Run, Run, Run, Wallk?

Yesterday Susan, Marta (Susan's friend from Ohio) and I ran the Too To Handle 15K at White Rock Lake. It was a blazing 87 degrees with high humidity. This particular race happens to be one of the biggest races in Dallas over the summer, with around 2000 runners. From what I understand, many runners will use this race as a test. I was asking myself, what test? Intellegence, Insanity? Oh, Heat endurance. As I am drudging on, I wonder what race are all of these people training for if they are testing themselves for heat endurance...Badwater? (For all those who don't know, Badwater is an ultra distance race through a desert. Ultra meaning more than 26 miles, usually 50 or 100 miles of continuous running, the very definition of insanity!!). I went into this race fearing the heat and what it would do to my body over the next several days following the race. I started strong but at a very cautious pace, slow. As I began to warm up, I sped up. I was running just over a 10 minute mile, I think. Around mile 5 or so, I was really hot. Ridiculously hot. I stopped running like someone turned off a switch in me. At that point I came to a decision, Run and push through or Walk and survive the rest of the day. This may actually sound a bit extreme to many of you, but running in heat in excess of 85 degrees is usually forbidden. I was feeling strong. I walked a mile and "cooled" down if that was possible. By mile 7 I was ready to run again, so I did. I only ran about a half mile, before feeling an internal meltdown occurring. Oh yeah, they ran out of water at the water stops since mile 4. Good races will provide water every 1.5-2 miles. Thank the good heavens that I carried water with me. It was at about mile 7.5 that I decided to walk the rest of the way. This race was not worth wasting the rest of the day and the early days of next week on recovery. There were things I wanted to get done. I met some really great people along my walk. People with my same struggles with Left brain (trying to tell us we don't actually want to run anywhere!!) training for the same race I am, Chicago. At this point Chicago feels like some figment of our imagination that we are all chasing. Definitely no where near reality. Yet we continue to train, push through hours of discomfort, and mentally prepare for one of the more historical marathons in the US. Chicago, all though you are still 77 days away, we are anxiously awaiting you!!

Just in case you were wondering, Susan finished in 1 hour and 41 minutes (slower than her ususal pace, but safe), Marta finished in 1 hour 23 minutes, and I at a snail's pace in 2 hours and 13 minutes. All of us missed our intial goals, but we finished...alive and without heat stroke. YEA! I am not disappointed, I knew this race would be slow and that I would end up walking a lot of it. It is okay, come fall and I will be rocking and rolling at a stellar pace!! No worries!!
Blog on friends!!