Dam that was a tough race

I've grown to learn that not everything in life goes the way you plan it.  You can train and train, or think you are so prepared but when it comes to race day, you just have to roll with the what your dealt with that day.

It all started about a week ago when Carl decided to share his cold with me.  Went to the Dr. early this week to try to fight this stuff off and get some drugs to help me breathe a little bit better; maybe I could even get my voice back.  I was prescribed a Z-pac and an inhaler so that I could start fighting this crap off.

Yesterday I started getting my voice back, but with all the coughing, and congestion in my lungs I still wasn't feeling the best.  I went swimming in the morning since this usually helps my breathing while running, and I needed all the help I could get.  After packet pickup, packing bags for the boys and myself I was off to bed for the dam race.

My day started at 3:53am this morning when my alarm went off.  I got up, got ready, and went outside to find that it was almost 80 degrees at 4:30 this morning.  The humidity was unbelievable already at this point.  I took my last puff from the inhaler and got on the bus to go to the starting line.  After an hour or so the gun goes off and we start running.

I felt like a million bucks until about mile 8, after "the hill."  The hill took a lot out of me and I slowed down to a walk.  My cold and the crazy humidity were not really my friends at this point.  As I caught my breathe and started running again I felt okay since it was more downhill.  At mile 9 1/2 I start wheezing and get light headed.  I slow down to a walk again and at this point I am out of water on my water belt and needing more than just water, I needed something stronger to get some energy.  I was knocked out of energy, hitting a wall, and walking.  Not the best thing in a race.  I finally caught some energy around mile 11 again and started running, thinking that maybe I would find some powerade soon, but no such luck.  I realized I just need to finish this race no matter how I feel and be done.  As I see the sign for 12 miles I knew there wasn't much left I just needed to keep putting one foot in front of the other.  I turned the corner for the final stretch and hear the drum line.  I don't know what gets me all emotional when I hear the drum line but I get chills and I feel a surge in my legs.  I end up sprinting, forgetting I'm in pain, passing all the people that have passed me when I was at my worst and I cross the finish line.  I finish at an unofficial time of 2hr 15mins. and considering the conditions I'm pretty happy.

I didn't reach my "race day goal" today but I did it, I ran 12.4 miles again!  I realize that even though life doesn't go the way you always want it to, you just have to push yourself to do the best you can with what you've been dealt with for the day!