Marathon Nightmare!!!

When I first started running I had a recurring dream that I’d be in a race and my legs weighed 200 lbs and I couldn’t run– almost like being stuck in sand or mud. As I got more race experience and grew more confident that particular nightmare gradually faded away and I actually forgot about it… until last night.

Last night’s race nightmare was all kinds of special. And I don’t mean special like I dreamed I won the race, I mean special like finding out you overdrew your bank account, you showed up at work and your pants split or throwing up in front of a cute boy kind of special.

Let’s set the stage. I dreamed that I was at the starting line of CIM and although it was cold and foggy everything seemed to be ok. I was dressed in running clothes and ready to go! So the gun fired and we were off! Only the course was grass! And then, about 250 yards from the start line we had to stop running because they forgot the National Anthem. I take America and the anthem very seriously so I stopped to salute the flag but then wasn’t sure if I should restart my watch or count the anthem time in my pacing.

I am not marathon-footwear. I am beach footwear.

Then, I started running for real and felt the sand and mud type of running. I couldn’t get above an 11-minute pace and was getting so frustrated. Well, about 1/4 mile later I looked down and I was slow because I wasn’t wearing running shoes, nope I was wearing my gold Havianna flip flops. I looked all over the place for someone I knew to switch out shoes but no one had an extra pair! And I couldn’t see my garmin!

To make matters worse, the race director had changed the course to run through a whole bunch of buildings that were Frank Lloyd-Wright-style architecture and I kept coming to dead-ends in hallways and couldn’t get out to where the runners were. I could see the leaders, but I couldn’t reach them. And to make things even worse I realized I had no gu! And as if that wasn’t enough i realized I was carrying both my purse and laptop bag and was too petrified to just ditch them along the course. So let’s recap: I was running CIM, in flip flops, with 2 purses, with no gu, inside a building, on a grass course, with no one around.

Would you like to run with me?

I ran and ran and ran and yelled “F you” to quite a few spectators (which is hilarious because I think I’ve uttered the F word out loud MAYBE 5 times in my entire life and that’s if you’re counting quoting others) but couldn’t find anyone I knew to take my purse.

I was there too! You were also carrying me!

After roughly 6 miles of marathon running in flip flops and with a purse I woke up. It took me a couple of minutes to realize that I was not actually running CIM today and that if I was I would more than likely remember to put on running shoes. At least I hope so. I’ve also never forgotten my gu and I highly doubt that I’d take my purse and laptop to a race. I was also kind of sweaty but that could be because I was so cold when I went to bed that I opted to sleep in long sleeves, flannel pants, flannel sheets, 2 down comforters, my uggs and socks. Hot. Literally and figuratively.

Aside from its hilarity, the dream is probably a good reminder that I’m on schedule to have a good race. A crazy race nightmare is standard and it was a good reminder to have everything I need prepared and ready to go before say, the gun goes off! It was also a good reminder not to get cocky and that anything can happen on race day!

I had a good run this morning– we had the first fog of the season (Sacramento gets this really bone-chilling, dense valley fog that sits close to the ground and since I live near the river it’s particularly thick in my neighborhood. I usually like it for about oh, 3 days and then I’m ready for spring.) so I was bundled up like Frosty the Snowrunnergirl but the legs felt good and I was rarin’ to go. I listened to the Ryan Hall “Ole” YouTube and some good music and just kind of had a moment with myself. A short moment since it was only 4 miles, but a moment nonetheless. 3 more sleeps and 1 more run and I’ll be at the starting line!

Between now and then I’ll be eating a moderate amount of carbs with some good healthy protein in there, wearing compression socks, watching my step carefully and doing a lot of relaxing. I’m also going to stop eating the left over turkey from Thanksgiving just to make sure I don’t get food poisoning! I’m so ridiculous.