Cuz this is thriller

With so much going through my head about the past couple of weeks, I'm not quite sure where to begin.  Where we left off seems to be a good place.  The week before last, it seemed as though I was coming to my first bump in the road since my full blown return to running.  My mileage was starting to creep up and my pace was starting to quicken.  I was feeling strong and confident, especially coming off of a great race the last weekend in September.  My IT band started nagging me a little again the following week, which really started to chip away at the confidence I was building.  Trying hard not to panic, I simply stepped back a little.  I ran smart, listening to my body and cutting back distance and speed when I felt it necessary to do so.  I had a few races on my calendar, and while I am not putting pressure on myself to knock them out of the park, I do want to do as well as I can and (most importantly) feel good while running.  

This past week, I switched up my training plan to account for Saturday's Wicked 10k.  Instead of 6 x 800s, I did the 6 x 400s the plan usually has me do the week of a race.  I was nervous going into them because I was hurting a bit the week before.  I was also super busy that day and was just trying to get the run over with so I could get on with my day.  Not the best mentality to have going into a run, but it happens.  I managed to complete those 400s with a great deal of consistency and absolutely no pain, so chalk one up in the win column.  

Tuesday's original task:  6 x 800s @3:26, 90 sec RI
Tuesday's modified task:  6 x 400s @1:41, 90 sec RI

Tuesday's outcome:  1.4 mile w/u, 1:31, 1:29, 1:27, 1:27, 1:30, 1:28 (90 sec RI), 1.4 mile c/d 

Last week was also a recovery week for P90X, which means lots of yoga, stretching, and core work.  My knee was feeling much better all week, but I still wasn't as excited as I felt I should have been for what is quite possibly my favorite J&A race.  Silly as it is, the problem was my clothes.  It's a Halloween themed race, and I had nothing to wear.  I'm not the person who is willing to risk major discomfort during a race for the sake of a costume, but I do still want to bring an element of fun to what I'm wearing.  And I had nothing.  I popped into every store I could think of while on Fancy Fonts errands last week, and kept striking out.  Until Thursday morning.  

I had to go to Kohls to make an exchange before Camryn went to school, and I was really close to buying a comfy black hoodie so I would just be decked out in all black and maybe paint a spider web on my face or something.  Camryn insisted on heading over to the shoe department to try on the Twinkle Toes she doesn't know Santa will be bringing her for Christmas, and as we walked by the juniors' section, I remembered that's where I found the ninja turtle shirt I got for last year's Wicked and took a quick look around.  Low and friggin' behold, they had this:



I mean, does that shirt have my name written all over it or what???  The fact that it has the same spooky font I've used on pumpkin after pumpkin was a sweet little bonus.  I forked over my $8 and smiled the rest of the day.  

Finding just the right race day outfit was the boost I needed going into Thursday's easy 3 miles.  I felt energized and had a great run.  It was pretty cool out that day and I was able to wear long sleeves, so I brought my phone and ear buds along for the short, easy run, running the cord down through my sleeve to keep it from bouncing all over the place.  The music may have gotten me a little more amped than I would have liked to be for what was supposed to be easy, but it was a great run and it was fun to see my splits.

Thursday's original task:  1-2-1-2-1 @7:41
Thursday's modified task:  3 miles easy

Thursday's outcome:  8:33, 8:07, 7:33

The quicker pace did feel easy, which brought me back to feeling strong and confident after a so-so week the week before.  I was race ready for sure!

Then it was Friday.  And Friday was a slap in the face.  My knee hurt all day long.  Not a ton, but enough to let doubt creep right back into my head.  A similar thing happened the day before the Neptune 8k in September...my low back had this little nagging twinge all day long, making me wonder if the race was a good idea, and it was happening again now before the Wicked.  Not cool.  I did the only thing I knew how to do:

I fired up my glutes.

I fired up my adductors (while standing at the stove, cooking dinner - multitasking like a boss!).

I foam rolled.

I did lots of self-talk to try to convince myself that it was just the running gods having a little fun with me, trying to psych me out and see what I'm really made of.  Yeah, that had to be it.  I hit up the race expo with the kiddos, which always gets me pumped for a race.  I loved collecting four race numbers and four bags of goodies (one for each Fancy family member), and the girls loved the spooky stuff (and free candy) they had scattered around the convention center:

Since it would be an early morning, we laid out our race gear and got to bed early.



We were up long before the Saturday morning sun, and I was pleasantly surprised to have no sign of knee discomfort whatsoever.  I was incredibly thankful, but if you're listening, running gods, I could do without the race-day-eve psych out!!!  Knowing I wouldn't come anywhere close to a 10k PR, I was about as relaxed as I've ever been going into a race.  I had my whole family with me, and I was going to enjoy the fun atmosphere of the crazy costumes that filled the streets of Virginia Beach that morning.  It sure as hell beat the queasy feeling I usually have before races!


Pre-race selfie by Sara

I crossed the start and just ran.  I felt like I was keeping a quick, but comfortable pace, but I was also trying to get ahead of a guy who would be dragging a string of beer cans behind him for 6.2 miles.  Since I missed the 1 mile marker, I decided not to look at my watch until I hit #2.  Once I got to #2, I looked down at my watch and saw 14:45.



I felt like I should back off a little, but I'm still having a hard time backing off some but not too much.  So I just kept going.  I stuck with a guy dressed like this:



and tried to feed off the energy of people yelling "Run, Forrest, Run!"  every hundred feet or so.  But that got a little irritating after a while.  Once we got back onto Atlantic, the smells of the restaurants cooking up breakfast started to nauseate me (what a friggin' head case I was!) and I tried to just look ahead to keep my focus.  I ended up being shoulder to shoulder with another girl for what seemed like an eternity, and I thought I should try to stick with her.  Shortly after mile 4, I could feel myself getting tired in a hurry.  That girl started pulling ahead by a few feet, and for a brief second, I told myself to let her go.  But then something took over me.  I don't know...



...but I was not letting that girl go!  I stuck with her, and somewhere after we turned onto the seemingly endless boardwalk, I passed her.  I knew she wasn't far behind and I'd have to maintain my pace if I wanted to edge her out, and who knew what kind of kick she'd have at the end (I was assuming I'd have very little left in me!).  Just past mile 5 is where the stitch in my side kicked in, and I spent the next mile plus grunting and groaning and begging for the mercy of the finish line.  Remembering Kristy's keen advice to smile for the cameras, I did my best:


And there's my girl behind me in white!

But then there's this one:


Dear God, make me a bird.  So I can fly fah.  Fah fah away from heah.  

As I approached the finish, DMB's "Halloween" was just starting to play and MC Bobby Fresh (aka Leprechaun Bob) pronounced Psimas correctly for the first time in J&A Racing history.  I crossed the finish line feeling like I had arrived (instead of Karen Puhsimas, Karen Seeeemas, Karen Pissmass, or any other variation of my tricky last name).  I stopped my watch, looked down at it, and would have cartwheeled if I had anything left in me.  

46:10.  

Just 6 seconds over my 10k PR of 46:04 from last year's Wicked.  Thinking I'd be more in the neighborhood of 48 minutes, I couldn't help but grin from ear to ear.  

I gave myself a minute to catch my breath and collect my finish line goodies before turning around to try to find that #198 I tried so hard to stay with for the second half of the race.  Once I found her, we both looked at each other, shaking our heads.  We high fived and ended up thanking each other...turns out I was pushing her just as much as she was pushing me, leaving me to wonder how each of us would have done without the other.  God, I love racing!!!  Knowing I wasn't chasing a PR, chasing this girl (because I had no idea I had 11 years and a few age brackets on her!) was the driving force of this hard-fought finish.  I am grateful for her and will certainly keep an eye out for her in future races.  

We had some time to hang out on the beach and enjoy a beverage or two before the girls' Monster Mile fun run kicked off.  It was a picture perfect October day in Virginia Beach, and I had a great time soaking it up with some friends.


Jennie Phaneuf and Karen Psimas.  We're in competition for bragging rights of the Most Often Mispronounced Last Name in America.

Before I could finish beverage #2, it was time to line up for the kids' run.  Camryn had a game time change of heart and wanted to run with me instead of Daddy ("I'm just a little bit nervous because I've never done a Monster Mile before."), and I was more than happy to pace the slower kid.  I had the greatest time running with her, even when she was totally distracted by the Thriller dancers a few blocks before the finish line.  She really kicked it into high gear at the end, and I couldn't be more proud of her.  

It was her first ever mile run, and her little legs carried her across the finish line in 12:10.  She was quick to spot the volunteer holding the pumpkin bucket full of candy just past the finish line, and she couldn't wait to get home and hang her new medal with the others on her bedroom doorknob.

Ryan ran with Brynn, and he said she ran her little tail off.  She was huffing and puffing, but she wasn't stopping.  I wish I could have run with them both because Brynn's intensity and game face totally crack me up.  I'm glad the marathonfoto.com photographers caught it on film though:

She's a fierce little Frankenstein!

Such a great day for my little family, and I'm starting to like these annual Wicked family photos we've been getting:

But just like any other fall Saturday morning, we had a soccer game to dash off to.  We made the long trek back to the car and I checked my phone for our preliminary results.  Much like after the Neptune 8k, I was shocked by what I found out:

2nd place in my age group?!?!  Woohoo!!!  Last year's PR had me placing 12th, so this just goes to show that placing is more about who shows up that day than your own personal performance.  But since this was my 2nd fastest 10k, I think a 2nd place award is simply perfect.  From what I've heard, there were lots of issues with the timing of this race, so if it ends up changing and I get bumped to say, 20th place instead, that's just fine by me.  I showed up and I ran hard and I'm happy happy happy!

I woke up yesterday morning feeling sore.  Like soooooooooore.  My calves felt tight before I even got out of bed, and each passing hour of the day revealed a new muscle group that was sore from yesterday's effort.  Normally I would beat myself up over missing a PR by just 1 second per mile, but the soreness that encompassed every inch of my body was proof I gave it everything I had.  



We took a nice long bike ride and park hopped all afternoon yesterday to get some blood flowing to my achy legs, and the day and the company couldn't have been prettier.

We capped off a great weekend with dinner with some fun friends and some more foam rolling and massage for my legs.  I'm giving myself one more rest day from running, then getting back at it tomorrow because guess what...it's race week again!!!  I'm so excited to get to race again in a 5k this weekend (for free, no less!), and I'm hoping to draw from my experience at the Wicked to dig deep and fight to the finish.  Once again, I firmly believe a PR is out of reach right now, but I'll make like Tony Horton and