Sadly, this does not refer to my finishing placement but to my bib number. I was evidently the second person to register for the event, only after the elusive number one who I never sighted. This made me such a celebrity that a guy ran up to me after the race to ask, “Are you really number two?” to which I replied, “Yes, I’m number two!” Then his friend took a picture of us both holding up two fingers like a victory sign.

I had planned to run the Midsummer’s Night Run in Lexington, Kentucky with my old college roommate, Kelly, who lives in town. Sadly, Kelly injured her foot while riding a slide into a basement dressed as the Cheshire Cat, so I had to run alone. This was for the best because it would have been Kelly’s first 5K, and it was so AWFULLY organized that it probably would have turned her off to racing all together.

I had positive thoughts for the race at first because there was a festival atmosphere around the event. There was a kettle corn stand, ice cream, balloons and plenty of kids, some in strollers who would participate with their parents in the race. What they forgot to include was WATER.

After a messy start, we pounded down the road and passed a cop yelling, “MOVE OVER! Runner’s ahead of you are coming back this way.” The race route doubled back on itself, but the organizer’s decided to have someone yell at us about it instead of using traffic cones to mark a return lane like they have in other races I’ve run.

My plan for the race was to do intervals of four minutes of running followed by one minute of walking. This worked well for the first 15 minutes, after which the 80-something degree heat and high humidity had dehydrated me so much that my mouth was parched. At the one mile marker, there was no water station. I kept running and I kept looking for a water station. And looking. And looking. I didn’t see a water station, but I did see not one, not two, but three fountains along the race route, including this one:

I wish the race had been routed through there, and I was seriously considering making it a personal detour, but I was carrying a camera and a cell phone which I didn’t want to replace after they short circuited, so I carried on. We passed several groups of people at tables outside restaurants who cheered us on, but what I really wanted was for them to grab me a glass of water from the soda fountain. Finally, the race path went past the very end of the race, where there was a table on a sidewalk not too far away full of water. I ran away from the pack of racers, chugged a paper cup of water and then grabbed two more to drink as I walked. I then continued on and finally found the “real” water station, which was almost two miles into the race. I didn’t grab any water there because I’d just sucked down about 12 oz of the stuff, but only 2 minutes later my throat was dry AGAIN and I regretted it.

I tried to rally and keep jogging down the hard, hot Lexington streets, but I was fading fast and ended up walking all but the final stretch of the rest of the route. When I finally did run across the finish, I had to walk another block to get to the water station at the end, and was given only a brown, mushy, over-ripened banana to eat that looked like something Kroger had thrown out.

So, all in all the race sucked. I was disappointed by the poor organization and I was disappointed that I was unable to perform as well as I know I could have if I was properly hydrated. I’ve run 5 other races which varied in length from a 5K to a mini-marathon, and each one had water stations at least every mile. Some even stocked Gatorade! All of those races were during cooler temperatures than this race, so not only was it the hottest race I’ve run, it was the one with the least amount of water.

I ended up finishing in 47:23, which is somewhat pathetic considering all the training I’ve done in the past two months. I know, I should be proud to just finish. Rah, rah, rah, hooray for me. But seriously, I know I could have knocked that down to at least 44:00 in better circumstances. I was afraid at first that I was the only one who thought the race was poorly organized, but then I read the other reviews and was glad to see it wasn’t just me.

So, I have signed up for the Irish Fest 5K in downtown Indianapolis next month, which was the first 5K I ever ran two years ago. I hope to improve on my time and I also hope they will have water there, even if it’s contained in a sheep’s bladder they expect me to eat.

——————

By the way, thank you to everyone who sponsored me in the race! We raised $733 for headache research. The National Headache Foundation even called me and thanked us for the donation.

The last minute is always the hardest. I am tired and out of breath, just like I’m out of quarters for the laundry. But I keep going because the last minute is where I make the most gains. It’s where I push my body a little bit further than it’s gone before, so tomorrow it can heal and go even farther the next day.

Today I will run for 8 minutes and walk for 5 minutes and run for 8 minutes as part of the 2nd day of training in the 5th week of the Couch to 5K program. I’m halfway there! I am pretty sure that last minute will be rough, but it will get me closer to the 5K and farther from the couch. It’s only a month and two days until the Midsummer Night’s Run 5K, and I’ve got to stick to every day of the training schedule to be in shape in time.

I’ve “enjoyed” the Couch to 5K program so far, but I have to put quotes around the word “enjoyed” because it has been challenging. The program has pushed me hard on each run, but not so hard that it’s impossible. (Uh, except for that one day when I stopped a minute early. Whoops!) I can feel myself gradually getting in better shape and I’m looking forward to the day when I can toss off a 5K again like it’s no big deal.

Just a reminder, if you sponsor me for at least $20 on my upcoming 5K, I will add your site to the list of sponsors in the middle rail. All money goes to the National Headache Foundation. Thanks for everyone who has donated so far!

• Run Lazy
• My Basement Gym
• Airplane Extenders
• ResuMAYDAY
• Yogurt Beats Cake
• …Things are going to start happening to me now
• Gravel and Rust
• Booth or Bust
• Fat Girl, Thin Dress
• Cupcakes Take the Cake
• Why the Weight?

This morning I completed the first day of week 3 of my Couch to 5K training. I like using the Podrunner Intervals MP3s while I’m running because they make a beeping sound when I’m supposed to switch from running to walking or back again. I’ve done interval training in the past by using my watch, which only makes me focus on the time. I’ll be huffing and puffing and look at my wrist to see I only have 30 seconds left…and then I check again and I have 20 seconds left…and then again I see I have 15 seconds left…and OH MY GOD CAN I STOP RUNNING YET?! Surely 30 seconds have gone by, right? A watched pot never boils, and a watched sports watch moves slower through time than an unwatched one. Having the podcast alert me when to switch gears let my mind wander and focus on other things than the time, making the whole run go by quicker.

At least, it usually does, until that last 3 minute interval I had to do today. I ran down the trail in one direction and turned around at the usual spot I’ve used during these runs, but because I was doing long running segments this week, I got back home faster than normal. So I had to keep chugging past the gate to my complex…and chugging some more…and then, oh really, let’s just walk the rest of the way even if I have to cut 60 seconds off the last interval. It is muggy and hot and this is good enough. Anyway, I’m still on track for the 5K, which is now less than two months away!

Were you aware that this week is National Headache Awareness week? You were? Wow, you’re really aware of your awareness weeks. Good for you! I am excited about headache week because now I get to be like all those people who run around talking about their diseases to raise money, like Michael J. Fox for Parkinson’s or Christina Applegate for breast cancer. I never had a favorite charity because I never had a disease that came with one. (There is no chicken pox foundation.) But now that I have a chronic headache, I’ve basically been assigned my own charitable cause! Yippee!

As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve entered the Midsummer’s Night Run 5K race that takes place in Lexington, Kentucky on August 15. The race is organized by Central Baptist Hospital, but there is no official fund raising program associated with the event. So, I am launching my own sponsorship campaign to benefit the National Headache Foundation. All the money will be donated to programs devoted to headache education and research, so maybe one day they’ll figure out what’s wrong with my noggin’ (besides the obvious).

Please sponsor me! I am out on the trail, bouncing my booty, training hard for this race. Surely that is worth a dollar stuck in my drawstring sweats. You can go to my First Giving page to donate, or if you don’t want to contribute online, you can send a check to my PO Box listed at the bottom of this entry. Make the check payable to “National Headache Foundation.”

To sweeten the pot, if you donate at least $20, I will add your web site to a list of randomly rotating links that will be displayed in the middle column of this blog from now until race day. That is 10 weeks of advertising time! Only one link will be featured at a time, but the links will randomly be displayed, giving everyone equal time. To get your link, either leave your web site address in your comments when you donate on my First Giving page or send me an email after your donation with your information. I reserve the right to approve or reject links. (No acai berries.) Please give me a day or two to update the site with your link. Despite what you might think, I do not monitor my email 24 hours a day.

To sweeten the pot even more, whoever donates the most money will get a free 125×125 ad in the middle rail of this blog for a month after the race thanking you for your sponsorship and letting the whole Internet know what a kindhearted, generous person you are. (Again, I reserve the right to approve the ad. No Hoodia ads, sorry.)

Thanks, everyone! I’ve set my fund raising goal at $3000 and I think we can reach it in the next 10 weeks. Your donations will help make a difference in the lives of millions of headache sufferers, and will motivate me to reach my own fitness goal.

For donations via mail, my PO Box is:

Jennette Fulda

PO Box 90186

Indianapolis, IN 46290-0186

Please make checks payable to the National Headache Foundation.

I used to exercise because I knew it was the only thing keeping the world from exploding. I would dash onto the trail immediately after work so I would have enough day light to complete my runs. I would lift weights as I watched Good Morning America. I did Pilates so much I found myself able to roll backwards and then leap up off the mat. I did this for months and months after I got my horrible, awful, no-good headache. I did it because I knew if I didn’t the universe would collapse and we would all die, because it was only the force of me exercising five times a week that was preventing total world annihilation.

But after about 8 months of the pain and the pathetic push-ups, I stopped. The running shoes stayed in the closet and my Pilates mat stayed in the corner and my weights just stayed put, period. And the world did not explode. The universe did not end. This was a very bad thing to discover. I needed to believe exercise was non-negotiable, but when it wasn’t, I started negotiating. I began to do what I wanted to do instead of what I needed to do. This usually involved ice cream and prime time television.

I’ve been feeling a lot better now and I’ve been walking regularly, but I am no where near as fit as I used to be. I have known I need to work on working out more, but I’ve lacked the spark I had during my running years to make it happen. Even my behavioral psychologist at the headache clinic has been on me about it, listing all the benefits of regular aerobic exercise, and making me giggle inside my head that someone is giving me weight-loss tips.

Then Kelly emailed me. You might remember Kelly from page 8 of my book, where she appears as Karen, my abs-crunching college roommate. I didn’t know how to contact her for permission, so I changed her name in the book to protect her identity (though I doubt anyone would be embarrassed to appear as the health conscious roommate in a weight-loss memoir). Kelly would work out in our dorm room and I would watch while I ate Twinkies. Like everybody and my father, Kelly is on Facebook, which is where we found each other again and decided that we’d enter the Midsummer Night’s Run, a 5K race held in Lexington, KY on August 15, 2009. Kelly’s wanted to run it for years and I need a clearly defined and measurable fitness goal to work towards, so we have submitted our money and are registered.

The race is 10 weeks away, which gives me enough time to complete the Couch to 5K running program. Developed by the Cool Running web site, Couch to 5K gets you from the couch to a 5K in nine weeks, though in my case it should be “Loveseat to 5K” because I don’t own a full couch. Many people have raved about this program, but I never got to try it because I’d already started running regularly before I’d heard about. Now I can test it for quality assurance!

I downloaded some podcasts linked from this Couch to 5K resource page, loaded up my MP3 player, and completed the first run on Saturday. To my surprise, I didn’t have to scrape my lung off the pavement like dog doody! It was actually…easy. I am not as out of shape as I thought I was! Woot! I was tempted to push harder and longer, but the program specifically tells you not to do that, so I was a good little girl and eased off. I’ve got 10 weeks to go and there’s no sense in burning out or injuring myself.

It felt surprisingly good to run again, making me feel more connected to the planet and to my body and myself. When I was at my most fit, I knew that I could get up and run a 5K whenever I wanted to. Just knowing that made me feel, well, kinda’ badass, oddly enough. Yet I know that at this moment I would not be able to run a 5K, though I could walk one. I’m looking forward to getting back to that level of fitness, and to keeping the world from exploding.