Kenyan Way Long Run - 18 Miles (When Mother Nature Strikes Twice)

Strike 1:

83deg
85%humidity
Feels like of 91deg
3:45am

I had 2 alarms set this morning and unlike last weekend where I was ready to get up and go, that was not the case this morning.  But get up I did.  Dressed and loaded up, out the door and to base before 4:30am.  It was quiet as church, and I was the lone runner this morning at that hour.  While I was a bit apprehensive about the fact that I would be running alone for the 1st 2 miles until I could reach the park (where I knew there would be others), I had to just be uber cautious as I headed down Memorial.  I feel much safer running down Memorial to the park at that hour than I do down a back street.  At least on Memorial you see a few cop cars driving by and there is always the chance that the Houston Fitters might be out on that road as well early (was not the case this morning).

I had frozen some Powerade in the Amphipod 20oz'er last night and carried that with me until I got to Crestwood then I hid it in the nook of a tree.  There wasnt going to be an extra stop there this week for the early morning folks so I knew I needed to make sure I had something with calories in it for later.  Plus the only water fountain at Memorial worth a damn is the one at the womens bathroom at the Tennis Center and thats exactly where I headed first.  I stayed on the road except for making a potty stop (duh) and got a treat at the TC when I ran into Heather who I havent seen in forever.  Once I did what I needed to do inside the park and headed back towards base, I ran a bit extra by running the long way back to my Powerade.  After that is when I ran into ER and he circled back and caught with me on B and ran back with me to base where I changed shoes and socks and got the rest of my gear.

I should note that I took the advice of everyone in comment and in email to start the intervals of 7/1's from the onset of the run.   While this might not have completely worked in my favor it did help at the end compared to last week and afterwards I wasnt as sore as I was last week either.

Met up with Cari and off we went prior to everyone else starting.

It was around mile 10 of my run that I started having issues and not the weathers fault although that was indeed a challenge today again, but well...thats just a broken record.

When I got to the 3rd water stop (mile 13 for me), Coach was there and I was ready to throw in the towel.  I asked him if it would be better for me just to stop or to try and finish at a snails pace and bring the 7/1's down.  He told me to go ahead and start back as planned and he would loop around and check on me at the water stop.  So off I go again after resetting the watch and when I got to mile 15 at the water stop, I might have hung around for 3 minutes and no sign of him so I took off again, knowing that the next water stop was only a mile away this time.  In my head I was thinking whatever was missing from the 18 I would run later this evening.

Got there and basically waited even less time (you'll read why later) to see if he swung by, and for a brief moment I thought of asking the cute firemen there to give me a ride.  :)  But by then I knew I had 2 miles left and well...if Coach came up behind me I would probably just wave him on and finish.  I had come this far, might as well finish.  For some reason those last 2 miles went by fast; maybe I was in so much hurt that my mind had left my body and I zoned out.  What really sucked is this is when my iPod decided to bonk out on me.  I dont know if it was due to sweat or battery..It wouldnt charge when I got home, so I have it in rice right now.  I sure hope I didnt fry another one ... although this time its not making crackling noises and hot to the touch so who knows... :O)

So there you have it.  Finished.  And now I get to go every other week long now and I am super happy about that.  Mentally its always easier when you know you just have to make it through that day and then you can run short the next week.  :)

After coming home, I stopped, got my celebratory LARGE Diet Coke and 2 5lb bags of ice for the cold tub of water I had waiting on me at home.  Thats another post altogether as I know a lot of folks have questions about ice baths after long runs.

Anyone do ice baths?  How did your run go today?

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So what is Strike 2 of Mother Nature?  Well guys this is maybe where you might want to drop off as this is woman territory...  :O)  No really, you probably should. 


So last night, 3 days before I should have felt this, I started having T.O.M. cramps.  Bad.  Cramps.  I was like 'are you kidding me with this?'  So I get 4 ibuprofen and down them hoping to stave off the worst of it but yet when I woke up this morning I still had them, not mind numbing like at first, but cramps just the same.  Everything was 'in order' though so I didnt think anything of it.  I didnt want to take any ibu since thats not exactly smart when running, let alone in this kind of heat.  So off I went.

Well remember when I said around mile 10 is where things started to go wrong?  The cramps were just getting worse and worse and I knew that the cold water/gatorade was only making it worse but there wasnt anything I could do about it.  I had to keep hydrating as I was losing fluid at an alarming rate.   It was all I could do to try and put it out of my mind but it wasnt working so well.  They just kept getting worse and worse and then for a brief moment they stopped and thats when I knew I was possibly in bigger trouble.  I am not going to elaborate on that but you can figure out what was more than likely going on.  I ran off into a gas station at I-10 and I was right.  There wasnt anything I could do though as I didnt have any money (bad!) but thankfully it wasnt a dire emergency.  Yet.  I had basically 1.75 miles to go and figured well...thats that.  You just gotta deal with it and put it out of your mind.  Thankfully the panty insert to the Lulu's was black fabric and alls well that ends well.

Another few miles and I dont know I could have said the same thing though.

Honestly I didnt think it was going to be an issue other than some minor cramping and fatigue but what it ended up being was a bit worse.  So the fact that I actually completed that mileage in that condition is a miracle.


I don't think I will ask any questions from you ladies about this....I just hope you don't ever have to go through what I did.  And one more thing...probably smart to always at least have a dollar on you when you are running...