 |
| First time having my name on the bib! Nice touch... |
I drove to Columbus on the night of May 3rd with plans to run the Capital City Quarter Marathon with my cousin(J) and his cousin-in-law (L). I planned to leave at about 8pm and arrive at about 10:30pm. If you have ever met me, you know that this did not happen. My daughter had a soccer game and my son had a track meet. After both activities were done, I had to take them out to eat. I didn't hop on the road until about 9:30 which means I did not arrive at my cousin's house in Columbus until about midnight. I had packed my running gear and I laid everything out, plugged in my phone and hopped in the bed. I was beyond ready for a good night's sleep. My alarm went off at about 6am. I grabbed my phone and immediately noticed that my battery was on 2 percent. It had not been charging all night!!! I got up and got ready and started charging my phone in the car. We were stopped in traffic for about a half hour trying to get off the freeway to park so that gave me plenty of time to charge my phone enough to run with music and have my running apps on. We arrived at the race just in time to hop into our corral and start the race. L is a much faster runner than J and I and he took off without us. J and I ran together for the first mile but I felt pretty yucky and encouraged him to run ahead of me. The course for this race was great. I am not a Columbus native so I was able to see a bit of the city. There were many spectators and bands along the race route. I can honestly say that had I been forced to run without music, I would have been entertained throughout the run. I had to stop running at about mile 3 to untie my shoe and wriggle my toes a bit. They were pretty numb. As I untied my shoe, I made a mental note that I needed to look into replacing my running shoes. I found a partner for the next mile and a half but she started walking and I had to keep moving. At about mile 5 I ran into another lady who was running about the same pace as I. I ran with her until the end. My toesies were pretty numb but there were a few factors that played into me not stopping. 1. My cousin had thrown out an arbitrary goal of finishing in under 1:15. I knew at that point I was under 1:15. 2. There were people lined up against barriers for what seemed like the last mile of the race cheering, watching and holding you accountable. 3. This woman I was running with was an awesome running angel who was keeping a great pace. L finished in about 58 minutes. J finished in about 1:06. I finished in 1:12:31.
 |
| L, me and J with our medals!!! |
 |
| Pretty fancy, huh? |
My tummy was churning during the run but I was able to scarf down a bagel, a banana, a water and a chocolate before hitting the portapotty. These fancy portapottys that look like bathrooms on wheels are pretty convenient but everyone can see into it. Now, they can't see you using it, but they could see (for example) you telling the girl waiting that she might not want to use the stall you were just in. Embarrassing!! And this visual could potentially prompt questions from said person such as "How do you poo in a portapotty?" I have decided to answer that question...but in my next post. Anywho...When I got back to J's house my tummy was ready for round 2 and 3 and 4 and 5. This run was pretty rough on my tummy. When I finally managed to pull myself together enough to shower and get dressed to get on the road back to Cleveland, J offered me some Pepto Bismol. I never take medication like this. I figured it couldn't hurt. I took it and bought more when I got home. I took it every four hours or so after the run and did not have the same issues I usually have the next day. How could I have never tried tummy medication? It seems so obvious! I don't know if this is THE answer but it provided relief on this day so I am pretty excited about this new discovery. Now on to the Cleveland Rite Aid 10K on May 19th. I will have new shoes and Pepto on hand...
No comments:
Post a Comment