Guess I’ve waited long enough to get this post out. Time to close this month out on the blog quota and might as well get this one over with. At the beginning of this month I participated in the annual running of Springdale Cemetery. Think this might be my fourth running of this grueling half and I knew this one was going to be tougher than usual before the starting gun ever went off. If you recall this was the first long race since the heat stroke incident. I was back up to 12 miles a couple of times in the weeks leading up to the race, but none of those did I really feel good about.
Either the splits were way off or the body would panic at the 7 or 8 mile mark and just drench my entire body with sweat almost instantly – likely overreacting to internal temps. The doctors informed me that my body would be impacted by the incident and I’d even be more susceptible to heat issues in the future. All things considered, I had the training miles in so there was some confidence I could finish buuuuuuut…..
The second to last week before the race I caught the Peoria Plague. Somewhere around 12 days before the race I lost my voice. A few days later came down with a sore throat and thing I started feeling awful. Still tried to get some of the taper runs in but skipped a few and cut the others down in hopes of preventing it from sinking too far in. No luck, 3 days before the race I was dead on sick. In a last ditch effort I stayed down all day Friday and Saturday in hopes of maximizing whatever energy I had for the race Sunday. The morning was at hand, went through all the pre-race prep activities and even made a point to grab the shirt my brother had made for me. In recognition of my incident and my distaste for Globull Warming, he got me this!
In case you can’t read it, it says “Victim of Global Warming” – the front has a two people carrying a person on a gurney – LOVE IT! By start time I was feeling okay. The race packet indicated they changed the course this year and based on my calcs there was not enough water stops and the ones they had were spaced further than I wanted. One of the changes I had made since the incident was to take a lot more water and more frequently. To compensate for that I decided to carry my own water with me.
… and the traditional start picture – even not feeling 100% doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy at least the start – obviously the lady to my left did not approve of my carefree attitude hehehe. Oh, and race skirts need to go just for the record.
Hit the jump to see how this one turns out (hint .. not good)
Life Intrigued 