MCM goes Masters 40K

So, in honor of MCM Mama, I ran a 40K.

It took... 28:48:09.  (or 4:48:09)


Let me preface the rest of this race report with a word of caution.  If you're faint of heart, or emotionally involved with me, or even just don't need to have a freak out moment - don't read this.  Just skip back up to where I put in my time, and move on to the next blog.  I promise, you don't really want to read it, it's not clever, you're not missing anything.

Why did it take 28 hours and change?  Well, I ran it over the course of two days.  Here's how it shook down...

I'm on vacation in Hatteras, which normally would mean I'd be sleeping at my father's cottage, "Shutter Up".  But this trip the house was really full, and because I was the last to arrive, I got to stay at the fabulous Cape Pines Hotel.  It was totally fabulous.  When it was built.  In 1970 or so.  Anyhoo, the mattress was original with the hotel, I swear...  And I didn't get a ton of sleep, but whatever, it worked.

On Wednesday morning I woke up at 6am, dressed, got the kids up and moved them to my father's cottage, and at exactly 7am I shot out the door to run to my meet point with Dallas.  Dallas, who is amazing and drove the hour commute from her house to our meet spot, had agreed to meet me for 8 miles of my 16 miler...  more on that later.

I ran the 2 miles to Dallas, and then we set out for her 8 miles.  The SUN was STRONG.  Very strong.  By Dallas's 6 and my 8 we were really miserable.  We were shuffling along from shade to shade, alternating between a walk run, and to say we were struggling would be an understatement.  I consumed 3 of my 4 waters (32 oz) and took a Gel.  I dropped her at her car, she snapped a quick photo, I refilled a bottle of water, and set out for the rest of my miles.  What was another hour of running, right?  Um.  Did I mention the part where the heat index by this point is 101 degrees?  No?  Ok then, moving on....

Dallas & g, in stupid hot weather after running a long a** way...  I'm just sayin'.

Except that a mere two miles later I was out of water completely, sweating profusely, stripped down to the bare minimum of clothing, and feeling very bad.  Very bad.  Not like, "oh my legs sure are tired", but more like, "I'm going to catch on fire in this heat... and that'll be a relief because my head is about to explode."  I took a GU, and drank the last of my water.  About five minutes later I realized I wasn't inconvenienced by this lack of water, I was threatened by it.  My head was pounding with every step, and my lower back was starting to twinge (uh, I should be accurate, my kidneys started hurting).  At this point, I saw two men unloading their children and surf boards from a Subaru in a parking lot I was running past, and I thought, "I bet they have water...."  AND, they did.  And they were happy to share it with me.  And they were amused by my skirt (Cheetah of course), and after drinking 8 oz and refilling a bottle, they wished me luck and I continued on.  Of course by now I had called Parcheesi and was headed for home.  I arrived home at 14.67 miles, nearly 3 hours after departing.

24 hours later, again at 6am,... I woke up in my bedroom at Shutter Up.  I happily dressed for running, filled all my water bottles and headed out for the rest of my run.  I'd spent the day before rehydrating, and the first 3 miles flew by under my feet.  It was brilliant.

And then, suddenly, my legs just died.  The previous day's adventure had caught up with me.  At mile 9.2 my kidneys started hurting again, and so I just walked/ran it in.  I knew I could finish, I just needed to get it done, and I had to get back to the house somehow, so....  as I was saying, walking felt better, but running was going to get me there faster.  I finished.  40K.

Today I drank a half gallon of water and 16 oz of Gatorade, and 12 oz of coffee, and another 16 oz of water, and feel pretty good now.  Congratulations MCM MAMA on your Master's Birthday!  You're awesome!  And thanks for hosting this race, it inspired me to challenge myself, and to fully push my body to its limits!