After months of tending the countdown calendar on my cubicle wall, I arrived at work dressed in jeans and last year's MDI Half Marathon technical tee and slid the ominous number "1" into its little laminated pocket.
0
Weeks
or
1
Days
until we run the
MDI Half Marathon
I worked a few hours, set my vacation responder to "on", then zipped home to to make a double batch of my new favorite snack--homemade granola bars with dark chocolate and dried cherries [recipe coming soon, I promise, Anne-Marie!]. Then I finished packing my clothes [read: finally decided what to wear for the race], the cooler (coldcuts, condiments, water, gatorade and coke), the green bag full of breakfast stuff (pop tarts, oatmeal, raisin bread & bananas), the picnic basket (plates, napkins, breads, snacks), and the red bag (camelbak parts and cowbells). At some point Nana Mary arrived (with more poptarts, cinnamon buns, brownies, cheese and crackers) and we eventually got all three kids home from school and packed and into the car and over to Mom and Dad's. We left James there, to spend the night with Gumpy and help push the train in the Charleston Bicentennial Parade, and picked up Nana Lois. At last six of us were off to Hancock where Alan and I unceremoniously deposited the two kids, two nanas and all our stuff, grabbed a couple of over-sized brownies, and dashed off to the island*.
Somewhere around Lamoine I had a few moments of internet connection on my phone and updated my facebook status. Alan asked "so how do you feel?". When I hesitated, he said "I'm guessing you're feeling better than you did last year?". Hell, yeah! For the past two weeks I've been a little down on myself for not feeling as prepared as I'd like to be. I had a really great half in May with good reason: I'd worked hard, plus I was healthy and mentally prepared, too. But this summer, I didn't really do a lot of the training I meant to do. I did almost everything on my plan for running, but did virtually nothing else--no weights, no wii, no cross-training whatsoever. On the other hand, boy, does it feel good to be gearing up for this race again and not have shingles! So, I've been looking at this year's MDI Half as "the great do-over". Conditions are really pretty much the same as last year in terms of my overall fitness (although I wish I were improved), the one real difference being that I'm not sick: I don't have nerve pain from my ass to my ankle and I have been sleeping through the night like a normal person. Crazy! [Side note: last year a week before this race our friend, Sue, supported me while I was barely able to stand with chills, fatigue and nerve pain, watching my kids run the DI Pie in the Sky fun run and telling me that there would be other chances to run a half marathon. This year, a week ago, I watched my kids run (adorned in pie-winning costumes!) and then ran the 5k with Sue's husband, Bucky and their dog, Cricket. What a happy difference!]
We arrived at packet pick-up with time to spare before dinner, so when an acupuncturist asked if we wanted free mini-sessions we shrugged and said "sure!". Neither one of us had ever tried acupuncture, but we love our chiropractor and I didn't feel like it a would be a big stretch. Next thing we knew, I was face down on a table with tiny needles in my neck, my lower back and one leg while Alan was draped in a chair with needles in his back and a space blanket draped over him while strangers milled around picking up their packets and talking about "jogglers".
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| Is that Alan or a giant baked potato?? |
Actually, I found the whole thing very relaxing. The needles only prickled when they were being inserted or moved and she managed to calm down a nasty knot in my neck and help relax the issue I've been having with my achilles. Alan took a little video of a needle in my ankle wobbling in rythmn to my pulse. Weird. Right afterwards I was a little chilly and worried that I'd tighten up again, but we donned our fleece jackets and walked to dinner so it wasn't an issue.
We turned straight to the pasta menu at Poor Boy's Gourmet. We'd never been there but it lived up to its internet reputation nicely--excellent food, very nice people and very reasonably priced. We enjoyed huge bowls of pasta with delicious sauces on their pleasant, mostly-enclosed porch--again, I was afraid I'd be cold, but wasn't--and listened in to some other runners dining at the next table.
I had dessert--white chocolate cheesecake with a chocolate cookie crust and raspberry chambord sauce. Mmmmmmm...
By then I was nicely stuffed, relaxed and ready to go. We drove back to the cottage, where we reviewed the plans for the morning with Mum and Mary. I took a Tylenol PM and Alan set his alarm for 5:30am.
*Mount Desert Island, home of Acadia National Park, Mt. Cadillac, Bar Harbor, Reel Pizza, Little Notch Bakery, Seawall, Blackwoods, Jordan Pond House, Wonderland, the mice from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and so much more.
Can't wait to hear about the rest of it. :) And to make some of those granola bars.
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