2011 Deseret News Marathon
The birthday gift I gave myself that went south…
A little bit of minor background on me: I’ll occasionally
get migraines but never have I had one affect one of my marathons—until today.
Saturday through Sunday night I was dealing with a moderate
migraine. Not so much debilitating, but
it definitely affected my appetite and what and when I was able to eat—pretty much
nothing Saturday afternoon until Sunday night at about 6. And then what I ate probably wasn’t the best
pre-marathon fare.
I found Tom Slick at the top early Monday morning and we
discussed what a crazy, nut-brained thing it was to be up there like we were—half-heartedly
joking about our hopes to simply survive the darned thing.
Up through mile 13 I was maintaining what I considered a
decent pace in spite of the fact I had to take a potty break at the base of the
hill at mile 5.5. In the middle of the
14th mile I had to take another that really played games with my
head. Stupid stomach issues. My migraines ALWAYS wreak havoc with my
digestive system and after the stop in the 6th mile, I thought I had
dodged that bullet.
WRONG!
The stop at 13.5 and another just before diverting off
Sunnyside onto Crestview and Wasatch really messed things up for me—not just
physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. By mile 21, after almost catching up to
Slick, I had said goodbye to my last sub-10 minute mile and started counting
into the 12’s and 13’s. Every swig of
water and Gatorade would not settle and I often found myself longing to just
puke it all right back up. I wished so
many times that I had brought a couple of bucks so I could have swung into a
convenience store and picked up something ice cold, like a Pepsi, to settle my
tum-tum. I’m pretty sure I’m done with
Deseret News, but just in case I ever eat those words, somebody remind me to
pack a couple of dollars with me.
The last 8 miles also included a new left knee twinge and the
resurfacing of some foot pain I thought I had left in the dust months ago.
I ended up finishing with a 4:39:21 (my watch time) which,
after adjusting expectations, is OK with me.
Not quite the birthday present I wanted to give myself (a sub 4 hour
run on that course), but it is what it is.
Happy Pioneer Day, everybody. And Happy Birthday to me!
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