PDR -or, partly demoralizing run

887 Views 21 Replies 18 Participants Last post by 2oh, Sep 24, 2007

solarpowered

Discussion Starter · Sep 18, 2007

I debated whether or not to write this report. I’ve written it several different ways in my mind. Then I realized that this is a place to learn from races (and runners), as well as to celebrate successes. And I decided I could do both in this report… (sorry it's so long!) I ran the Philly Distance Run on Sunday for the second time. Last year, my first, was a fantastic experience. I was a new distance runner and enjoyed the race. This year, my twin sister started getting into distance and we ran the race together as her first distance race. That was both a great thing, and a problem. Before the day arrived, we had decided we would dress similarly – something we never do – just to have fun with the fact that we were twins running the race together. We also discussed our pace – she’s never really done speed workouts, I’m in the middle of training for the Philly Marathon, what should we look at for running together? My intention was to hang with her the whole way – regardless of whether or not I’d better my time, we were slow, whatever… We talked about approaching the day with an easy pace, having fun, and seeing where our legs took us. I scaled back a bit that week, but was thinking this would be a training run-type pace for me. I didn’t prepare for her to be giving me a run for my money. The day started for me with waking up to tummy issues. Just didn’t feel right. Ever. That makes for an uncomfortable 13.1 miles when you are running with someone. We got to the start, met up with a couple fellow 30’s KR friends, Larry and Tom. Missed my NJ Marathon running partner Dave, though. Bummer. We chatted in the chilly morning for a few minutes and then separated to say our hello’s to others and get our warm-ups going. My sister and I jogged a two mile warm-up (this was a 15 mile LR day in my training), made our pit stops, said hello to my parents at the corrals, and got ready to start. I had a weird feeling about my tummy but hoped it would hold up. Soon the gun went off and we were on our way. Mile 1 came upon us, we were running comfortably, and at about a 9:45 pace. I asked my sister how she felt and we agreed we both felt good. Mile 2 we picked up about 15 seconds and still felt good. We wound through the city and stayed side-by-side unless we were passing people. Which we did. Soon enough we were passing back through the starting area and spotted our parents, but not her husband and kids. A little pick-up, but disappointed we missed her family. As we headed out MLK Drive, I told my sis we were almost at the 5 mile mark and right around 45 minutes – we had picked up the pace and how did she feel??? She said she felt good at the moment but maybe we should back off a little so she could feel ok down the home stretch. We sort of backed off. It was about this time I started to realized my tummy was not at all comfortable, and should I stop for a pit stop??? My legs were working hard, but otherwise ok. I decided I’d try to hold out so that I didn’t hold my sister back. She was feeling good. As we made our way up the old West River Drive, we talked a little, but joked about how we weren’t doing much talking at all. I told her to be prepared for the slight rise in the road up to the Falls Bridge, to look for the bagpipe guy, and be ready to head to the finish. We were cruisin’. Well, she was. I was trying to hold on. Rounding the bridge, someone yelled, “You’re almost there!” My sister got chills. I felt her speed up. I told her she still has more than 4 miles to go. Don’t sprint yet! She heard me, and held pace. Passing mile 10, I knew we could break the 2 hour mark. That would be cool for her, and I told her if she felt really strong she should go ahead. At this point, my legs and tummy wouldn’t let me pick up the pace any more than we already had. She said no, this is good. We worked our way up the slight incline leading to the 13th mile marker and then leveled out. What a feeling. People lining the street, cheering, adrenaline pumping, I said, “Isn’t this cool?!” My sister replied, “I can’t talk!” We passed my dad, waved, and made our turn into the finish. Fists pumping in the air, we sprinted to the line. My sister yelled, “COME ON!” I’m not sure who she was talking to – I was right by her side as we crossed the line. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Very Happy"> Ok, from here, I could talk about meeting up with our family, etc., but that's nothing to learn from. As excited as my sister was for running and finishing this race, I felt defeated. All sorts of thoughts about why I didn't feel good about this race eventually pointed to this: 1)Tummy issues sometimes hit you on the worst days. I believe this was just a fluke, as the issues stayed with me the rest of the day. 2) Had a rested and prepped my legs to run hard that day, I may not have felt like they were working so hard. Now the important lesson. 3) I will always feel like I'm in competition with my twin sister. I will always feel like she wins. I'm a runner. She's a runner now. We ran this one together, she had a better day. That bothers me, but I can still be happy for her success. And she's not doing the triathlon that I'm doing this coming weekend. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Very Happy">

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