I ran the half (Donald) on Saturday with Gail. It was her first half and we were out to enjoy the experience. The course was so badly crowded that I felt like it really affected our pace but we finished in under the allowed time of 3:30 and crossed the finish line with smiles on our faces. I considered it a success.
Sunday morning I woke up and just didn't feel like running. I knew I was in trouble since running is so mental for me and I just wasn't interested in doing it. I should have read the signs and gone back to bed. Mark & I got ready and hopped on a bus from our resort to the start. We hung at the H tent with all the rest of the ROTE peeps until it was time to move to our corral. We had a great group to hang with in the corral and there were quite a few of us that were planning on a similar pace. Things were looking like it might turn out to be a fun race after all.
By the time we crossed the start line, the only thing I could think of was finding the first port-o-pottie. I will spare you the details but I had multiple "issues" that were making me miserable. I didn't feel "right" the entire race. On top of that, I had been fighting a headache for several days that I just couldn't shake. I told everyone to go on ahead and I would catch up. I didn't want to lose the group so I ran way more than I should have to catch up to them. It was just like going out of the gate too fast, big mistake that hurt me later. I think it took at least 2 miles. Right after I caught up to everyone, we hit the Ticket & Transportation Center and most everyone else wanted to stop to use the bathrooms there. I didn't need to stop and neither did Rebecca so we decided to keep going, at a slower pace, till they could catch up with us. They never did catch back up.
Rebecca and I in front of the castle
Photo courtesy of Roberta P.
Things were going ok but not great till just after the speedway. We headed down that road past the sewage treatment plant and several things went wrong for me here. First, my brain felt like I should be further along in the race than I was. This messed with me in a HUGE way. I didn't expect it to be that bad. Second, it was HOT and I just wasn't feeling like myself. The sun was beating down on us and all I wanted was shade and the sponge stop. I knew that in reality, it wasn't coming till later but that stretch was where my brain wanted it to still be. At the half-way mark, I knew I was in trouble. I was already hurting way more than I should, mentally I was messed up and I just felt sluggish.
Looking back, I wonder if I was anemic in the weeks leading up to the race. I knew my long runs were sluggish and in general, I was feeling run down. I attributed it to the Holidays and being too busy. The constant craving for red meat should have been a clue but... Just call me clueless.
Anyway, Rebecca and I kept trying to interval but we just kept getting slower and slower. I don't even remember what mile we were at when we came across Patrick but he joined us at some point. We finally gave up on the running and just walked. It was way too early in the race to be doing that. In hindsight, I'm pretty sure this made things way worse for me. In training, I always push myself to keep up my intervals, even if I change them up to walk more and run less. My legs are not used to just walking and I think we walked pretty much all of the last 9 miles. I just kept hurting more and more and so many times I just had to sit on a guard rail or something else on the side of the road to take the pressure off of my legs and feet. Everything just hurt and I was hot and I didn't feel good and I couldn't seem to find any relief. I was miserable and had it been a training run, I would have quit.
Mile 20
As much as I was hurting, I enjoyed seeing these 3
My fueling had a ton to do with my energy in the later hours also. I drank 1 packet of GenUCan before the race and 1 packet maybe 3 hours in and that was it. I was out there WAY too long for just that. I essentially had no fuel in me for the last 2 hours I was on the course. I had serious marathon brain at that point, I had Honey Stingers in my skirt pocket I should have eaten. I can't think of a reason why I wouldn't have eaten them except I just didn't think of it. That is ironic though since at mile 14, Rebecca was feeling sluggish and I was reminding her to fuel.
With the exception of running through most of Hollywood Studios, we walked our way to the finish. I was doing my best to not burst into tears. I just wanted it to be over so badly. This picture is also courtesy of Roberta P. The look on my face is one of misery.
Boardwalk
Patrick is next to me in orange and Jenny is a few steps behind on the right in pink. We were less than 1/2 mile from the finish line when I had to just sit on a ledge and dangle my feet to relieve some of the pressure. People were passing us telling us "it's just around the corner, keep going!" and "don't give up now!". I didn't even care, I was hurting so bad. We came across Katie just before we hit the gospel choir and I lost it and just started crying. I think I scared her.
We limped our way across the finish line and it was finally over! All I wanted to do was sit down. I made my way to the H-tent where poor Mark had been waiting for 2 1/2 hours and sat down and cried. I was just so happy it was over.
All I can say is why would I ever want to do this again?
No comments:
Post a Comment