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As I’m slowly healing from my muscle issues, I’ve been putting all sorts of pressure on myself to get back up to speed to start training for the half marathon in October.

Yesterday while on a walk with Tim, I asked myself why I was killing myself to get training by August 20th* and I decided that I’m going to drop down and do the 10K race at the Mankato Marathon instead of the half marathon. I know that mentally I can do the half (which is half the battle), I just have to cut myself some slack physically as this healing process is very slow.

My mind is resting a bit easier now that I came to that decision. As much as I love a challenge and pushing myself, I also don’t need to stress myself out over it.

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* – That was the day I would’ve had to start the half marathon training program to be ready for the October 22nd race. But, I would need a base of running consistently for 4-6 weeks, running 30 minutes without stopping and putting in at least 12 miles per week. I’m nowhere near that level of fitness and I decided I was going to concentrate on getting healthy and doing a 10k instead of trying to kill myself doing the half.

On Saturday, July 23rd, I did the Warrior Dash race. It was described as “3.02 Hellacious Miles” and boy they were not kidding!

The photo above — while not mine — is an accurate representation of the final 10 yards of the run (after crawling in mud under barbed wire!). And yes, that’s a color photo.

Since it was at a ski resort, there were a lot of hills — including what I estimated as a half-mile uphill climb practically at the beginning of the race. That wiped me the hell out in the 90+ degree weather, so I pretty much walked the course. Some obstacles were easier than others and I finished in around an hour, which wasn’t bad as there were obstacles that I had to wait in line to even start. If I hadn’t had to wait for other people and I could’ve done them at my own pace, I would’ve probably finished 10 minutes sooner.

But my goal wasn’t to be fast or anything, it was to finish.

And I did!

Afterward, the “hosing off area*” was a guy with a snowmaker, so it didn’t do a very good job rinsing any of the mud and dirt off me. Those shoes got donated to a good cause and those socks went straight into the trash. I had the foresight to pack some soccer sandals (that are just hosed off to clean them) to put on after the shoes got donated. There were a lot of barefoot warriors walking back to their cars afterwards!

The bus ride back to the parking area was a muddy one, so I wasn’t too upset about the lack of getting perfectly rinsed off at the event. Again, I had the foresight to fill up six quart-sized Nalgene bottles with tap water before I left and packed some clothing that I would be able to strategically change into out in the open. It worked surprisingly well! Then I covered my carseat with garbage bags and towels and started my 1hr drive back home to a shower.

That was the best shower of my life. Also, it took a day to get all the mud out of my right ear canal (thanks to some overzealous racer in the mud crawl portion splashing around) and today, I finally got the last of the dirt out of my toenails!

I hope to do it again next year – but I definitely need to train for hills if I do!

Now it’s half marathon training time! Whee!

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* – Other events showed tanker trucks with actual hoses on them for rinsing off, which would’ve been MUCH more effective than high-pressure mist.