Myrtle Beach Marathon

On Friday March 3rd,  2017 I woke up feeling sort of rough. I hadn't run since Tuesday and my body was achy. I chocked my "un-well-ness" up to nerves about running the next day's marathon; my fifth full.  My husband and I left for the beach that morning.  We had nice conversations, listened to good music, and I drank a lot of liquids. By the time I got to the beach (5 hours later), I was feeling feverish. Again, I chocked it up to nerves. We had a nice lunch, went to packet pickup, relaxed, and then had a nice dinner (Vietnamese food-- yum!) I passed out in the the hotel bed from exhaustion that night.

At 5:00 am I was awoken by the hotel alarm clock. I felt rough, like I had been run over by a truck.  I went to start coffee and was alarmed to see we only had decaf --- I had to push through. I sipped on the coffee and tried to eat a protein bar, I will not mention the name here --- as it is popular and beloved, but it made me want to vomit. It was yucky! After getting dressed, no coffee, no breakfast, I was ready to run 26.2 miles.  Ha! It was so early and I had to walk nearly a mile to get to the race.  I coughed a lot and felt feverish.... but I was determined to run.

Prior to the race I met some nice people in my pace group.  When the race started I and was able to keep up the first 5 miles with a girl who is slightly faster than me.... then I felt sluggish. I slowed to a slow pace, but still felt I would finish.  It seemed like the next 10 miles (plus or minus) were in the cold wind on Ocean Blvd. I could feel my face cracking each time the wind blew. At mile 11, a course volunteer yelled "You are almost done." I think I heard several marathons say the f-word.  In his defense, this is where the half marathoners turned off the course and obviously he couldn't tell the difference between the blue and orange bibs (assigning which course you were completing). I digress.

At mile 13, I felt defeated. My half time was fair, not a PR, not my slowest, but I just felt so sickly.  I spotted a group of runners who appeared to be having a blast. I ran to meet up with them and introduced myself.  One of the guys was running his 200th-and-something marathon. They told me about another guy who was running his 1,800th marathon.  This group was crazy ultra-running freaks and my kind of people.  I ran with Scott, from this group, for the next 12 miles; and with Scott and his running partner Debra for 6-8 of those miles. I could tell you so much about Scott, his family, the races he has run, his favorite podcast, where he lives --- but the secret about running is "what is said on the run, stays on the run." Ha! Here's the thing about Scott, he was my saving grace. He ran with me, pushed me, and walked when I had to. His friend Debra caught up to us later and pushed us farther. I laughed, joked, and was reminded why I do this crazy running stuff in the first place. We made other friends on the course, who affirmed what I felt about the "back-of -the-packers," ---- that is, the runners who run in the back of the pack, are way more lively and entertaining. At mile 24 Scott said "Let's go, catch me if you can, if not, I'll wait for you at the end." I never caught him those last two miles, but I kept him in sight.  At the end, there he and Debra were, and we hugged! I think I introduced him to Terrence as "my new best friend,"  which if you knew me from high school days that was my drunk catch phrase! (I can make a new best friend anywhere folks).  But Scott, you were my new best friend... my "temporary sole mate,"  at Myrtle Beach.

Terrence and I drove back that afternoon.  I was so sick.  I coughed up green mucus for hours and couldn't breath. I actually drove us mostly back home because I was scared I would stop breathing if I didn't focus. I drank coffee, water, and ate a doughnut. We weren't stopping, but to change my clothes. I was freaking determined to finish this damn day strong!  That night I ate an entire half of a pizza ---effectively ruining 50 some days of veganism --- but I'm still vegetarian and that's awesome! I got in bed around 10pm. I did not sleep well because I was breaking a fever and stiff.  I woke up once in a pool of sweat but couldn't move from muscle soreness to do anything about it.  Talk about misery.  The next day, my legs were tired but not too terribly sore ---- but I was very ill and sickly. As the mother of three, you don't stop to catch your breath, so I pretended Sunday was another marathon and pushed through. By Monday my legs were back to normal, but I was still running a low-grade fever, tired, and coughing up stuff --- so I rested.  I got over the soreness quickly, but maintained this horrid cold for at least 2 weeks. I was back running slowly by Thursday and Saturday back to my quicker-normal pace.

At this point, I'm not sure I will ever run another marathon, while I'd like to as I've had a good time - and the marathon has been good to me -- it's hard to imagine going through the training again and reliving the day mentioned above.  Plus it is 26.2 freakin' miles! Five marathons in commendable BUT running your fifth marathon with a chest cold is not recommended.  But here's a little secret, I've been selected to run Philly to raise money for Autism... if you "cash me outside," I'll tell you more! This girl will not quit running! I love it too much!