We Finished The NYC Half Marathon! (Probably Shouldn't Have Started)

All right, folks, this Sunday, March fifteenth, and well we finished.

I was gonna say we're bad.

Welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ.

This is the finisher edition of Amy and TJ.

Roholds.

Congratulations, my dear lovely, we just finished the New York City half marathon.

That's right. Congratulations to you too.

And I know you actually were struggling before we even began. There is always a long walk from the gate basically your your corral to the starting line. And you looked at me and you said, something is way worse than I expected. Something's different. I don't know what's wrong, but I can barely walk. And we had not started running yet, we had not even crossed the start line yet, and you said that to me.

Well, these things happen. It's always something weird on race day. We've talked about and it's well documented my struggles with my foot, and today it was a weird day. But before we get into all that, we've finished a half marathon and we need to roades and some we were talking about this on the ride back, like sometimes we dismiss and we don't appreciate well enough just how healthy we are.

First of all to.

Be able to keep doing this, and how blessed we are to have this hobby and to still be able to do it. Baby, And I don't know, it's no small things to get up at four in the morning on a Sunday and be back home by ten and most people haven't woken up, and you got a half marathon under your belt.

That's that's no small thing.

You got thirteen point one miles and a metal which I will be wearing all day to day. I think that's one of my favorite parts. It is fun because you do work for it. And so yes, I'm like the kid who gets the new shoes. When mom buys you the new shoes, you wear them out of the store and then you keep them on the whole day. That's kind of how I feel about the metal for one day. I will wear that metal everywhere I go today.

So it's fun.

That's a cool part.

And a place like New York and everywhere we go, everybody knows there's a race going on. Everybody around town, so everybody sees you, and the everybody that greet you says congratulations.

So and.

It is sincere. And you know, when you see other people with metals on.

We all always congratulate them too, because we know what it takes, what you put into it. But yeah, there's just this very kind exchange that you don't often get with strangers.

Everywhere you go. When you wear the metal. It's it's it's my favorite part.

When it's all done, the hey everybody look at me? Part?

Well, yes, I mean I get it, I get it, but no, it's just it's fun.

It's I savor it. I enjoy it.

So that is, yes, what we're going to do today. We should tell everybody first. I didn't haven't seen it officially, but our time was me.

I don't know, mom, Nikki was following us. I think we were at two thirteen. So I think this might be the slowest half marathon that we've ever run. But the truth is we didn't train that hard for it, and you were really suffering and that was a huge part of it, and so we slowed down. And you know what, by slowing down, I wasn't in pain, So I actually really really enjoyed the heck out of it because I didn't I wasn't pushing myself and it actually was really fun for me.

I just the whole time felt a little bad for you. I was making sure you were. I mean, you pushed through each mile and you were grimacing.

Sometimes you were cursing, sometimes you were grunting sometimes.

But how are things for you today?

No?

Really good?

Sorry, that's awesome. First of all, how was the weather? It was? It was colder than I like, but it was good running weather.

It was perfect running weather.

The only time it's a bummer is when you're waiting to start, like those fifteen twenty minutes where you're waiting for all the runners to go through that are ahead of you, and it's breezy and it's chilly.

But that's the worst part. I never thought of the weather after that.

Okay, so we get going. How is everybody? How was the move today? It felt pretty good.

Today.

It felt busy.

I felt like there were more people, and I think this was a record setting number of racers, thirty thousand racers. They do them in waves so it's more manageable. But yeah, I felt it felt comfortable.

I didn't feel too crowded.

The New York City Marathon can get very crowded in moments.

I never felt like that.

So we started this morning.

We didn't see a lot of our familiars, like some people you only see once a year or twice a year at a race. We saw Tiki afterwards. Tiki Barber, who was a big runner Hall of Fame.

Yeah, we see him at most races. He's a big runner of big New York Roadrunners fan. So we see him that we really do. Just see him once or twice a year.

We do, and we're always great to see him.

New York road Runners.

We have to say thank you to them as always live Rob and Cruel Crystal, everybody over there who's taking very good care of us. The race is run beautifully start to finish by these folks. Is so well organized. All right, So our morning started and we did. We did an episode explaining how we went about it and how we get prepared. Did you have any issues based on your diet, your sleep, all the planning that we do pre race to make sure we feel good on race day?

Did all of it work?

It all worked perfectly. I fueled myself perfectly last night. I had some pasta. We had some steak in the for lunch, and had some pasta for the evening.

Had myself well hydrated.

I had my anti nausea dissolvable pills that zofran has

It's always inspirational running a race.

And this one is more Obviously, twenty six point two is grueling. This is one where you just you spoke of robe. This one is more manageable as a challenge if you're starting as a runner, or if you have any other type of challenges. So you do see more of that diversity that you don't see in the marathon. That's a very good point. It is cool to see folks out there pushing themselves, challenging, and you do you, I guess you get in your mind what a runner

I love when I see older folks and they're running slower, but they're running, and I think, man, that's what I'm hoping I can do, and so slowing down as I get older. Look I said before, I didn't run my first marathon until I was forty six. I think I ran my first half marathon when I was forty three forty two, So I didn't even start running long distance until my forties. And I just I always want to encourage folks. It's never too late. You don't have to have, you know, a noteworthy time.

It's okay.

I've had on half marathons. I've had a twenty minute swing. On marathons. We've had a thirty minute swing. Some marathons are easier than others. Sometimes I feel better than I did in another way. And the point is you finish it. You push yourself through pain and you get to the other side, and so at a certain point, at a certain age, it's not about the pr it's not about the time.

It's about the experience and about who I did it with.

Like we both at times waited on each other to make sure we crossed the finish line together.

Yeah, that's a must on every single one of our races, no matter what's going on. So let's I don't know what happened ropes. We talked about this this morning. We've talked about it for a while. If anybody has followed us from the Chicago Marathon in twenty twenty four, is that what we're talking about?

That's what first?

Yes, well, you were feeling some pain because of some shoes you wore leading up to it, but then you had someone cut you off and it just went from bad to basically you couldn't you couldn't finish.

So we are really talking about We're going back to an injury that I sustained in August.

Is that when that rate or October, Well the race was in October twenty so a race.

I sustained an injury in October twenty twenty four in a race, and I'm still dealing with it now. I took off three months from running to try to get it healed, and I started running again and in three runs, like, oh my god, I'm right back to where I was. I'vene to the doctor, I got a steroid shot, I've done an X rays.

MRI is next.

MRI is going to happen this week because whatever reason, Robes, we got up this morning. I mean I might have said it on the podcast even earlier, that yeah, feel okay. Yeah, I wasn't worried, feeling fairly strong.

I do not know what happened yesterday.

You had your foot up. The whole day we did, like I said, we didn't leave the apartment. You were icing it, you were heating it, you were taking advil, you were hydrating, you were doing everything you were supposed to.

But this morning it felt fine.

I mean, yeah, I know I was still injured, but I oh, I'm I'm like, oh, I'm gonna be okay today.

For I do not know what happened.

By the time we left, there's just a sharp pain and Robes, I told you I should I don't even know if we should start the race. It wasn't even a matter of can I make it?

It?

Just can I This is dumb to even start. It was that bad.

And then the first two miles, Babe, you were so slow, and I was so worried that you were not going to be able to do it because you're a fast runner. And I was like, wow, even this is slow for you. And I just thought, if we're already starting out like this, how is he going to finish it?

So I was so impressed you finished.

So it was stupid. I it loosened up. I thought it was going to two three, four mile and it didn't really, and so by mile five I had to just I need to suck this up.

It was just pain management.

And every step, I mean, even a flat surface that just has a crack in that surface, if my foot hits that crack just a little bit, any little tweak of that foot hurt like all get outs.

And so you were focused. You were looking down.

I was looking down there.

Afterwards, you said to me, do you remember that little bridge in Central Park where there was a brick?

No, I wasn't.

I wasn't looking at the ground, And you said, I didn't even see the fans. I didn't even see the crowds because I just had to look at the terrain. I was about to traverse and make sure that it was steady enough. So yeah, and there were awesome folks out cheering. And I know what it's like though, because I've had miserable runs where you're just having tunnel vision. You just have to focus on getting continuing the motion forward.

I gotta do something by the New York City half. I've had miserable runs that make me want to quit running at this particular race. I don't know what it is. So I'm signing up for the one next year, and I'm gonna break the curse the cycle in some way. We're gonna keep going at it, but I will be getting an MRI.

Now.

Oftentimes, folks, when we record our episodes, we have an accompanying video, a social media video that we put up that you all can see as well, sometimes just to tease the episode or just to have a little fun. Stay here, we'll explain why you will not be getting a video to go along with this episode. All right, we continue here injured, but we move on. We start out with migraines and spraining foots and the migraine held up fine for you.

Oh yeah, No, I woke up this morning and it was gone.

It was a full day of hell yesterday because I don't get them often now, like almost once a year. I used to get them once a month, sometimes twice a month, so I had immatrecs.

I used to have injections with me. I've been grateful, I said.

The one gift that cancer gave me was basically, once it pushed me into medically induced menopause, I kind of stopped getting migraines.

So that was the benefit.

And so when I do get one, though, it's horrific, and I had forgotten it had been so long since I had one. So they can last if you don't have imitrex or something a basic constrictor to stop it, they can last for days. So I woke up this morning and thought, oh my god, it's gone.

So it was like a miracle.

And then I felt bad because your pain actually did the opposite so mine. Suddenly I was free of pain, and you were, yeah, kind of overwhelmed by it.

It was rose, It's just pain management. Took Adville, put that CBD cream on it, lathered up. I said to you, I said, I swear it felt worse after I put the cream.

I get inflamed it something sweart, I swear to you.

I don't know what happened today. I've used that cream before. This wasn't the first try. I don't know what happened today. But folks, if you could see us, now, we were a mess. I only just put a shirt on before we started. So I'm walking around. I am now instill in the sweaty tights that I wore to run thirteen point two miles. Ye robes, Okay, yeah, yeah, you're you're just a pretty little rose over there. She stripped out

They were on the way. I wore them yesterday, so they were on the way to being dirty clothes. They're just a pair.

Actually, they're my marathon sweats, so I'll be putting these in the dirty clothes. Obviously, I have not showered, so anything that touches me will have to go immediately into the dirty clothes.

Hamper, and to complete the scene, my foot, my left foot is in a blue bucket of ice water that I bought.

From targets to a PARTI tub like yeah.

But we've used a lot for this.

That's your foot tub now.

And our table here where we are podcasting has these items on it. Two laptops, one iPad, two phones, a legal pad, two flu of champagne, one can of Michel Ultra, and one extra large bottle of ad Bill liquid gels.

I also have a bottle of water too.

You want to throw it like that.

Yeah, but even know I am hydrating alongside my champagne. The champagne is a gift from my mom and dad from Christmas. So thank you mom and dad for the very expensive bubbles. We boom save them for a day like today where we can celebrate what we were able to overcome and accomplish. And look, I always want to encourage everybody when you think you can't do something, just take it one step at a time, one day at a time.

You are stronger than you think, and look.

You can do things that you I think sometimes we think we age out of opportunities, or we age out of being able or capable, And I'm just saying you haven't give it a try.

And look when.

You pass past the five k, the ten k, the fifteen k, the twenty k, when you're doing a half marathon, you do remember those are fun races too, Those are fun races to do. I would love to do a five k with you. We signed up for a ten k last year. It just got rained out. But if I just want to encourage anybody who's even thinking about running or thinking about getting up and walking, just sign up.

Sign up for a five k.

It will change your life.

And you might end up with advil, champagne and your foot in a bucket, but hey, it's all worthy. We do crazy, crazy stuff as runners and it's a fun community to be a part of. You were saying, what are all those lines things you only hear a runner say?

Oh yes, but there was.

Hilarious thing on my Instagram saying, oh my god, things only runners will appreciate or understand phrases like yeah, I'm tapering, so I only ran ten miles today.

Other people are like, are you insane?

Like that kind of thing where we're like, because of like apologizing for only running a ten miler today.

It wasn't really that long.

So we are sitting here encouraging everybody to run, explaining all the pain we have gone through in order to run. But yes, that's a part of it. So folks, we just wanted to share what our day has been. We appreciate you as always literally and figuratively running with us, but I'm TJ. Holmes On behalf of my dear Amy Robot.

We will be running with you soon