Embracing Your Inner Weirdness

February 20, 2011 Here I am in Austin, TX again, preparing to run the final marathon of my 1000 Miles for Autism. If you had asked me a few years ago if I would ever set foot in Texas, I probably would have said no. I hate country music, I've never owned cowboy boots, and I'm scared to death of snakes and scorpions. I'm not too thrilled with the environmental impact of the cattle and oil industries, either. I don't shop at Costco, because I don't believe bigger is better, so Texas is basically not my cup of tea. Little did I know that my son's medical treatment would bring me on an annual pilgrimage to the capital of Texas, and that I would actually start to look forward to it each year.

Austin, TX is not like regular Texas. It's like a tiny little oasis of granola environmentalists and fitness enthusiasts and starving artists, and even though there are upscale areas, the yuppie factor is (refreshingly) not as ubiquitous as in suburban DC. Add to that a lot of sunshine and water access all wrapped up in this tiny little downtown that is remarkably easy to navigate, full of biking and running trails, plus college-town charm, and you've got yourself a neat little city. Did I also mention it was 80 degrees in February?! Repeat: 80 degrees in February. I have always considered switching my son's appointments to springtime, but there's something about February weather in DC that makes me want to get out of town FAST. So we always go in February (which conveniently happens to be the month of the Austin marathon, so mommy can get her running groove on).

More than once, the conversation has come up with my hubbie as to whether we should relocate to Austin to better serve Bailey's needs. Usually I bring it up in winter when I am sitting at home in a jacket and hat trying to stay warm, while I play the same Wii game for the 1000th time with Bailey since it's been too cold to go outside and play for the past 3 months straight. The other time the topic comes up is in the airport security line on our way to Austin, when Bailey is losing it trying to wait his turn for the metal detector and I am trying to get his liquid elemental formula through the X-ray scanner without getting detained by the TSA, all just to get to the doctor's office. "Are we EVER going to do things the easy way?" I think to myself. Oh well, I suppose easy is boring.

Well, since my hubbie is a die-hard Redskins fan, and not at home in Cowboy territory, he has decided to squash any plans I might have to permanently hang my hat in Austin. First, he refuses to book a one-way ticket for me, despite my subtle requests. Second, the minute we get to our hotel, he changes into his tackiest rainbow tie-dye tourist T-shirt in order to embarass me, he says, in front of all the locals. I will not be thwarted, so I hold my head up high and we all set out on our mile long walk to the race expo for packet pick-up. Just one block from our hotel, we run into a giant sculpture of a guitar, painted in a swirl of bright colors that happens to be a perfect match to my hubbie's shirt. "See honey, you fit right in here in Austin!" I laugh. He replies, "I'm just keeping Austin weird." Needless to say, I bought him a new tourist shirt the next day...

After Bailey ran his way through the race expo at full speed, I had my race bib and we were on our way in less than 15 minutes. Bailey's an in and out kind of kid, so he helps keep my spending to a minimum this time. In fact, the expo is just one quick blur of chasing Bailey.
If he ever learns to channel that speed into a race event (without tantrums), he'll be a running champion. I believe there were many good vendors selling quality race gear at the expo, but that required slowing down to browse, a speed that is not in Bailey's current repertoire. Instead, we head back toward the hotel to jump in the pool and chill-ax.

The next day I drag my family on the obligatory trip to the giant Whole Foods on Lamar, and then it's off to visit our local friends who are kind enough to treat us to some delicious pre-race carb loading and swimming in their backyard pool. I love this once-a-year opportunity we have to hang out with our Austin buddies, but I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow. We head home nice and early, so Marathon Mamma can get her beauty sleep before the big race.

Everyone knows I was getting ready for this race with great anticipation and excitement. What everyone doesn't know is all the disasterous knee pain I've been dealing with since I twinged my knee on the treadmill during a mid-December training run. Now, it's not what I call an injury, but more like every runner's overtraining nemesis...the IT band syndrome. For those of you who aren't familiar, it's when your knee feels perfectly fine and then you start running and the outside hurts like you're going to die and then you stop running and it feels like nothing is wrong again. That is the story of the past two months of training. In fact, it bothered me so much that I never got above a 12 mile run/limp without having to bail on my long run days. So in addition to not having built up adequate training mileage, my knee has consistently seized up to the point where I could not continue after only 1:15 of running. Hmmm, best case scenario, that meant that there was another 2:45 minutes of running I was going to have to do today without knowing where it was going to come from. My husband and coach had calmly suggested I consider the future of my knee above participating in this race, but I respectfully informed them both that after 1000 miles, I would be completing this race even if the race officials had to push my lifeless body across the finish line with a bulldozer!! Deep down, though, I was nervous.

Well, there's nothing like a friend to help calm your nerves, and today, I had 58 of them attending the race with me. Hello, Marathon Maniacs!! I was so excited to be wearing my new yellow singlet in my first race as MM #3282. Thanks to Facebook, we were all meeting up in front of the capital at 6:15 a.m. for a group Maniac picture. I made sure I was decked out...Maniac shirt, hat, and I splurged on logo arm warmers, just to show my extra enthusiasm for my awesome new group of race buddies.
I met people from across the country, and was inspired by couples running together, cancer survivors, and folks in the midst of running marathons in all 50 states. I hung out with a nice Maniac before the race who schooled me in the advantages of racing shoes and also Texas history, since she had just taken the historical tour the day before. All along the race route, I ran into my Maniac friends, who waved, cheered, ran with me, and even took my photo. A Maniac ran the final mile with me, and hung out to congratulate me and take my picture at the finish. Maniacs sure are weird, but I am proud to be one of them!

The race course was challenging and filled with lots of hills in the first 13 miles. The second 13 miles was flatter terrain, but that didn't mean my legs were up to the challenge. After only 12-mile training runs, my legs started to complain loudly at mile 16. Not wanting to blow out my knee, I stopped to stretch a lot and even resorted to walking for most of the last 6 miles of the race. Walking might seem like a nice alternative, but to be honest, after 20 miles, it hurts just as much as running and actually prolongs the agony. In fact, my race finish time was a dismal 4:50:48, which is exactly 50:48 longer than I ever want to exercise again in my entire life! The upside is I got a nice slow walking tour of the UT campus and was able to work on my tan longer than the sub-4 hour runners. But, I'm thrilled to say, I finished! Now I have a beautiful shiny medal to complete my Marathon Madness wall in my home gym. I could not be happier with myself or more thankful to all of the people who helped get me to that finish line today. It was a moment of huge triumph!!

Well, since my husband and I have both gotten our weird groove on, now it was Bailey's turn. We decided to give him the opportunity at the Austin Zoo the next day, following his appointment at Thoughtful House. A new friend from Train 4 Autism agreed to meet us at the zoo, so we could chat about racing while our kids hung out together.
I knew there was a train at this zoo from watching the movie The Horse Boy (a good flick). What I didn't know was that the train only runs once per hour. Did you know that if you arrive at the zoo during the exact minute that the train is finishing it's journey, that you are allowed to pitch a full volume 55-minute tantrum until the next train leaves WITHOUT gettting kicked out of the zoo? That's pretty good customer service. The train engineer even attempted to let Bailey wear her engineer's hat, but he flicked it aside like an annoying little gnat and carried on with his ear-piercing tantrum. Once Bailey got to ride the train, he decided to be a quiet little angel and enjoy looking at the animals with his two new friends.
He gave me that, "See, mom, I was only kidding" cute look that always gets him out of trouble. There are a lot of unique animals at the Austin zoo, some of which have suffered minor hearing loss thanks to my son's collosal tantrum! Well, we've officially left our mark on Austin, so we had better get out of town fast!

We packed up the next morning and headed back home. This was the end of my 1000 Mile Adventure, but just the beginning of a beautiful future for my son. Thank you to all of you who have been a part of this memorable year for me and my family. I will never forget my 1000 Miles for Autism, and how I proved to myself just how strong a mom can be.