So back in March, the marathon had been canceled and the RD had given 3 options - defer to 2021, refund or defer to the virtual option. I chose the virtual option... since I had put in all the training and was at that moment feeling good. Well, by the time I had received the race bling in the mail, I had been dealt an injury in my left quad. So I had to take time off from running, rekindled my love with rollerblading which helped. I won't go into April, May, June, and July but I recovered and continued rollerblading, running and hiking, and going to the gym once the gym opened up in June.
Over the last couple of weeks, I had been feeling pretty good with my running and working out and overall training. Last week I saw the weather forecast was showing a break in this nasty, humid heat we've been dealing with. So I decided that I was going to attempt my solo marathon on the coming Sunday.
Now I've been dealing with tooth pain for about three weeks, I had scheduled my appointment for the 18th (it was the soonest they could get me in). It had been a minor, dull ache but was causing me some headaches, but that Saturday night things got really bad. I couldn't sleep and no amount of pain killers helped with the tooth pain or the terrible headaches that would not go away.
By the time the pain had gone away, at around 5:30 am, I knew it would be a huge, stupid mistake to try and attempt any kind of serious run (I had A LOT of pain killers in my system, ibuprofen and excedrin).
Through Sunday and Monday I used tips from friends, rinsing and gargling warm salt water (nasty) like multiple times a day. I bought Orajel toothache rinse AND the one for mouth sores, and numbing gel. Monday and Tuesday I didn't even need ibuprofen or anything, although I did take some before bed so I wouldn't wake up in pain.
The Plan: So a woman I idolize and hope to one day grow up to be just like her (she turned 50 back in June and looks freaking amazing), she runs ultras and is always out running like anywhere from 20-40 miles, sometimes on a work day! I want so much to one day be able to join her and the other ladies who just constantly run like nonstop and have so much fun doing it. She asked about my route and suggested Friedman Park, which I run at often - it's mostly a 5.3 mile loop but there have been some add-on pathways that are out and backs. After a minute of thinking about it, I realized it was a great idea (though I hate loops)! I wouldn't have to really carry anything on me, and could keep water, gatorade and even my energy gu in a freaking cooler with ice (gu tastes better if it's kept cold). I could also keep my Monster Muscle Protein Shake in there as well, so that was the plan and I was excited. Not having to carry a hydration pack would mean I could just wear a sports bra (the pack can sometimes rub my skin raw if I don't have anything between the pack and my skin).
This morning I woke to my 1:45 am with a headache so that was a bit of a disappointment, I almost considered just staying in bed and saying "F" it. But damn it, 59 freaking degrees in July!!!!! I could NOT pass this up, no freaking way. So I got up, reluctantly took some Excedrin, tried to eat some oatmeal but didn't want to. I got all my stuff ready and headed out, I figured if anything I would at least try for 10 miles or something. I also figured that if I posted on FB at the end of each loop with pics taken during that loop, it would hold me accountable and I would make sure I'd complete the entire 26.2 miles.
The first "loop" was 8 miles, I stopped at my SUV and had a Cola gu (it don't taste like cola, I couldn't decide between root beer or pumpkin spice)... and while ingesting that crap and some water, I decided that this next loop I was going to do my best to fit as many miles as I could in it (using the out and back pathways) so I decided to grab my handheld and put some gatorade in it and I grabbed a Chocolate Outrage gu.
Onto the next loop I went, feeling good and relieved that the headache had disappeared. I took the new add-on which was about 1.5 miles and at the end of it I went a little further down the road, determined to get as much as I could in there. By the time I got back on the actual loop, I had acquired 12.35 miles.
I stopped and took a pic at the halfway point, and had my second gu.. the chocolate outrage is way tastier than the cola crap... just wish I had water instead of gatorade to wash it down.
One thing I do like about these solo runs is that I get to stop and take pics and stuff and not feel like I'm being left behind. Guess one could call this more of a long run than a race, lol.
I made it to my SUV with 18.45 miles finished, I wasn't majorly tired yet... though it was starting to wear on me, mainly trying to quickly come up with a plan to finish the remaining 7.75 miles without having to go through the park. I managed it, though the mistake I sort of regret was turning down a side street at mile 21 and going through one of the suburban neighborhoods with awful concrete streets... my legs were feeling pretty okay until that point.
I survived it though, I finished the run in 4:43:40 with an average pace of 10:50 min/mile and I actually wasn't feeling too bad until an hour later. Now my legs hate me and I just want to sleep....
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