i apologize beforehand for the long race report. This entry is not for the faint of heart, i'm just warning ya.
What a day! The good news first. Today's course was tough, and i walked away feeling good about it. Even though there weren't a ton of racers today, i pushed myself and feel way good about my race prospects for the rest of the year!
I knew last night that there wasn't going to be many ladies that would be tough competition. My friend aimee is always tough, and i knew i'd have to keep my eye on her. But i decided to just try and run strong no matter what. I had good, better, best time goals to meet. since st george marathon was a disaster, i just had to beat that time (3:13). better would be sub 3:05, and best would be sub 3:00.
I had the flu earlier in the week, but had felt good the past couple of days and got lots of rest. i was excited for this marathon though cause i love the course, and i was feeling strong everytime i ran it.
I didn't get the sleep i wanted cause jim was camping and i had to get the kids to bed on my own. i had to foam roll everything and massage my abs cause i wasn 't feeling terribly fresh. But lack of sleep never seems to get to me, and i felt ready when i woke up at 6 am. The race started at 7:30, and it felt great to start it a little bit later. I didn't get much of a warm up in, but the pace felt good after starting. i wore my race singlet, capris, arm warmers, and compression socks, but the only thing that was freezing was my hands (the whole time). Weather was in the 40s to 50s for the whole race. The rain that we got later on certainly didn't help.
I started out running the first 4 miles with steve hooper, and then he pulled away a little ( i love that this was his "training run") I wanted to try and stay with him, but i wanted to make sure i could make it back and was being cautious with my ab injury. There weren't any ladies around for a while, just a couple running center guys (james holt was behind for a while and joe (i think) out in front) and steve. i pretty much ran on my own the whole time, and honestly really liked it. It was great scenery and i loved just going into my little world on my run. Had stomach problems after mile 8 - grrrr. turned out to be more than i thought.
so here r my splits
miles 1-6 - terrain was slightly uphill to flat - pace felt pretty effortless
6:38 , 6:45, 6:31, 6:35, 6:43, 6:46
mile 7 - 6:50 first climb - hill was long but gradual - maybe 6-7% incline - kept my pace up it
mile 8-6:28 downhill -nemisis - definitely could have cruised down it but held back cause thats what tends to bother my abs - pains were coming and going in my abs but never stayed - yay!
miles 9-11 6:40, 6:46, 7:19 - legs still feeling good on the rolling hills, but, i started to have weird stomach problems. it wasn't my ab muscles, but felt like it was right underneath them. i was also getting some runner's stomach (dangit) and knew a potty brake was imminent soon. so that came at mile 11 - my hands were so cold it made the process slower than i wanted. anyhow, thats why it was 7:19.
miles - 12-13 6:53, 6:46 - half marathon time was 1:28 - i was stoked and still feeling strong with the exception of stomach probs, got a drive by visit from my honey and felt reinvigorated
miles 14 - 16 6:53, 7:00, 7:06 - ouch - hills are rollling up more than down and stomach is not feeling good - weird stomach pain getting worse along with runner's stomach - - the next girl is at least 2 miles behind me
miles -17-7:11 bathroom stop # 2, i made it snappy
mile - 18 - 8:31 THE WALL - seriously felt like i was running up one going up nemisis. I don't know the % incline on that but it was nasty. at one point my watch said 9 min mile!
mile 19 -20 6:43, 7:06 - got my legs moving again - terrain goes down then up
mile 21 - 8;04 bathroom stop # 3 - felt sorry for the guy behind me as this was not a porta potty stop - emergency:( i officially had no shame at the point - i did warn him though
miles 22 - 26 7:23, 7:13, 7:00, 7:06 - This was supposed to be slightly downhill into town, but didn't feel like it! The rain had started pouring, and i was chilled to the bone. If felt like i had weights on my legs but i was still moving. Amber's word, Courage, kept going through my head. i was wanting to slow so badly but kept going:)
mile .2 6:01 ran it in. Felt great to take first!
I took gels at 5, 9, 13, 17, 23 - felt like i had plenty of water with it
that's part 1 of my day
Part 2 - I went in the building. and stomach immediately starts getting worse. i tried to chug down some soda, and water, but it made it worse. i wanted to wait around for friends to come in and awards ceremony, but i was about ready to lose it in many ways. i got my sweet sandstone arch trophy (thank u) and $100 to classic sports (double thank u!).
Got home, and things went downhill...fast. i was shaking from being so cold from the rain and went against my better judgement with a hot bath. sorry but this is a tad gorey. turn back now if you have a sensitive stomach! i was feeling pretty nauseated, but food and water were making everything hurt so much worse. Well to skip all gorey details, i ended up on the bathroom floor in the fetal position waiting for an ambulance to come. my father in law had called cause i wasn't exactly functioning. i would have protested but didn't have a choice. it felt like i was passing a kidney stone or something like it. i have had pretty nasty runner's stomach before but this was worse. Lets just say there was blood where there shouldn't have been.
so ambulance came (oh my gosh.....so embarrassing!!!) They had to coax me to get on the stretcher, and had a painful ride to the hospital. by the time i got there, the i.v., antinausea, and pain meds had helped a bit. the pain had been going for 5 hours, and they gave me a heavy duty stronger than morphine pain releiver and i felt like crying from the relief.
I spent 7 hours at the hospital, getting many ivs and tests. they determine that i had tears in the section of my colon that is in my upper abdomen, and that everytime food and water was passing through it, i was experiencing that pain. i was extremely dehydrated on top of that. What caused it? The doc said that i was probably down and out still from my flu earlier in the week. throwing up and looseness, shall i say, can cause tears in the colon if they are bad. Well they prob would've healed on their own, but the marathon made it worse. it wasn't getting the blood flow that it needed to heal during the run, and it just made it worse. then anytime food, water, gel, whatever were pushed through, i was in pain. and i got so dehydrated cause i didn't drink enough cause it hurt. ok, so enough of the grossness!
2 crappy post marathon experiences in a row make me not want to do anymore dang it. if anyone has input on other fueling options than gel in marathons, i would love to hear them. I think it gives me stomach aches in races. and i can't eat things while i run. i got dehydrated at st george, but felt like i had enough water this time during the race. i would love suggestions on runner's stomach solutions so i can feel confident in running another marathon without dying after its over!
good news is, recovery should be pretty easy. it prob shouldn't take longer than the next week to heal things internally!
So great day, crappy day | 