Last Weekend Before GDR--March 9th and 10th, 2013

I put the Asheville Marathon nightmare behind me, as I recover quickly, and focus all my energy into my upcoming 11 month goal race--The Georgia Death Race (GDR). 

I meet Jake at Vogel Park the Saturday before GDR (March 9th)  to start running at 4am.  His plan is to run over 30 miles.  My plan is to join him for about 10 miles and Deano is going to meet us at the top of Coosa by 6:00am and run a few miles with us and then turn back with me to finish out the Coosa Loop.  I want to run close to 20 miles and Deano wants to run about 15 miles.  Jake and I get to the top of Coosa just as the sun is starting to rise and with no sign of Deano, I text Deano to tell him we are pushing forward onto the DRT as I'm quite  sure he will catch up.  It's not long before we see a headlamp and Deano does catch up to us.  We start that very steep descent just past Coosa and once again my ITB and left knee will NOT cooperate with me.  I am in piercing pain.  I am completely pissed off and frustrated.  I tell the guys to run ahead.  I walk down this mountain and take motrin to see if that will help.  The guys are waiting at the bottom of the hill on me.  I ask them to not wait on me because of my knee.  I know I am fine on the ups and the somewhat runnable portions, but the steep descents are agony. 

Deano and I run out about 3 miles with Jake giving me 10.5 miles and then we decide to turn back.  We wish Jake well on his long run although both Deano and I think he's crazy to run this much one week before GDR..lol.  On the way back, I tell Deano he is more than welcome to run ahead if he likes because I do not know how my knee is going to work on the steep downhills, and I don't want to hold him back.  But, he /is also having some knee pain and is not looking for a hard run, so we run together and have a great conversation.  About an hour later my knee pain is manageable, and I am running better on it.  Thank you, Motrin! 

We make it up Slaughter with ease.  I haven't run the Coosa loop since last July.  This seems easy!  But, also I have forgotten just how beautiful this run is!  We are about a mile from my car when all of a sudden out of nowhere and for no good reason, I sprain my ankle so badly that I actually scream.  I have never in my life screamed on a run.  I never screamed when I fell and broke my elbow nearly 2 years ago and that really hurt.  I hear a pop in my ankle, and I stop to walk only briefly and just decide it might be best to keep running.  I am so embarrassed to have screamed like that in front of Deano!  I can't believe I did that, but the pain in my ankle was so awful that it went up the side of my leg and down into my foot.  Luckily it happened on the last mile, and I was able to run it in to the car. 

When we finish the run it's not even 10am yet!  I love it!  Starting at 4am was just too much fun.  I go home and clean house and do chores and stay busy the rest of the evening until I finally drop into bed with my sore grossly swollen ankle at least 3 times it's normal size!  I felt great all day as far as my energy level is concerned and wondered why I don't always start at 4am?  lol  This makes me feel better about starting the race at 4am next week!

However, I also have a plan to meet Jake the very next morning at about 7am on Hwy 60 to run to the BMT helicopter field and touch the T-bar approx 10 miles out from the road and back.  We decide to run the 3 miles or so on the FS roads since neither of us have run these roads before and didn't realize we'd even need to run these roads instead of the BMT until Jake read the GDR handbook.  Sometime late that night or perhaps even early the next morning, I message Jake that I am not sure how I am going to run the next day on an injured ITB and now a newly sprained ankle injury.  I tell him that I will just run as far as I can and then turn around on my own.  He is pretty tired from having run well over 30 miles and is ok if I am not able to run the full 20 in the morning.

When I wake up the next morning, I am secretly hoping that Jake has messaged to bag this run!  LOL  My ankle is swollen and pretty sore, but I am able to bear weight on it.  But, I am also exhausted!  I am really really tired and although I want to run, I really don't want to at the same time!  However, I message Jake to tell him I'm up and on my way, and he is ready to go as well.

So, we head out on another really nice day!  We got lucky on a nice weekend where it's not really all that cold and not hot yet either.   WE are a pitiful sight the two of us.  Tired and sore from yesterday, and I only ran over 19 miles while Jake ran over 30!  We just run really slow.  We get to the T-bar on the BMT field 10 miles out just under 3 hours.  So, we know on race day, if we really suck, it's not going to take more than 3 hours to do these 10 miles!  LOL  There is no way on race day that it can possibly take this long to travel this section as it did today.  We turn around and it probably took us nearly 3 hours to get back.  Jake runs ahead on the downhills because I am still suffering down them but not as bad as the day before, and I am able to catch up on the other sections.  My ankle is sore and at times hurts, but so far, it's manageable.

Finally, on the last mile or two on the forest service roads, I fully realize just how tired I am.  Not only am I tired, but I am hungry.  I really do not want anymore training run food that I have with me.  Jake is also starving and he talks non-stop about all kinds of foods and the menu at McDonald's even. I do not even want to know what McDonald's has on their menu.  I really do not want to hear Jake talking about food even, but I really do not have the energy to tell him to shut up...LOL  So, I just ask now and then how much longer do you think we have to the car?  Do you hear cars yet on hwy 60?  How much longer is this going to take?  I must sound like my children who repeat these similar questions to me while I am driving the Mom mobile!  LOL  But, Jake just talks me through it and continues to talk about food and menus.  I message Jake a day or two later and told him just how annoying this whole conversation was when I was starving to death.  And, he laughs and says, "I told you one day I'd drive you crazy with my talking about food non-stop!"

Finally, the run is done, and I have run 40 miles in 2 days one week before GDR.  I am not one to taper as it doesn't really help me.  I'm really thankful and appreciative of such a hard run like this.  I realize I can run slow, injured, tired, and hungry.  I have learned to run in a miserable existence and state of being!  Between the Asheville Marathon 26 miles last Sunday and the 40 miles from this weekend, there is no way in hell that the GDR can be any worse for me! LOL  Yes, I am ready for GDR!  I joke with Jake on Day 2 about the irony of my poor left ITB and my poor left ankle and how thankful I am that it's all one side and at the very least I can just drag my left leg through the race and run on my right leg!  He just laughs at me and tells me that he'd rather split the difference between both legs.  Not me!  I'm glad to have one good leg left!    LOL 

So, with this thought, I am prepared to run my sub 18 hour goal if my injuries can hold out, and I am prepared to run 20 to 22 hours if they do not.  All of my training is done.  The only thing I need to do is get my 11 month old completion race finished!  My goal way back in October/ November was to run this race in 20 to 22 hours.  I only changed the goal to sub 18 hours approx 6-8 weeks before the race start, when I realized just how far I progressed in my training and having re-run sections of this course numerous times.  And, if the worst happens and I have to drag my left leg with me, I know I could walk this course in 28 hours. The only option I have is to finish no matter what happens.