5/20/06: Beach to Bay Relay!!!
And I had a nice time. I only worked half a day on Friday, so Bill and I got out on the road early…the hotel, although in a good location, SUCKED! (Don’t ever stay at Super 8 Motel!!!!!!!!) Dinner was good, although I ate too much, too late. It was decided after the Expo (which also wasn’t too cool, other then all the free snacks they were handing out!) I was going to run the last leg…I was warned over and over about the heat…but I had NO idea what was in store for the next day…
After sleeping in (til 7am!) Saturday morning, I got a ride from Strider Jennie Minken with Strider Manny, a guy I had never met before but is super cool and we ended up hanging out at the 6th leg handoff point for over an hour. We enjoyed observing the first few teams come in and then cheering for our fellow Striders as well (who ended up winning first overall and third overall!) The temp. was creeping up. I was to meet Strider Bryon, although I wasn’t really sure what he was wearing. I knew he was running slightly injured, but the entire team was rooting for a safe run for him.
It was after 10am when Strider’s Peter, Caroline and I spotted him coming down the chute. I knew this was going to be scary as the heat was just getting much worse. I had to think back to the 2.5 mile Bayou Relay we ran in September last year…but this expierence wouldn’t even come close. The first mile was..a little hot. I ran it right at 8:13, which was perfectly fine for me. The next mile…a little slower, 8:24. Hmmm, but I knew it was slower because I was starting to get hot.
Right at about 2.5 miles into my 4.4 mile leg, I felt the heat overwhelming me. I knew this was about to be bad, so I started splashing any water I could on me at the water stations and standing in the hoses people had while I ran by. What amazes me is that I was passing tons of people at this time, that were in worst shape then me. There was nooooo shade. I felt like the Ironman guy in the Gatorade commercial. I was focusing so hard to keep one foot in front of the other…it was scary, I hoped my legs were still running at this point. I couldn’t tell.
At about 3.5 miles in, my body temp. must have come back down (as I was thourghly soaked now) and I started feeling okay again. I remember Manny cheering for me at about the mile 4 marker, and seeing the finish. Coach Steeeve was cheering for me with a bunch of other Striders…I know I finished strong, or at least I felt like I was trying really hard to. Right under 4:00 hours like I had hoped for the team! Edwin took a picture that I need to put up so you can see how bad I looked…I immediately went to the Med tent and drank Gatorade and got a icy towel over my head. I was pretty disoriented but I looked around and saw people in worst shape then me…
The post party was cool in that I saw Sam get his first place (overall!) plaque and there were SOOO many runners from across the state. I still felt bad though, and I wasn’t very social as I tried to eat as much as I could to try to feel better. Pizza and a beer don’t really work though when you are that hot and feel heat sick. After a long cool shower, I finally felt better…ended up relaxing the rest of day and hung out with Edwin…went to the beach, got really sunburned, drank a lot of beer, acted dumb, etc…I ended up not running with the club the next morning, but I was so sick of the sun that all I want to do was lay on my stomach with a blanket over my head and try to sleep.
Overall, it was nice to be gone but good to be back. Not sure if I will do this one again next year, but I know FOR SURE that I am not going to run one of the last legs. I hope to never feel that bad again…back to training for my 10k’s. Next one is coming up in less then a month. Also, thinking about caving in to peer pressure and doing the Astros 5k that is next weekend. We’ll see how I feel…all I know right now is that I am not happy with my training and I really want to run and feel strong and not let the dumb heat get to me.
The STATS:
about 4.4 miles
38.12 total running
Mile1: 8:13
Mile2: 8:26
Mile3: 8:50
Mile4: 8:47
Mile.4: 3:56
(I don’t think this is right…I don’t remember stopping my watch when I crossed the finish)
Heart-rate: n/a (wish I would have worn my moniter!)
Weather: probably 90 degrees. At least.
And I had a nice time. I only worked half a day on Friday, so Bill and I got out on the road early…the hotel, although in a good location, SUCKED! (Don’t ever stay at Super 8 Motel!!!!!!!!) Dinner was good, although I ate too much, too late. It was decided after the Expo (which also wasn’t too cool, other then all the free snacks they were handing out!) I was going to run the last leg…I was warned over and over about the heat…but I had NO idea what was in store for the next day…
After sleeping in (til 7am!) Saturday morning, I got a ride from Strider Jennie Minken with Strider Manny, a guy I had never met before but is super cool and we ended up hanging out at the 6th leg handoff point for over an hour. We enjoyed observing the first few teams come in and then cheering for our fellow Striders as well (who ended up winning first overall and third overall!) The temp. was creeping up. I was to meet Strider Bryon, although I wasn’t really sure what he was wearing. I knew he was running slightly injured, but the entire team was rooting for a safe run for him.
It was after 10am when Strider’s Peter, Caroline and I spotted him coming down the chute. I knew this was going to be scary as the heat was just getting much worse. I had to think back to the 2.5 mile Bayou Relay we ran in September last year…but this expierence wouldn’t even come close. The first mile was..a little hot. I ran it right at 8:13, which was perfectly fine for me. The next mile…a little slower, 8:24. Hmmm, but I knew it was slower because I was starting to get hot.
Right at about 2.5 miles into my 4.4 mile leg, I felt the heat overwhelming me. I knew this was about to be bad, so I started splashing any water I could on me at the water stations and standing in the hoses people had while I ran by. What amazes me is that I was passing tons of people at this time, that were in worst shape then me. There was nooooo shade. I felt like the Ironman guy in the Gatorade commercial. I was focusing so hard to keep one foot in front of the other…it was scary, I hoped my legs were still running at this point. I couldn’t tell.
At about 3.5 miles in, my body temp. must have come back down (as I was thourghly soaked now) and I started feeling okay again. I remember Manny cheering for me at about the mile 4 marker, and seeing the finish. Coach Steeeve was cheering for me with a bunch of other Striders…I know I finished strong, or at least I felt like I was trying really hard to. Right under 4:00 hours like I had hoped for the team! Edwin took a picture that I need to put up so you can see how bad I looked…I immediately went to the Med tent and drank Gatorade and got a icy towel over my head. I was pretty disoriented but I looked around and saw people in worst shape then me…
The post party was cool in that I saw Sam get his first place (overall!) plaque and there were SOOO many runners from across the state. I still felt bad though, and I wasn’t very social as I tried to eat as much as I could to try to feel better. Pizza and a beer don’t really work though when you are that hot and feel heat sick. After a long cool shower, I finally felt better…ended up relaxing the rest of day and hung out with Edwin…went to the beach, got really sunburned, drank a lot of beer, acted dumb, etc…I ended up not running with the club the next morning, but I was so sick of the sun that all I want to do was lay on my stomach with a blanket over my head and try to sleep.
Overall, it was nice to be gone but good to be back. Not sure if I will do this one again next year, but I know FOR SURE that I am not going to run one of the last legs. I hope to never feel that bad again…back to training for my 10k’s. Next one is coming up in less then a month. Also, thinking about caving in to peer pressure and doing the Astros 5k that is next weekend. We’ll see how I feel…all I know right now is that I am not happy with my training and I really want to run and feel strong and not let the dumb heat get to me.
The STATS:
about 4.4 miles
38.12 total running
Mile1: 8:13
Mile2: 8:26
Mile3: 8:50
Mile4: 8:47
Mile.4: 3:56
(I don’t think this is right…I don’t remember stopping my watch when I crossed the finish)
Heart-rate: n/a (wish I would have worn my moniter!)
Weather: probably 90 degrees. At least.
posted by Jessica, a Austin Runner AND triathlete at
12:09 PM
3 Comments:
Great job on that last leg. The heat was brutal. Corpus was fun.
By
equarles, at Tue May 23, 12:48:00 AM
Congrats again on a great run! I was hot just standing at the finish waiting for our anchor to come in--tough as the beach was, I think I'm glad I wasn't still running that late in the day...
Erin
By
elf, at Tue May 23, 07:48:00 AM
I just ran across your blog. Congrats on your run! The heat sucks, that I know!
By
TX Runner Mom, at Wed May 24, 12:51:00 PM
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