knocked up

saturday i decided to go for a little jog outside to test two things - how i was feeling and my sweet new gear. it was so cold out but my choice in clothing was pretty good. i love my new knickers and my apparently anatomically left and right socks, which i bought by accident work great, too. i went further and harder then i prolly should have but it was so cold and i wanted to get in a 1/2 hr. i decided that i could at least start the race on sunday and that i could wear the knickers and shirt since i would have worn them and washed them avoiding the no new on race day. i would not wear the new socks though since i forgot to wash them.
we loaded the kids in the car and took a trip to blockbuster. seamus picked out peter pan and i picked out knocked up. i had heard from several people and had read several reviews that it was a good movie. for the most part it was but it was the longest movie ever. that could have been because we apparently picked out the version that had 25 extra minutes in it. i also felt that a lot of the improvization betwen seth whoever and paul rudd felt really forced and over used. i really lkes katherine heigel in it despite really not liking her very much and i am srry, she would have never tried to make it work with that guy in real life. despite all of this, twice, yes two times during the movie i was brought to tears. NO ONE expected that. once when the sister was telling whats his name that she likes spiderman, too and the other was at the end. i am struggling every day as to what to do about our baby situation and i just bawled and bawled. i had thrown out the bottle sterilizer on saturday too which was weird and made me sad. i just don't think i am done yet.
saturday night i couldn't fall asleep. at all. the alarm went off at 545 and everyone started to wake up and get ready to go. there was no traffic like there was last year and there was no rain either, but it was cold. eric and i made a plan that he would be at mile 4 with various clothing items incase i needed to adjust what i was wearing and/or if i needed to stop racing. i got out at the EMP and stood on the vent with about 30 other people since it was about 1/2 a degree warmer. then the walkers went off. we all started lining up, and mashed with the thousands of other people at the start i was feeling pretty much ok. i threw out the garbage bag i had brought but did keep on eric's ratty old 2002 team cliff bar work shirt. then the horn blew and off we went. i stuck to the 1:45 pace guy for a while. at around mile 2 in the international district, i saw eric and the kids. they had my stuff but i didn't need any of it. i can't remember when i ditched the cliff bar shirt, but i did drape it on the side of trash can by a bus stop, so i hope someone who needs a shirt found it and put it on. i stayed on that 1:45 guy until we hit a hill somewhere between 2 and 3 and he dropped his sign down into the crowd somewhere and i never saw it again. the tunnel was warm and then at the water station at mile 6 a girl slipped on an empty cup and fell flat on her face. she got up and kept running for a little bit and then stopped. i don't know what happened to her after that. i was still doing ok but was really starting to think about stopping. it was cold along the water and you could see everyone's breath. i had worn my ipod and was glad i did. it covered up my heavy breathing and made me unaware of the inevitable ear clog i get at mile 3 of every run that is even slightly cold. i was getting worried about the steep uphill on galer and then the forever hill of madison because i knew it was coming soon. during the summer eric and i drove it and i was amazed. i had told him i was an animal for being able run it last year. this year i was worried but then i saw eric and the kids sitting on the side of the road freezing their arses off just to cheer me on! when i got to galer i took tiny tiny steps and i don't think my breathing changed at all. the turn onto madison went well, too. it went by super quick and i was suprised to see specators on the sidelines with big bins of pretzels and gummy bears. at the top it was time to head down the arboretum. i was thinking about stopping. vere left onto interlaken and the foreverness of interlaken goes on and on. it is brutal since its all sort of up hill and it is FOREVER. the kids had hiked into it somewhere and i got a hand slap from seamus which was fun!! when the interlaken was done at around mile 10 there is a slight downhill to a water stop and i did stop to walk. for a while. it was becoming very obvious that i really do need new shoes and in looking at my watch i knew i wasn't going to break 2hrs, so i said i wouldn't kill myself. i even entertained the idea of walking the last three miles but since there wouldn't be an * next to my name point out that i was sick, i knew i could be a little above 2 but not like 1/2 hr above it. i started to run again. for a little bit. at mile 11 i walked again. but i ran all the uphills and all the down hills. at mile 12 i walked some more. a lot. i couldn't believe i was walking in the last mile. then i passed a volunteer who said .4 mile to go. i started to run and i started to run pretty fast and i felt good!! my breathing wasn't stressed and my legs felt awesome. i passed the finish line and the clocked said 2:01:59.5. I was ok with that despite it not being under 2. the recovery area was a mess. they just mashed thousands of people in that hot stuffy room. there was no traffic control in that room so i had to leave. i was meeting eric and the kids and mcdonalds and managed to find my way there pretty easily but just as i was 20 feet away i saw a black passat pulling out. i checked the license plate and was like, how many can there be that end in those three letters!! i ran towards them - what are you doing??? they had far exceeded the time limit there. he said they were going to drive around. yikes! i told him if i would have seen him drive away the world would have opened up and swallowed us all, it would have been that bad.
went home, showered, napped and then we all went for a drive.
today i feel like arse. i am way sicker then i was last week. i found out that my official chip time was 2:00:30.8 a PR but NOT UNDER 2. totaly messing with me. i did learn a few things at the race though. apparently when my legs start hurting more then anything and i feel like i have to walk, i just really need to speed it up a bit like i did at the end of this race. HAD I REALIZED THAT earlier i would have been under 2. eric said when i saw him in interlaken i was on pace to do 1:55 which i believe since i did all the walking after that point. next time i will not be so sick, i will have shoes that aren't so worn out, i will have traveled less in the weeks prior to race day and i will continue to do more longer runs on the weekends. i might also not give up on the speed workouts!