Everyone Has a Bad Day

Second half marathon is down in the books. And oh, was it a doozy.

It turns out that when confronted with 80 percent humidity and lower GI issues, I can actually run faster on a broken toe. 

I started out fantastically -- for me, at least. A good pace, all the way up through mile 5. (5.08, to be precise.) And then, my system decided that nope, no way, we were not doing this thing. 

And on a course with no porta potties, of course. So losing time to go off course to find a public bathroom.

Any time I started at a pace beyond a brisk walk, I started cramping cramping cramping. And it was so humid. I knew that any chance of getting my sub 2:45 proof of time for Disney was out the window.

I was miserable by the time I finished. And I'm OK owning the fact that I was so absolutely miserable by the end. My stomach hurt, my timing and stats were pretty bad (although not absolutely horrible, so apparently other people also had a bad day), and despite planning on hanging out at the beach after, all I wanted to do was find a Starbucks and go home to my couch and Cat. 

And it didn't help that there wasn't actual bling -- just a plastic license plate vanity holder. I ... I can't even.

In a way, it's good to see that I'm not alone. In the days since the race, I've seen comments on one page about how the medals weren't actually, you know, medals. And that the race is so unorganized. And finding this blog post made me realize that OK, it may have sucked, but it wasn't all entirely my fault.

I think part of what made the race such a let down was that everyone I'd talked to who was a local runner praised it for being an easy, flat, fast race that I'd probably enjoy. 

When in reality? Sure, it was flat. And sure, I started out strong. But so unorganized. And I think I like the hills, because then there's the muscle relief when coming back downhill. 

Were there things I could have done better? Absolutely. I think I definitely need to start upping my mileage per week (MPW) and I'd like to start running more consistently. And oh god I am never ever again using a granola bar to try to stabilize before a long run. That was singlehandedly the biggest stupidest mistake I've made as a runner. 

I feel like the saving grace is knowing that I did the Pittsburgh half in a better time, on a more challenging course, and with a broken toe. So everyone has a bad day and a bad race, and learns something from that awful race. And my bad day and bad race and oh lessons learned came on the shores of Lake Erie. 

But hell. I'm still a runner. I still covered 13.1 miles without dying.