Tonight I ran 45 minutes and thought about the marathoners, their families and friends, the emergency personnel, the volunteers, and the race officials. I wish there were something I could do to help. The only thing I could think of was to run. It just seemed right.
Unfortunately, the run was painful. My calves, shins and ankles are still tight from the running I did Friday & Saturday in the Palmetto 200 Relay. I stopped to stretch at least 5 times. I got a little looser by the end, but not much. I see Dr. Awesome tomorrow, and I'm hoping he can work these kinks out.
The relay was a blast. I ran legs 1, 13 and 28. Leg #1 was about 5.6 miles and started at 1:30pm in full sun. It. Was. Hot. I carried a water bottle and needed it refilled halfway through. Although I was hot, I didn't overheat. I think I paced myself pretty well, saving some gas for the next two legs. Average pace: 8:50.
Leg #13 was only 4.2 miles. I ran it at 11pm through the forest. It was dark and I was alone. I was grateful to have our van pass by every once in a while. Running in the pitch dark felt like an out-of-body experience. It was pretty creepy. Average pace: 8:30.
Leg #28 was my favorite distance: 12k (7.4 miles). I ran at about 8am on 2 hours of sleep. Surprisingly, I felt fantastic. Since it was my last leg, I pushed pretty hard. I finally had my first two kills of the relay (a "kill" is when you pass a runner from another team; considering the events of today, I'm a bit embarrassed to use that word). I sprinted to the end and handed off the "baton" (a blue slap-bracelet) to JC and promptly had an asthma attack. It was the exact same feeling I had immediately after finishing the Augusta Half Ironman - like someone had stuffed wet sponges into my chest. I could breathe out just fine, but breathing in didn't seem to work. The good news is, I remained calm, and I had my inhaler with me, so I took a puff and walked around to let my heartrate come down gradually. I felt better very quickly.
I'm kind of glad that happened. It was a good experiment to see how I would react and how well the inhaler would work. It gives me some reassurance that I can handle future attacks.
Other good news:
- My average pace for the final leg was 8:10, which A) is the fastest I've run since the Ray Tanner 12k last fall (7:45 pace), and B) was 20 seconds faster than the previous leg, on fatigued legs and very little sleep. My body feels strong.
- Our team (Columbia SC Marathon) came in third in the mixed division.
- I got to share the experience with my wonderful husband JC.
- I didn't have any "goose bumps" during my hot runs, which used to be a big problem for me in the heat.
- I didn't get the post-exercise headache that I used to get after hot or tough workouts. I think I've finally figured out the problem: I just wasn't taking in enough electrolytes, especially salt. I sweat very little, and am not a salty sweater at all; plus, I have to be careful with salt intake because it exacerbates a condition I have called Meniere's Syndrome. Too much salt triggers hearing disturbances and crippling vertigo. But I have increased my intake during exercise lately, and it seems to be doing the trick.
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| Columbia SC Marathon team after finishing in just over 25 hours. These are really great people. |
I took my time getting into the water. It was quite cold, but it wasn't the most miserable experience ever. (Peeing in your wetsuit helps warm it up.) But putting my face in was a different story. I spent a few minutes putting in first my chin, then my right ear, then my left ear, then my nose... Eventually, my whole face made it in. It took my breath away!
I swam a few strokes, but the cold water made me feel disoriented and dizzy. I swam a total of 150
yards before getting out. I felt dizzy and icky (and a little drunk) for a few minutes, but it eventually passed. So, basically, I spent an hour to swim a total of 3 minutes. Kudos to the folks who actually got their swims done.
So, here we are in the second of three peak weeks. This week is a slight cut-back from last week - long run is only 14 miles, and long ride is only 4 hours - then it'll be THE peak week. I'm ready.
