Eventful run #2: Run and done!!
And it was a good one. Grab a drink, pull up a chair, and settle in because I have 13.1 miles of running to recap. That's right, baby, 13.1 miles! A half mary. Yeah, I ran a half marathon today just for the heck of it. The best part was that it was the first half of the official marathon course I'll be running in October. Now I'm not usually one of those people who needs to see a race course in advance but with 26.2 miles in my future I'd like to have some idea of what to expect. Today's run was supported by the local running store that's sponsoring the mary. There were probably a hundred or so people there. That's Running Partner's guestimate--I could never win one of those "Guess the number of jelly beans in the jar" games. There were several water stops along the way and I hear they had gels but we both had our fuel belts and kept going the whole time. Well, almost, but I'll get to that.
I set my alarm for 5:30 this morning to give myself time to eat half a PowerBar and tend to any potential GI issues. RP picked me up at 6:20 and we drove downtown. Her hubs works in a building that is blessed with a parking garage and he has weekend access so it was an easy scoot to the harbor where the run started. I mentioned I had a case of race nerves even though this wasn't really a race and she told me some blowhard at the pool last night told her "Are you running from point A to point B? Are other people running too? Do you know those other people? If not, it's a race. You better bring it." Asshole. I bet he slept until 9:30 today--by which time we were finished because we're basically awesome.
If you're familiar with Baltimore then you know that the harbor sits in a basin, a basin that is hard to escape without some major uphillage. When my Garmin read 4.2 miles and we were still going uphill, I found myself saying to the sweaty navy-shirt dude next to me "I've heard Baltimore is a challenging marathon but I didn't realize it was uphill the whole way." He mumbled something about training for the half and only running 6 miles today. I don't think he really wanted to chat.
RP and I kept a good pace if for no other reason than we were basically in the projects with no idea how to get out and we were afraid of losing sight of the runners in front of us. I've never felt so happy to see the train station in my life. At that point I knew, not matter what happened, I'd be able to find my way back to the finish. A nice straight shot down St. Paul Street.
With the harbor, and finish line, in sight, I was jubilant. What a great, easy run! My pride was swelling to epic proportions when I dared glance at my Garmin and realized we were only at 9 miles. Well crap! Oh yeah, I seemed to remember someone mentioning something about Fort McHenry at the start. While Fort McHenry itself is a beautiful, breezy running spot, the trek there from the harbor is decidedly not. Stinky is more what I'd call it. Hot and stinky.
At mile 10 we passed a water stop and with my fuel belt carrying mere splashes of bathwater at that point I decided to stop. What, no water?!?! Gah! Okay, I'll try a few sport beans. Bad idea. Very bad idea. I know my body doesn't tolerate sugar well but somewhere in that 10-mile haze I forgot that sport beans are made of sugar. I spent the rest of the run trying to balance my child-birth breathing techniques with basic gasping for breath in order to deal with the stabbing pain I was experiencing just under my ribcage. I managed to parlay my condition to RP in something that probably sounded like "Can't talk. Must breathe. Ouch." Unfortunately, she had to pee so stopping didn't really sound like the fair thing to do.
When we made it back to RP's hubs' office, we waltzed our drippy sweaty selves past the well-turned-out reception staff and headed toward the elevators with the promises of restrooms and water coolers on the horizon. Glorious, glorious water cooler. I could write a sonnet to that water cooler so enamoured I am of it's hydrating, ice cold gift. It was seriously the best water I've ever had, even if it did cause a slight brain freeze.
Today's Miles: 13
Total Miles: 174
1 comment:
I have been awol this past week through little fault of my own, but I'm here now and that's enough about me. Let's talk about Runner Girl. Do you think she likes me? That joke is so old...Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah - RG ran the first half of the October Baltimore Marathon in the middle of summer with temps in the 90's and the humidity somewhere around 173.8%. She did this with nary a whimper, even as she stuffed a carb-laced salad in her pie hole last night at my dinner table. I recall a run several months ago where the goal was a hlaf-marathon, and there was some serious drama leading up to the start. And look at her now! I may not know nothin' bout birthin babies, but my baby is all growed up and is a serious threat to any biped intent upon arriving anywhere before she does. Yugo girl! I've got your sport bean!
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