7:20's for the first 9+ miles easily. So what happened? Apparently upstate NY in the dead of winter is cold. Now who could have guessed that? Apparently not the girl that spent the first 22 years of her life here! The first half of the looped course was blocked from the wind and we faced the sun, building up a little sweat even. The back half? We faced away from the sun and the chilliest wind I've ever felt whipped right through my gloves. 


I tried to put on an extra pair of gloves and adding a sweatshirt pulling down the sleeve... but it just kept getting worse! I made the first 3 laps (about 15 miles) and when my fingers went from burning to complete numb I thought it was time to say goodbye to the course before I said goodbye to my fingers. So I jumped in the race directors warm car, scraped the ice from my eyelashes and held heating pads until the blood (and searing pain) returned to my fingers. 

Once inside, I got some warm soup and tried to warm myself up. I met up with Suzy, another blogger who I first met at this race in 2010. We didn't get a chance to take a picture a year ago but we made up for it today! Suzy was one of the first bloggers I had a chance to meet so it was fun coming back home and getting to see her again. Thanks for the photo op Suzy!!!! 


So what does this mean for my training? Unless I want to run 30+ miles tomorrow (not happening) I'll have to trade my weekends. I was going to do a drop down week next week with the Disney Princess half. It looks like I'll be doing the course forwards and then backwards to make up the miles! Woohoo? Well with the registration fee being so high, I should get at least 26 miles out of the deal! Get my monies worth :)


Finger Status Update: Hours later... they feel like I accidentally grabbed a curling iron early today. They are burned and swollen just a little. 


So an epic fail for a winter marathon in NY but a good lesson learned... sometimes it's good to listen to your body even when that means sacrificing miles! I'd rather finish the 100 miler with all my fingers and toes attached. 

Happy Running,

~*Stephanie*~

"Run to Win"- Meb

"Fast Girls Have Great Times!" -Marathon Sign