The Nitty-Gritty Details

It was a lot of fun to train for this marathon with four other people via the blog and it was especially fun to finally meet Lisa and Cynthia on Friday at the marathon expo and then share a delicious meal together with all five of us the night before the race. It was fun to share this whole experience.

When the gun went off to start the marathon, the five of us were in line to drop our drop-bags. When I heard the gun, I quickly threw my bag towards the truck and tried to make my way to the road and finally to the start line. Lindy was with me and we ran together for 7 miles until Veyo Hill. We were keeping a fast pace and I felt good but knew I needed to save a little for the end. I told Lindy that I was feeling good but I was going to slow down a little. We’d probably lose each other on the hill and I’d try to catch her on a downhill. We did lose each other and I never did catch her. I took those first down hills like a madwoman. I flew down them with no regard to how my legs would react. My legs didn’t like that at all and around mile 18 I could feel my right quad muscle tightening. At mile 20, I looked at my garmin and it showed 3:00. I had six miles to go. If I could run a steady pace for the last six miles, I could finish in under four but that was not what my legs had planned. My right calf started to cramp. I have never, ever experienced leg cramps while training or running a race so this was a first for me. And it was painful. I walked until the cramp stopped, then I’d start to run again, then my calf would cramp, walk, run, cramp and that was the cycle until I crossed the finish line. A difficult last six miles. I stopped at the aid stations between 20 and 26 and the volunteers would rub icy hot and ben gay on my calves and right quad. That would relieve the pain for a minute or two and then the cramps would return. But, at last, I reached the finish.

One cute thing that happened while I was on the straightway to the finish. There were so many people lining the road and shouting encouragement. I was walking off a leg cramp and one man noticed me and yelled, “Come on Nike Soccer (that was what my shirt read) you can do it!” I replied to him in a painful voice, “I have leg cramps.” He jumped off the curb and put his arm around me and ran with me for a few seconds. How cute is that?

But my story doesn’t end there. This is where the nitty-gritty starts. As soon as I crossed the finish, I told the volunteer that I have leg cramps and they helped me to the medic station. I laid down and they took my vitals. She said my vitals looked good and did I want to go get a massage? I walked over to the massage area and didn’t want to wait in line so I walked to the runner finish area, grabbed a popsicle and sat down. Then I became extremely nauseous. I stood up and found a garbage can. I was not feeling good at all. I realized that not only did I need a garbage can but I needed a toilet as well. I headed to the porta potties and got in line. The wait in the line about killed me. Finally, when a porta potty became available I sat on the toilet and began to throw-up in the urinal. The thought crossed my mind that I just may spend my last moments in this porta potty - I felt that bad. About 45 minutes later, I managed to get the strength to stand up and make my way out of the porta potty. I made my way over to the medic station and told them I wasn’t feeling good at all. They let me lay down on a cot and there I stayed for a good half hour. I think I fell asleep for a minute. Then one volunteer came over and told me I needed to get up and walk around. I felt good enough to get up and made my way out of the finisher area and found Wayne. We walked to the place we were staying and I returned to the toilet and threw-up a few more times as well.

Even with all the post-race mess, I am anxious to run the St. George marathon again. I know those hills can work in my favor instead of against me. I need to work on taking in more substantial liquids during the race and not dehydrating myself. (I don't want to spend that much time in a porta potty ever again!) It’s definitely not good to throw-up that much. The St. George marathon bug is in me. I would love to give it another try and see if I can get those last six miles to be my friend.