Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Virginia Beach 13.1 Recap...

I came, I ran. I ran slow.

But all that matters is that I finished, I got my medal, I didn't die, and my knee doesn't hurt. Some might be upset or disappointed in running a race about 20 minutes slower than their last, but not me. I know I did the best I could do on that particular day and it just so happens to be a Personal Worst (PW) half marathon finish time by about 50 seconds. Meh....what ever.

The day started early, but not stupid early. We were only 2 blocks from a shuttle pick-up so that helped.

Dark and early, heading to the start.
These feet....

Ready to Rock!
We got to the start at about 6:25, 35 minutes before the start. We headed straight to the porta-potty line and there we remained until about 3 minutes after the start. If there is one thing I have learned while racing larger races like the Rock n Roll series it is this: I'm not in it to win it, corral doesn't matter, and it's chip time anyway. The race started and a the first 5 waves were on their way when Rachel and I jumped in the back of corral 8.

For the first time in a year I ran with music. I haven't been doing this lately but for whatever reason I through on Pandora and headed out. This lasted until the uphill-or overpass rather, around mile three. Service was shotty and the music kept loading and skipping, so I turned it off and ran to the bands, the crowd, and my own hot, tired thoughts. The first 10k wasn't so bad actually. I was cruising right along to a good pace of 8:50 to 9:10 min/mile. But I was getting hotter every minute. It was that kind of hot where no matter what you just can't cool off. I noticed my clothes were soaking, like drenched. But it wasn't raining. I could wring my shirt and water/sweat would drip out. The humidity was so bad. The thing with humidity is that you get hot, you sweat. But the sweat doesn't evaporate, it's the evaporation that cools you off. In an attempt to cool myself I would pour water on my head and down my back, but this didn't really help either. It felt good, sure. But it was the same as sweat, it just made me wet, not cooler.

It was at the 10k mark I told myself that I didn't want to die. That wasn't in my plans for this day. I also didn't want to have a heat stroke or pass out. I had goose bumps, you know the ones you get when you are so hot and you can't cool? I had to bring my run to a brisk walk to try to cool off. My face felt like it was melting, it was burning from the heat. I kind of felt like I was boiling on the inside and melting on the outside.  So from this point forward, in an effort to not be like one of the 6,000 who either passed out, had a heat stroke, heat exhaust, or just plain quit, I decided I'd run/walk the remainder. Around mile 8 my hands and fingers were so swollen it felt like my fingers were going to explode. When I came up on the next aid station I grabbed three salt packs, for the first time ever in my racing history. I opened one and ate it like it was freaking candy. Weird....but it was good and it helped a little.

So many people were falling out and at least three that I saw were in really bad shape, laid out on the ground, unconscious, receiving IV's and an ambulance ride. One female was so bad I am certain she was ceasing. It was awful. At that moment I was reassured that my decision to run/walk was A-OK. It's just not worth the risk. I had not been training for a fast 13.1, in fact this was more of a training run to cover the distance. And it was for fun.

The course was decent, but I'll admit I don't remember too much of it. When we came back around toward the boardwalk and the finish the crow grew. Around mile 12 I decided I'd just run it on home. And I did. Once I hit the board walk the temperature felt like it rose a good 10 degrees at least. The heat from the sand and the crowd of people made me feel suffocated. I felt like I just wanted to get away, to get out of the crowd, so i kept going. Finally the finish line was there, right in front of me....it was not pretty but it was a finish, and it's a finish I am proud of.

Signature Pose

I received my medal and wandered through the line, got my picture snapped, grabbed some gatorade, water, and chocolate milk. I felt queasy and hot and gross. I wanted to take my clothes off and jump in the ocean....I shuffled through the sand to our designated meeting place, Letter Z. Andrea was there waiting. We exchanged our battle stories and decided to head off the sand and lay in the grass.  Slowly the rest of our crew made it in and we were all done and alive.

We all took our shoes off and headed to the water...

Mess of shoes, gatorade, socks...
We did it! 

I do it for the Bling!

When it was all said and done I checked the Weather.com app to see what we were dealing with, weather wise. It was a disgusting 94% humidity and 76 degree. I can handle the 76 degrees, but put that with 94% humidity and you've got a bad combo....

One more medal added to the collection!


In the end it was a fun race and a great girl's weekend! Next up---OBX 26.2...who's in?

9 comments:

  1. That water must've felt awesome after a hot run! Great job all the same! I'm headed to OBX for the half!

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    1. IT did!! I wanted to jump in but I had on my garmin and had my cell... =/

      Maybe we can catch each other at OBX!!! Let's stay in touch!

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  2. Oh I am just not a fan of running in the humidity when it is like that!! The water must have been very refreshing!!! Great job on the finish...it sounded tough!

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    Replies
    1. It was pretty awful! The water did feel so good! I wanted so bad to dive all in but had my Garmin on and my cell phone.... =)

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  3. Good job on a smart race! Congrats!!

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  4. Wow, that was a hot one! All things considered... you did well after coming off a bum knee. BTW, your slow runs would be like blazing fast for me! Haha!

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  5. You have so many medals!! I'm jealous :-) I ony have one local race age group one lol humidity is NOT my friend. I crossed my 10k finish line in July but required IVs lol it was awful. Anyway....you know I'm registered for the full in OBX!! I couldn't be more excited! Except for the looooong drive there. That I'm not looking forward too!

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  6. Gee's I hope to have a lot of medals some day. Way to go...finishing is all that matters. Humidity bites...hard. It's obviously scortching hot still in AZ but we're also in monsoon season still which makes it humid too....but not 94%. I can't imagine that...humidity makes me feels suffocated too and crowds, I'm getting more chlaustraphobic the older I get. Good job girl!! Jessica

    sweatismysanity.com (used to be runningtobeskinny.com)

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  7. That was a great race. Bravo to you. You did a good job!

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You're pretty much awesome!!

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