Marathons, Matthew and Mom Guilt

There's nothing quite like training months for a marathon, hoping to BQ, and getting a stomach bug the weekend of the race.

There's nothing like dedicating a year of your life learning about all things distance running to guarantee yourself you'll get your BQ this time around, only to hurt your achilles just weeks before the big day.

There's nothing like a knee jerk decision to sign up for a race weeks later from your injured one in hopes to BQ there, and end up sick and over trained...then have a HUGE PR, but still no BQ.

And there is nothing like months of training for your 4th attempt to BQ, only to either be stranded at home and not get to run, or go and leave your family behind in a potentially catastrophic storm's path.

(Ok so maybe that last part was a bit dramatic.  They're going to be OK, but I can't help but worry!)

When it comes to BQ attempts, I think it's safe to say, I certainly don't have much luck!

Earlier today, Hurricane Matthew did not post much of a threat to Central Florida, with only the potential for some winds and heavy rains on Friday.  Since my original flight had me scheduled to leave for the Chicago Marathon Friday night, I felt it best to change it for 24 hours earlier.  Bummed I would have to be away from my family an extra day and feeling somewhat like I jumped the gun on that decision, I felt much better knowing I would make it out of Orlando and up to Chicago with time to spare.

As the day went on, however, the storm had taken a more western tract, setting more of its sights (but luckily not all of its sights) on Florida, with our area feeling the effects as early as Thursday afternoon/evening.  Yep, around the time of my new flight!

When I went to try and change my flight for earlier in the day on Thursday, I learned they were no longer booking or changing any flights that day because of the storm.  So now I would have to leave Wednesday (tomorrow) if I wanted to get out of town!  This would also mean trying to find a hotel and a ride to said hotel at 9pm Wednesday night near the O'Hare International Airport.  Sounds either terribly expensive and/or rather unsafe.

So I had a thought, it seems like I'm going to have to leave tomorrow and get up to the Midwest if I want to be able to run in Chicago on Sunday.  My family in Wisconsin were planning on driving down on Friday to cheer me on this weekend, maybe I can fly to them and drive down with them!?!

Thank goodness I was able to get a flight up to Minneapolis, which about 90 minutes away from my family in Wisconsin for tomorrow!  I just have to spend my day either the air or sitting at 3 different airports tomorrow for, oh, only about 11 freaking hours!!!  Then make the 7 hour drive to Chicago on Friday to race Sunday.

On the positive, it definitely looks like I am going to get to run the marathon, so these last insanely hot and humid summer months of training will be not for nothing.  Also, I now get to spend two extra days with my grandmother, aunt and cousins, who I rarely get to see.  So that's pretty awesome.  And, it will be kind of cool to do my last few miles of running before the big day in some beautiful weather and in a different place, I love running in new places!

Of course I will be away from my husband and babies for two extra days and the thought of that that is giving me much anxiety. I have NEVER been away from my family this long!!!  I will most likely be exhausted from all this extra traveling, so hopefully that won't have any major effects for race day.  Oh, and the matter of this damn storm.  So yeah, it's course and the effects it will have on Florida are still uncertain at this time.  It could be as little as mild tropical storm conditions to as catastrophic as a category 3-4 hurricane making landfall exactly where we live.  My husband is smart and will evacuate him and the boys if necessary, but talk about the stress of worry about them now too!!!  Not to mention all the mom/wife guilt totally killing me right now for leaving my family behind in a storm so I can go running, ugh!

As if marathon weekends weren't stressful enough, especially ones you hope to BQ at,  I sure like to take it a step further and make it even more interesting!  All I can do is hope and pray for the absolute best for Florida, especially my husband, our babies and our home, while I am gone <insert sick to your stomach with nerves and guilt emoji here>.  Continue to hope and pray for the rest of the eastern seaboard, especially my mom's home in NC (luckily she will be up in Chicago with my by Friday), as this monster moves up the coast.  And of course, just be grateful that despite all of this, I am still getting to run Chicago.  Just got to stay positive and give it my all as planned!