Well, it’s over for another year. I wish I could say I met my goals of not walking and not feeling sick afterwards, but alas, twas not to be. I learned today that with heat, throw any/all goals out. It was kind of a repeat from the first year I ran, minus the humidity and thunder and rain storm. It was so hot. By the finish it was pushing 87 degrees with full sun. For relief along the way people had hoses we could run under. It was glorious. But for some reason I hit my wall early and I couldn’t fight through it mentally to keep running. I did as long as I could at a good pace but by mile 9 I was seriously thinking of chucking it in. But instead, I turned my watch off and just started power walking and running the downhills. Finished in 2:27 at which I was very disappointed in because I ran the course last weekend and finished in 2:10. So in better conditions, I know I’m capable of doing it. I’m just not able to do it in the heat. I have a sensitive stomach on a good day but mix in heat and hydrating while stomach is sloshing around and that’s it. I got sick once when I got home but a nice long cold shower and a rest and I feel much better and hungry. I really think it’s the Gatorade. I had some during the race in my fuel belt and some sports jelly beans and that’s what came back up, so that’s my diagnosis. Otherwise, I feel fine. Body feels good, not really sore. I have tomorrow off and am getting a massage. I had my little pity party, complaining about how bad I think I did, blah, blah, blah, but then realized that not everyone can do what I just did. Not everyone can run 2 miles, let alone 9. Not that I’m awesome or anything, I just shouldn’t be so hard on myself. The quote from this post comes from the fact that I walked by a guy dressed as The Riddler and I was tempted to say “Riddle me this: Why are we doing this?” Then the guy on this running podcast started talking about “when our A game is really a C minus” and it was too ironic. Some times our A games are C minuses but we work hard to get that

My next race is a 5 miler in September for the Melanoma Foundation so I’ll be slowly working back towards that. I think my plan will be to continue posting on my running until the end of my race season in November then pick back up again on March.

Thanks to the Morgan/Harmon clan for representing in the good luck Amy category yesterday and this morning! It was greatly appreciated.

Until next time…
Amy