I survived
Sep. 13th, 2015 07:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miss_lucy2110K is a freaking long way to walk.
1) It was cold this morning (50F/10C). That is just barely in my comfortable zone for actual physical activity (i.e., more strenuous than a leisurely stroll for fun. I can do that down to about 40F/4C). And since I don't do outdoor workouts at that temperature, I don't really own a whole lot in the way of cold weather athletic gear. Most of my stuff is calibrated for between about 70F/21C to 85F/29C. Meaning most of it doesn't even have sleeves. Fortunately, I do have a couple long sleeve shirts (70F can be chilly when you're sweaty). Also fortunately, I actually checked the forecast yesterday morning, so I knew it was going to be colder than I like and so I wasn't trying to deal with this at 6am this morning.
I wound up wearing capri leggings, wool socks, a thermal tank top (that isn't meant for active wear, but it's what I've got), a sleeveless workout shirt and then a long sleeve shirt over that. I also found my fingerless gloves by digging around in my winter coat. I also have a Buff (basically a tube of fabric that can be worn in many different ways), so I had something to cover my mouth with if I needed to while also having something to cover my head (I wound up wearing it like a wide hairband most of the time, which was also useful for keeping my hair out of my face and the sweat out of my eyes). All of that was mostly warm enough for the pre-race wandering about (I was cold, but not really uncomfortable) and never got too hot while I was racing (partly because I get cold because I sweat so much, but mostly because it never got above about 55F/13C). It was reasonably pleasant in the sun. After the race, though, when Mom, Dad and I went to get a snack at Starbucks and we were sitting outside in the shade, we eventually had to move because Mom said my lips were turning blue.
2) I hated the start of the race. Hated. Usually, I'm doing races that have both walkers and runners and even if I wind up in the middle of the crowd, it thins out pretty quickly once we get across the starting line and the runners move on ahead. This race was walkers only (running was not allowed) and even though many walkers were walking considerably faster than me, a lot were around my pace to start with. And they were all chatty. So I'm stuck in a crowd of upper-middle/upper class, mostly middle aged women, all of whom are babbling to each other about their home renovations and whatever. And none of them had any sense of how to pass someone without practically knocking them down (someone actually referred to me as a road block at one point. That was so kind of her). And then people were stopping or slowing way down in the middle of the road to take a selfie or video or whatever and hello? There's a lot of people around you? Maybe this is not a great time for stopping in the middle of a crowd? Plus, it was pretty clearly stated in the rules that strollers weren't allowed and there were very definitely people with strollers careening around in there and people who think the rules do not apply to them make me seethe.
So, yeah, the race did not start out well.
3) Another thing that bugged me was there were people along the course with "encouragement" signs. This is pretty typical and they generally are either funny or they're well meaning if nothing else. The official signs that were being used by the race crew were mostly not funny and actually pretty mean. Like, one said "you trained for longer than Kim Kardashian was married." That's just not necessary. I'm not exactly a supporter of Kim Kardashian, but I don't need to use her as a means of making myself feel better about myself. And there were other signs that were annoyingly hetero-normative, like "Channing Tatum is at the finish line- speed up". Really? We really have to do this? Fortunately, later in the course, the local Girl Scouts were out to play cheerleader and they had hand made signs that were actually cute and nice. And they also had drawn on the road with chalk, which was kind of adorable (they were Brownies and young Juniors, so between about 6 to 11 years old). That did actually feel encouraging.
4) The guy at the finish who decided to motivate me by walking alongside of me and yelling at me? Not encouraging and not helpful. Dude, I just walked 6 miles. I know I'm not smiling right now. This does not mean I am discouraged or in any danger of not finishing the race, especially since I can actually see the finish line and it's like, 100 yards away. This means I'm tired. And probably a little sugar low.
5) I really was ready to be done with everything around mile 4.5. I was tired of people, tired of walking and not really enjoying myself any longer. It wasn't that I was too tired to keep going (obviously, as I finished), it was more that we had exceeded my attention span for this activity.
6) Apparently there was pretty awesome swag at the finishing fest. I got none of it, because it was also a swarming mass of humanity that I was well beyond being able to deal with. They really needed to spread the booths out more to allow actual traffic flow. So, since I couldn't deal, once I found Mom and Dad (who were waiting for me at the finish, although they didn't actually see me finish. No matter, they were there for hugs after), we walked around to the Starbucks on the main square, which was much calmer and I could actually hear myself think. I don't care much about the swag, but I do mind that things weren't well laid out. I am also eternally grateful for parents who understand that when I say I can't deal, I mean it, and we should find an alternate place to get food, even if it means paying for it, as opposed to the free food.
7) After that, they drove me back to my car, because their car was easier to get to at that point. And I discovered that the absolute best part of doing a race that's less than 5 miles from my house is that I was home in 10 minutes. I could haul myself up to my apartment and get a nice hot shower right quick. So I had a shower, drank about 12 oz of saline, had some more food and crashed for a couple hours. I feel reasonably okay now- I'm fine sitting and I'm fine once I start moving, but getting from sitting to standing is a little unpleasant. Tomorrow might not feel good, but if nothing else, the plantar fasciitis did not flare up (the insoles I bought to prevent this actually worked) and that's always the worst bit. Sore hips are par for the course.
8) So I'm going to wander around my apartment for a little while, because I'm within 500 steps of reaching 20,000 steps today and damnit, I'm not getting that close and then not hitting it. And then I will go crawl into bed.
1) It was cold this morning (50F/10C). That is just barely in my comfortable zone for actual physical activity (i.e., more strenuous than a leisurely stroll for fun. I can do that down to about 40F/4C). And since I don't do outdoor workouts at that temperature, I don't really own a whole lot in the way of cold weather athletic gear. Most of my stuff is calibrated for between about 70F/21C to 85F/29C. Meaning most of it doesn't even have sleeves. Fortunately, I do have a couple long sleeve shirts (70F can be chilly when you're sweaty). Also fortunately, I actually checked the forecast yesterday morning, so I knew it was going to be colder than I like and so I wasn't trying to deal with this at 6am this morning.
I wound up wearing capri leggings, wool socks, a thermal tank top (that isn't meant for active wear, but it's what I've got), a sleeveless workout shirt and then a long sleeve shirt over that. I also found my fingerless gloves by digging around in my winter coat. I also have a Buff (basically a tube of fabric that can be worn in many different ways), so I had something to cover my mouth with if I needed to while also having something to cover my head (I wound up wearing it like a wide hairband most of the time, which was also useful for keeping my hair out of my face and the sweat out of my eyes). All of that was mostly warm enough for the pre-race wandering about (I was cold, but not really uncomfortable) and never got too hot while I was racing (partly because I get cold because I sweat so much, but mostly because it never got above about 55F/13C). It was reasonably pleasant in the sun. After the race, though, when Mom, Dad and I went to get a snack at Starbucks and we were sitting outside in the shade, we eventually had to move because Mom said my lips were turning blue.
2) I hated the start of the race. Hated. Usually, I'm doing races that have both walkers and runners and even if I wind up in the middle of the crowd, it thins out pretty quickly once we get across the starting line and the runners move on ahead. This race was walkers only (running was not allowed) and even though many walkers were walking considerably faster than me, a lot were around my pace to start with. And they were all chatty. So I'm stuck in a crowd of upper-middle/upper class, mostly middle aged women, all of whom are babbling to each other about their home renovations and whatever. And none of them had any sense of how to pass someone without practically knocking them down (someone actually referred to me as a road block at one point. That was so kind of her). And then people were stopping or slowing way down in the middle of the road to take a selfie or video or whatever and hello? There's a lot of people around you? Maybe this is not a great time for stopping in the middle of a crowd? Plus, it was pretty clearly stated in the rules that strollers weren't allowed and there were very definitely people with strollers careening around in there and people who think the rules do not apply to them make me seethe.
So, yeah, the race did not start out well.
3) Another thing that bugged me was there were people along the course with "encouragement" signs. This is pretty typical and they generally are either funny or they're well meaning if nothing else. The official signs that were being used by the race crew were mostly not funny and actually pretty mean. Like, one said "you trained for longer than Kim Kardashian was married." That's just not necessary. I'm not exactly a supporter of Kim Kardashian, but I don't need to use her as a means of making myself feel better about myself. And there were other signs that were annoyingly hetero-normative, like "Channing Tatum is at the finish line- speed up". Really? We really have to do this? Fortunately, later in the course, the local Girl Scouts were out to play cheerleader and they had hand made signs that were actually cute and nice. And they also had drawn on the road with chalk, which was kind of adorable (they were Brownies and young Juniors, so between about 6 to 11 years old). That did actually feel encouraging.
4) The guy at the finish who decided to motivate me by walking alongside of me and yelling at me? Not encouraging and not helpful. Dude, I just walked 6 miles. I know I'm not smiling right now. This does not mean I am discouraged or in any danger of not finishing the race, especially since I can actually see the finish line and it's like, 100 yards away. This means I'm tired. And probably a little sugar low.
5) I really was ready to be done with everything around mile 4.5. I was tired of people, tired of walking and not really enjoying myself any longer. It wasn't that I was too tired to keep going (obviously, as I finished), it was more that we had exceeded my attention span for this activity.
6) Apparently there was pretty awesome swag at the finishing fest. I got none of it, because it was also a swarming mass of humanity that I was well beyond being able to deal with. They really needed to spread the booths out more to allow actual traffic flow. So, since I couldn't deal, once I found Mom and Dad (who were waiting for me at the finish, although they didn't actually see me finish. No matter, they were there for hugs after), we walked around to the Starbucks on the main square, which was much calmer and I could actually hear myself think. I don't care much about the swag, but I do mind that things weren't well laid out. I am also eternally grateful for parents who understand that when I say I can't deal, I mean it, and we should find an alternate place to get food, even if it means paying for it, as opposed to the free food.
7) After that, they drove me back to my car, because their car was easier to get to at that point. And I discovered that the absolute best part of doing a race that's less than 5 miles from my house is that I was home in 10 minutes. I could haul myself up to my apartment and get a nice hot shower right quick. So I had a shower, drank about 12 oz of saline, had some more food and crashed for a couple hours. I feel reasonably okay now- I'm fine sitting and I'm fine once I start moving, but getting from sitting to standing is a little unpleasant. Tomorrow might not feel good, but if nothing else, the plantar fasciitis did not flare up (the insoles I bought to prevent this actually worked) and that's always the worst bit. Sore hips are par for the course.
8) So I'm going to wander around my apartment for a little while, because I'm within 500 steps of reaching 20,000 steps today and damnit, I'm not getting that close and then not hitting it. And then I will go crawl into bed.