Today I expected to wake up sore, tired, and still a little bit proud of running a half marathon yesterday morning.  Instead, my cat woke me up (yes, thanks) around 8 am. 

(I fell asleep last night around 11:15 pm, only to be woken up by Chris a bit later telling me that he was going over to our friends’ house to help them with their flooding basement.  I don’t know what time he got home, but sometimes I burst with pride over the sort of man I have married, the sort of man who doesn’t think twice about going out in the middle of a night in a thunderstorm to help out a friend.  These are the times I’m glad I married somebody like my father 😉 I am the luckiest.)

But I feel wonderful today.  I have very few aches and pains.  My arms are feeling somewhat back to normal, and my shoulder is…dare I say a bit better?  Some common movements that I keep accidentally doing are not hurting quite as much.  There’s still a sharp pain on occasion though, and I’m not kidding myself that it’s near healed.  I am hopeful that I am on the path now.  I’m icing it right now, as I blog and wait for my "overnight" oatmeal to set (quotes because I just put it together 30 minutes ago rather than last night.)

So, when I decided to DNS the race, my friend and running partner Jen had a little bit of a panic attack.  I told her, not to worry, I would be there cheering her on and supporting her.  I’d never watched a race before, and it sounded like fun.  We made plans to meet up with our friends Melissa and Steve, since Steve was also running the race.  Here’s where the less fun part came in.  We made plans to meet them in Soulard at 6:15.  That meant Jen was picking me up at 6 am, and that meant waking up at 5:15 am…not even to run a race, but to watch one.  CRAZY, right?

(Is it more crazy to wake up at 5:15 to run or to support a friend?)

I packed a bag with a sweatshirt, an umbrella, wet wipes, and brought coffee.  Melissa had a folding chair and a sign.  We did not bring cowbells, which we wish we had. 

We parked near the start for just $5.  This is Jen, looking pretty nervous.  I was in serious inspirational mode and was really trying to pump everybody up.  (I think I was trying to make up for the fact that I really wished I were running…)

Melissa and Steve.  And yes, that sign says Go Hannah…on the back it says Go Steve.  It’s an old sign.

We headed to the race start, and after waiting for a porta potty for about 20 minutes, it time for the runners to make their way to their corrals.  Melissa and I gave them hugs and high fives, told them to show us the meaning of haste, and then they left us to our "spectating".  We decided to find a place along the start to watch for them.

This is where we ended up.

It wasn’t long before the race started.  And wow.  It’s crazy to stand there watching everybody go by—first the super fast elite runners, then everybody else, so many people!  There were supposedly 12,000 for the half marathon, plus the marathoners as well.

I did see my trainer—he’s in the middle with the yellow shoes, white shirt, hat.  He was towards the front.  His goal for the day was 1:28.  I would put up a shot I cropped for a close up but that might be creepy 😉

After about 7 minutes we saw Jen and Steve!

And then they were gone.

Close up!  I think they saw us, since they were smiling!

After the start we had figured we’d mill about and then watch the finish.  However, we didn’t realize the race came right back near where we were again, around mile 5/6.  We went to the car, grabbed the lawn chair, and set up again.

Melissa was seriously ready to cheer!

By the time we set up, a few of the leaders had ALREADY passed this mark.  Seriously fast.

I was a bit confused by who I was cheering for.  And please don’t comment on my hair, or the disgusting-ness that is my violin mark. (For those of you who don’t know, that’s what you see on my neck near my jawline.  It’s where I hold my violin against my neck, and it varies as to how gross it gets.  Usually it’s just a dark, rough patch of skin, but right now it’s painful and bumpy from last week.  Gross.)

We had a nice spot, right near a corner, so we had a pretty good view.  Saw my trainer again, who thinks he’s Richard Nixon.

He had both hands like that shortly before.  (When I asked him about it later he said he does it because the crowds really respond.  No comment.)

Then we finally saw Steve!  (I don’t mean finally as in what took him so long, but as in, wow, there are a ton of people running this race and we were starting to go cross eyed and crazy.) 

Close up!

Then we waited some more but finally decided we must have missed Jen.  It was weird, I knew probably at least a dozen people running the race, and at this corner saw THREE of them.  (Well, one girl saw me, I didn’t see her at first—I’ve done that for sure.) 

We headed towards the finish line next.  By the time we got there, Mike had already finished, and he was happy to have met his time goal.  I borrowed his medal to see how it would have felt.

Heavy.  Like I shouldn’t have been wearing it.  I gave it back.  I would have taken a picture of Mike but he got strangely camera shy.  Maybe because he wasn’t wearing a shirt and was concerned he would end up on the blog? 

Melissa and I headed for the finish line, hoping to catch Jen and Steve there.  We found a bus stop bench to stand on so we could see over the people in the front.  It was a really exciting atmosphere, with the announcer calling out names and times as people were finishing.  The marathoners started to finish too—I saw the winner finish—just flying by the half runners at that point.  CRAZY.

We saw Steve!  Once we saw him running in, I started screaming at the top of my lungs, but it turned out he still didn’t hear me.  Several people around us did though.

 

He was looking strong! 

And again, we never saw Jen.  We waited a little while longer, not sure if she would have been behind or ahead of him, and then we headed for the agreed upon meeting place (most important, ALWAYS make a meeting place plan…be specific and precise.)

Then we found Jen sitting down!  I guess she was a bit ahead of Steve, and we just didn’t see her.  Ever.  I blame her black tank top—there was so much black in the race plus the roads being dark that it was just hard to find her.  Too bad since I was taking pictures!

So proud!!!

How they felt…

And then we went to Uncle Bill’s for brunch.  That place is awesome.  I had to remind myself that I hadn’t just run 13.1 miles so I needed to take it easy.  Still managed to eat all my bacon and sausage, but I only ate half the pancakes 😉

So there you have it.  My race "recap".  It turned out that Jen only missed her PR (personal record) by 4 seconds, when she thought she was totally unprepared and shouldn’t even bother running.  Steve felt good about his race too, though he had some knee issues.  We are already making training plans for the summer on how to get faster (though for me, step one is of course, heal up.) 

All in all, I’m really glad I went downtown to cheer.  It was great watching my friends accomplish their goals!

I suppose it was inevitable, that I would injure myself in some way.  I may have overcommitted to performances this month, but I feel like ordinarily I play so RARELY that I really wanted to take advantage of every opportunity.  While lifting pretty heavy weights…and then there you have it.  Boom.  Concert over, and I just barely made it through the week.  I’m taking a week off violin, and depressingly I have made the decision NOT to run the half tomorrow, because running and walking seem to exacerbate my shoulder pain.  No, I haven’t been to the doctor.  The last few times I’ve gone to the doctor for an injury from playing, they tell me to rest and ice.  Then I go back and they tell me it’s getting better and I need to keep resting, or stretch it, or do something exercises to strengthen it.  I haven’t really rested yet, so that started last night after the show.  I’ll consider it if things don’t improve in a week. 

Got the shirt, got my bib.  I got a little upset (yes, I may have cried) that I have such an awesome number and my name is on the bib…and I’m not running.  I’ll be there cheering Jen and Steve on—Melissa and I are going down super early to cheer the beginning and the end, and I’m sure that will be just as exciting as running.  I’m sure the food at the end tastes just as good, right?

I have to remind myself that I need my shoulder for my career.  If I didn’t need it as much, I’d run/walk and then deal with it afterwards, but by tomorrow my shoulder could already be healing a bit and then I’d reinjure it like I did this week.  Based on various thoughts, it seems I might have a tear in my rotator cuff.  Sounds pretty hard core, right, like something Greg Maddux would do?  Doesn’t feel it.  I kind of feel like a loser.  Hurts to play at the frog.  Last night it hurt every time.  I have an amazing ability to play through pain.  That’s not necessarily a good thing.  (Oh, and it’s not just my shoulder than hurt…just that my shoulder hurt most.)

I need to learn to run through discomfort…

We had a big crowd at the Chamber Project St Louis concert last night.  I was too stressed out to get any pictures.  One of my students, Adam, came (shout out, I know he reads my blog) and my trainer Mike came as well.  Mike was surprised by how physical violin playing was—I’m glad now he knows what it is that I do.

The Brahms was stressful.  We could have used more rehearsals.  It went okay.  I was in so much pain and so relieved when it was over.  I think we’re playing it again in two weeks.  (Don’t ask me how that fits into my rest plan, it does.  It’ll be fine, it always is.)

After the expo today, Jen and I decided some shopping was in order.

I thought this would be nice for Leslie’s wedding—it’s orange and pink! (Maybe a little short?)

Potential 80’s race outfit?  I thought the shorts might be a little short to run in (and pretty unflattering)  I also thought they might be a little short for the blog, but I’m too delighted by them to really care, and it’s important to OWN one’s thighs, right?  Most of that is muscle anyway. Plus, the shorts are pink lace!  With an elastic waist band.  You’re welcome.  I also got that dress to the right, which is actually pretty amazing.  (Also, as in I couldn’t pass up the Tainted Love shirt.  H&M is awesome.)

So I’ll be cheering tomorrow, like I said.  Today I’m trying to get more stuff done.  I’m still feeling overwhelmed, but I think once I get started next week at City Academy (taking over some teaching for about 6 weeks) and once (hopefully) my shoulder starts to feel like it’s healing I’ll be better. 

I’m doing the right thing, aren’t I?  I just feel like such a loser.  I wanted to redeem myself for this race, and it’s just not happening.  But it wouldn’t have been happening, with my training being a mess as well.  It makes me sad.  Must be April.