Wednesday, January 2, 2013

New Year DNF

Happy New Year!

My favorite way to kick off the New Year for the last several years has been participating in the Winter Series New Year's Day races.  Our local running club offers a 3.5 mile race and a half dubbed the Hangover Half.  I've done the 3.5 a few times, I cheered Joe on the year Mia was born as he ran the Half as his first half, and last year I ran the half.   It's a tough half because the course is boring, just loops of our State Office Campus and University.   Plus the whole course is like a giant wind tunnel.

Last year was definitely tough but I felt great having finished and I finally broke 2 hours in the half.  This year I really had no goals going in, just that I wanted to finish under 2 hours.  I woke up feeling not great but didn't think much of it, I just thought that I was tired from the holiday week and eating too much junk throughout the week.  I thought a good run might help.

At the start I ran into a bunch of my Strong Running Mama friends.  Felice, Bridget and Tami were all doing the 3.5 miler and we talked about how tough the half was last year.  My friend Jenny and I decided to try to stick together for the half since we both had the same goal.

Right from the start I had trouble keeping up with Jenny but kept her in my sights as motivation to keep going.  About 2 or 3 miles in my stomach started feeling queasy but I just kept going and as I did it just kept getting worse.  I thought I might have to stop and get sick on the side of the road but tried to hold it back.  By the time we got to the 6 mile turnaround I knew I was done.  I made a mad dash for the bathrooms and got sick.  It seems the stomach bug that has been plaguing a lot of my friends and family over the holiday week had finally got me. 

I spent yesterday getting sick and sleeping.  Today I feel a lot better but not quite myself.  I am just hoping Joe and Mia stay healthy now.

I know I did the right thing by stopping when I did but I am still bummed about not finishing. 

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