To be completely honest, when I train for a half-marathon (or even when I trained for me two marathons), I'm not the best at getting my weekly runs in. If my training plan says to run 4 times in one week, I might have run 3 times, or sometimes only 1 or 2. I'd always run my weekend long runs, but the weekday runs had ZERO appeal for me. When I started amping up my running for this Rock 'n Roll race, however, I vowed to run my weeklies- even if they weren't my favorites. So, in turn, I ran my weekly runs.
I felt really good going into race week. I'd planned a nice, easy taper and then three rest days. On Wednesday night of that week, I went out for my last regular run before the race. I got about a third of a mile from my house, running north on a fairly busy street in my neighborhood. I noticed some cars stopped on a side street waiting to turn right onto the street I was running on. I stopped before making my way across the road and then when it was clear that these cars were not yet turning, I started making my way across. At that point, the driver of the lead car was looking to his left and I was approaching from the right. He must have seen an opening in the traffic on the busy street and he zoomed out, turning onto the busy street and, in turn, HIT ME WITH HIS CAR!
Yes, that's correct, three days before what was to be the race of my life, I was hit by a gold crossover-type vehicle. I don't remember any of it except being on the ground, in the street. My headphones were detached from my iPod and I was screaming, "I thought you saw me!" The man stopped his car, got out, and ran over to me. Some other people helped me up off of the street (I don't know where they came from but they said they saw what happened).
The driver was so freaked out- I definitely remember that. He kept asking me if I wanted him to call an ambulance. I told him I didn't- I remember thinking that that would take too long- take too long for what, I'm not sure! I was in total shock. I did twist my ankle and my knee was skinned pretty badly. I could tell that I would have some bruises but, overall I felt ok. I got the driver's contact info and told everyone that I was just fine. As such, after they all drove away I continued my run and finished FIVE MILES (I admit, again, I was in shock- this was adrenaline that got me through it.)
I got home and called my husband- he was more worried than I was, at that point. I told him I was ok and then I watched some tv. No big deal. The next morning, however, everything hit me. My body was sore and stiff, I had huge bruises on my legs and knees. My ankle was swollen and stiff as well. Emotionally, I was a mess as well. I realized that things could have been much worse and I was kind of a head case. I stayed home from work that day, icing my ankle and doing homework (I'm taking a chemistry class, of all things).
The next two days were stressful, as I was worried that I wasn't going to be able to run the race at all. My legs were still so stiff and sore, I couldn't imagine running 13.1 miles in that condition. I powered through it, though and tried to think positive thoughts.
On Saturday, the weather in Denver was a disaster. It was actually snowing! if you recall from the last 2 half-marathons this year, I tend to always end up racing on freezing cold days. Since my parents aren't huge on going out when it's snowing, I drove myself to the race expo. I got my bib, t-shirt, and race bag and wandered around for a bit. It was a typical race expo with vendors and freebies. I bought a few really cute headbands because when I run on the treadmill, my hair curls up and goes crazy! i figured these couldn't hurt.
The most exciting part of the expo was meeting Dan from season five of the Biggest Loser. He and his mom, Jackie, are working for a foundation to encourage kids to be active. They've run every Rock 'n Roll race this year! We talked about losing weight and keeping it off and then we took a picture! When I was running the race, I actually ended up passing him (but that's a story for later- when I recap the run!).
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