Keeping It Real (Biggest Loser)

Half Marathon #36

What a whirlwind of a weekend!  My sister visited from Oklahoma.  We had a non-stop weekend capped off by the Biggest Loser race in Mobile.  Before I get into my race recap, let me say that I am so proud of her.  She has suffered through 3 knee surgeries and is now running again.  She was 3 minutes faster than her last 5k and placed 4th in her age group.  Absolutely Amazing!  We had lots of time to chat about running on our road trip and she said something I want to always remember:  "I'd rather run 5 slow years than 1 fast one."  Amen.

Valerie, My Sister, and Me (BEFORE)

We arrived about 35 minutes prior to race time.  Packet pickup was easy.  Into the porta-potty line we go, where things started to go downhill.  That took 30 minutes.  While in line, I pinned on my bib, tied my shoes, stretched, did everything to get ready...or so I thought.  With just a minute to spare I scooted into the start crowd and made my way toward the front.  Go!

I wasn't even a half mile in when I realized I had put nothing, absolutely nothing, in my pocket.  No GU, no Salt Stick Caps.  At that point, I wasn't too worried about the GU...surely they will have that on course.  But I was extremely worried about not having salt in this humidity.

An unflattering, keeping it real photo

You see, all this past week has been a tropical weather disaster in the deep south and I knew it would be much worse on the coast.  It was around 75 degrees with 100% humidity and no breeze.  I did my best not to think about that and have fun.  I started out staying just behind the 9:00 pace group and stayed there maybe 3 or 4 miles.  By this point, I felt like I weighed 500 pounds.  Hello humidity.  Admittedly, I'm jealous of people who don't seem affected by it.  I'm simply in awe!

My fellow half fanatic and running buddy Valerie was there.  We were running together at about mile 5 when we realized a lady in front of us was running backwards!  Odd...we thought maybe she was stretching her knees or something.  But as we passed, we realized her eyes were rolling back in her head and she was making a weird breathing noise.  About that time, she went down and the runners right behind caught her, thank goodness.  It's at that point Valerie said "OK, this is now a training run."  Agreed!  Pushing in the heat and humidity would not be worth it.

Me and My Sister (AFTER)

Around mile 6 I realized my right foot was blistering on the ball.  I stopped a couple of times to rearrange my sock, but it didn't help.  I now have a half dollar sized blister after wearing my best pair of socks. This has happened to me 3 times and each time it was extremely humid.  My feet (and my entire body) were as wet as if it had been pouring rain. 

Next the cramps came, first in the feet and then in the calves.  I have no salt!  Also, there was no Gatorade from mile 6 to mile 12, only water.  I thought this was incredibly stupid race direction.  In this humidity?  You've got to be kidding.  We were given one GU only at mile 5. 

I tell you all of this not for sympathy and I'm not making excuses.  My first inclination was not to post at all.  But, I want to keep it real.  Some races are just tougher than others.  Much, much tougher.  I walked every time my calves cramped.  And yes, that was a lot.  For this I can only blame myself for forgetting my essentials.   

I posted my third worst half marathon time.
Would I do it again?  In a heartbeat.

Just keeping it real...


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