It hit me like a pile of bricks this morning. Seawheeze is less than 4 weeks away. 3 weeks, 6 days until I plod through the streets of Vancouver wondering why the hell I ever agreed to run a SECOND half marathon.
FUN FACT: With how elusive a Seawheeze bib can be, I actually had to take a leap of faith that I wouldn’t f*cking hate running 13.1 miles. SW2016 is my 2nd half ever, and I had to register for it before having ever run my first half marathon back in October 2015.
So, I’ve been upping my mileage from about 4.5mi to 6mi in recent weeks, but the long runs need to happen. I’m talking the 9-11mi range, so I know where and how I exactly need to bandage my feet up in the name of blister prevention. Up to 5 miles I’m good, but after that I need some stretchy adhesive reinforcements. So far, my memory and bandaging strategy have been serving me well up to 7 miles.
I spent this weekend in upstate NY doing what I do best, going to see Dave Matthews Band for the umpteenth time while I drink beer, eat gummi bears and snack on goldfish crackers. In between, I recaptioned some art in the Albany Institute and found some hipster potato donuts in tiny little Troy, NY before coming back to the harsh reality that it was 90+ degrees outside and I had to RUN.
Today’s intended distance was 9mi. How far did I get? 6.75mi. Commendable by a casual exerciser’s standard, but a failure to reach my goal.
As it turns out, 90+ degrees and 4pm sunshine are no fun. I ran out of water a lot faster than I meant to, and shade was elusive. Dehydrated from a weekend of concerts and running a donut and a DQ Blizzard, I wasn’t going into this ‘run’ with a full deck.
Headed uphill early on in mile 5, I got the chills. I had already stopped to pace for about 2min during mile 4 to help get my body heat down before resuming my run.
I’m no medical professional, but I know enough to know THAT’S BAD.
Wasn’t really in the mood to collapse on the side of the road, and knew the water left in my bottle was NOT going to last another 4 miles. Thankfully, there was no dizziness or nausea to go with it said chills.
While I really wanted to prove to myself that I’m good to hit that 9-mile mark, at 30 years old I’ve learned to listen to my body. If something isn’t right, listen to your gut, people.
As I’ve said in previous blog posts, ‘not today’ does not equal never. So I didn’t have it in me today. That doesn’t mean I’m a total failure to launch.
A coconut water/gatorade smoothie later and a fresh week on the horizon, I’m ready to rock & roll and leave a sorry ole Sunday runday behind.