Dreamer24--wanted to add, I do wear my running shoes on the elliptical and at the gym, but that's it. I don't walk around in them or wear them unless I'm working out.
Ok, so here's my actual race report, then enough about me!
Morse mini-marathon 9/4/2010 7:30 am.
Temp at start: 53, sunny, winds ~10 mph, with gusts up to 20 mph. Fairly flat course with just a couple of small hills.
I was extremely irritable and cranky for most of the week before this race. Friday we drove to Indy and spent the afternoon at the canal walk and had a late lunch at a café on the walk. Its a beautiful area and Id love to go up next summer and go to an Indians game and go for a run on the canal/ along the white river. We got to our hotel around 4:00. We thought we were going to be guaranteed a late checkout, but the kid at the desk was less than helpful. So I was a concerned about that, because I knew wed need showers after the race. I think I just was in a worrying mood.
We headed out around 4:30 to pick up our race packets. The map quest directions were so off! We ended up driving around the cornfields of Indiana for a half an hour before we finally figured out where we needed to be.

At that point I was very stressed out and cranky. I really just wanted to bag the whole thing, go home, get in bed, and pull the covers over my headdefinitely stressed. Of course the person at packet picket had to make a comment about how you should never trust map quest! Ugggh!
We got back to Noblesville around 6:00, walked around the square for 45 min. or so, decided we werent hungry, and went back to our hotel and split a pint of ben and jerrys for dinner. The only reason I ate that, is because I knew I needed to eat something. And I lost how many pounds.
I slept awful and was up by 4:30. Mike got up at 5:15. We got to the start around 6:30 and hung out for a while. They had inside bathrooms which was nice. It was a very small race205 ran the race. I finished 58/92 for women, 6/13 for women in my age group, 162/205 overall. Mike said it seemed like a very fit group of people. They did a great job with the race. The water stops were very well handled and there were porta potties at every mile, which I am happy to say, I did not have to use.
We ran with a woman who said she was 51, had never run more than 7 miles at a time before, but regularly ran 30 miles a week. She asked if she could run with us because she was afraid of going out to fast, and really wanted to finish. We enjoyed talking to her and it was a great distraction. I do kind of wish I would have had a little bit of time (other than the last ½ mile when I was dying) to just run with Mike. I was very emotional yesterday. Other than the wind the first 12 miles went pretty well. When we were running into the wind, it was so tiring. My heart rate was a little higher than during training runs, but I felt good. I had three clif shots during the race and one endurolyte. Mike carried water and Gatorade. I started getting really tired around mile 10, but still felt good. Right after we passed mile 12 I felt like I ran into a brick wall. I was so tired I wanted to cry. I kept the pace up ok. The lady who was running with us took off at the very end, and finished about a minute ahead of us. And I dont know why, but that really frustrated me. I felt like we spent the whole race saying you can do this, pointing out every mile beyond 7 how it was a pr for her, and then when I could have used some encouragement, nothing. Like I said, why I cared, I dont know.
The last .5 mile was into the wind, and the last .2 was straight into the wind. It was horrible. I finished running, which was awesome, but it was so hard. And I immediately started getting calf pains. Luckily with some stretching and fluids I felt better quickly. I was so emotional at the end I started crying. I never wanted to run again. This was something I had wanted for so long, and it was over, and I was just physically and emotionally spent. Mike said he really wishes that in some ways, we would have just run by ourselves. He thinks it was too hard a pace for me with the wind, and hates it that I felt so bad at the end.
A day later, I am proud to have finished. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done, and I stuck it out. I think part of the weepiness yesterday was coming from the fact that I was so tired and kept hearing those messages from childhoodits not good enough, youre not good enough, etc. It's much easier to have some perspective today. Today, I can't even say that I would have liked to have finished faster or done anything different. It was a good race and I gave it every thing that I had. I left nothing on the table. I ran the entire thing--except for a couple of water stops. What more can you ask for?
My goal for the W&D is to finish without feeling so unbelievably exhausted. I recovered pretty quick yesterday and went on to have a good time at the Dismeet, but at the end of the race I felt like Id been hit by a truck. Were going to work on run/walking our long runs, and we are definitely run/walking the W&D. I would really like to enjoy the after party at EPCOT!
I had a great time meeting Jennz yesterday at the dismeet. We also met some folks from Dayton, which isnt too far from us. Mike and I were home and asleep by 10:00 last night. We were both pooped!