After Boston, I was restless and decided I wanted to run another marathon to try to qualify for the 2013 Boston marathon. I ran a 20-miler two weeks after Boston and felt great, so I figured I was in the clear and started looking for a marathon to run. I was leaning towards Cleveland because I had a friend running it, but then another friend recommended the Sugarloaf marathon up in Eustis/Kingfield, Maine.
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| Almost to Canada! |
I decided if I was going to try again, I was
going as far north as possible and the average temps for Eustis were way lower
than Cleveland. With a solid 20 under my belt, the hotel was
booked, plane tickets were bought, and I signed up for the race.
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| Kept looking, but never saw one! |
I was somewhat worried about
flying the day before the race, mainly for stiff legs, but our trip was broken
into three segments so it didn’t seem too bad.
We (my mom and I) had a great dinner, where I learned I like
fiddleheads, and then went and checked out the course. I got excited as we drove the course, as it
was absolutely beautiful (followed the Carrabassett River)
and was a course I knew I could run well.
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| Fiddleheads! |
After a good night of sleep, I
was ready to go! I started off with
gloves and arm warmers, even though I didn’t really need them. I was trying to trick my mind into thinking
it was cold, despite the forecast for a high in the 80’s. Wait, I thought the average temp for Eustis
was low 60’s. Oh yea, of course the
weather went all crazy and ended up being abnormally hot. At the sound of the shotgun, we were off! I was still feeling confident that I’d have
a solid race and started off with a steady pace just a few seconds slower than
race pace for the first 7 miles.
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| Yea, didn't have this for too long. |
Lucky
mile 7. Mile 7 was where I started
feeling bad at Boston. Mile 7 was also where I started feeling bad
at Sugarloaf. At Boston, I was able to make it through 20
before my body turned off, but not at Sugarloaf. By mile 8, I was praying I’d see my mom soon
and I seriously doubted my ability to finish the race. I saw my mom soon after I started praying for
help and told her I wasn’t feeling very well.
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| Mile 8 or 9 |
The race course was very spectator friendly, so she was able to drive further up
the course, pull off, and wait for me to check in with her. At mile 12, I got to meet the Sugarloaf
EMTs. I sure am meeting a lot of EMTs
lately. Once again, I was dehydrated and my body was already flipping the off switch. I decided to take it one mile at a time, but
by mile 16, I was having an incredibly hard time moving.
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| Mile 10 or 11 - pulling off to get a hug from mom |
I made it to mile 17, where I decided to pull
out of the race. My entire body was
fatigued, every muscle hurt, and my abdomen and chest were really tight. I knew at that point my body wasn’t going to
allow me to finish the race or let me take one more step. My
mom scooped me up and took me to the EMTs at the finish where they gave me an
IV and blankets – yes, blankets! I could
not stop shivering to save my life. Heat
exhaustion again – five weeks, two races, two rounds of heat exhaustion. Talk about frustrating.
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| Yep, my life will never be the same! |
It was incredibly hard to pull
out and log a DNF (never done that before), as I know I’m physically and
mentally strong and not a quitter, but at the same time, I knew I’d end up in
the hospital if I kept going. You
sometimes have to forget about pride and goals and make a smart decision for
your body, even if it’s a decision you are not happy with at all.
After heat exhaustion at Boston
and Sugarloaf, I’m way may more prone to a heat reaction than I have ever been,
so I have to be careful over the next few months, but I’m thinking my mom is on
to something with her theory that flying really screws my body up. I was very, very well hydrated going into
both races and have run in warm weather; the main difference with Boston and Sugarloaf is
that I flew. I’ve had to rethink my goal
of running the 50 states, as that doesn’t seem like a good idea anymore. I’ll be running marathons within driving
distance from now on!
Our trip back was exhausting, as
our plane out of Maine was delayed and had us
getting into NYC at midnight, so we ended up staying in Maine Sunday night and flying out Monday
morning, where we dealt with more flight delays thanks to bad weather in
NYC. The trip was tiring and
disappointing, but I’m glad I tried again and my mom and I had a great time
together. Time to recover and then start training for
Hinson 24!
