DNF

Today was the Rock n Roll Arizona marathon. I was so excited and ready for this race. I felt lean and fast. Got to the race start and did some sprints and stretches and just felt SO ready.

I had a goal of 3:40 (8:23mm) and told myself I needed to be prudent from the start. No going out too fast.

M1: 8:05
M2: 8:04

Whoops – ok, so this was a little fast. And this was still trying to hold myself back and force myself to slow!

M3: 8:18
M4: 8:10

The weather was perfect: slight cloud cover, and a few time-and-temperature things said 48. What a great day! I’d had a gross blood blister on my big toe I was worried about, but it felt fine.

M5: 8:20
M6: 8:16
M7: 8:12

Generally I tell myself the race doesn’t start til 8. So I was concerned when at mile 7, my hip started hurting. Bad. I’d had some hip problems in training, but I’d dismissed it as my running in circles at the gym. There were no circles here.

M8: 8:13
M9: 8:05
M10: 8:14
M11: 8:23

I kept trucking along. I GUed, I watered, I cytomaxed. I also tried some skipping and some grapevining to try to get my hips to stop hurting.

M12: 8:00
M13: 8:16

I was glad to hit halfway, which is really not a great sign. I was still holding steady pace-wise, but it was definitely getting harder.

M14: 8:18
At mile 15 I stopped to try to stretch my hips out. I marched and lifted my legs up to waist level, just trying to change up the rotation. My hips (especially the left) were seriously aching with every footfall.

M15: 8:55
M16: 8:29

I stopped to stretch again at 17. By now I knew I was entering survivor mode.

M17: 9:01
I passed a medical tent and asked if they had Blue Ice or Ibuprofin. They had tylenol so they lead me to their tent and filled out some information before giving it to me.

M18:9:31

Often in the later stages of a race I resort to math. For some reason at mile 17 I’d been thinking I only had an hour left. After I left the aid station I checked myself and realized I had eight miles left, not six. With that realization, I saw my 3:40 goal out of reach. And as I did in the same stupid race 2 years ago, I lost faith. I walked, and then I sat on the side of the road and had a little cry.

M19: 14:40

I knew I couldn’t run it in. Sure, I could walk/hobble 7 miles. But why? So I came up on an aid station and asked if they were the ones who could get me to the finish.

I stopped my watch at 2:48 and took off my number. I was finished with this race.

Sure, I could have done a death march last 7 miles. But for what? I’ve done 30 of these things, there is no great accomplishment in #31, not walking in to a crap time.

That last mile I hobbled, I realized something important. I really believe my hip problems stem from roller derby. I fall on my hips and as recently as this past Sunday had a huge bruise the size of my fist on my hip – right where it was hurt today. Are my issues because of the different muscles developing from derby? Or from falling and weakening those muscles, or having random crap floating in my hips, or nerve damage, or….? All I know is that I really feel that marathoning and roller derby don’t mix. I think I have a decision to make.

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