My PPRF friends talked me into another one! 😀 It will be fun they say.... We'll have a girls weekend at the beach and enjoy the beach..... come on... we all doing it....
Isn't that what your friends tell you????? 😂 I'm a sucker for punishment so I signed up. I do love the beach and looked forward to a weekend get away with the girls. We had planned on arriving early Saturday so we could enjoy the beach and relax before the race on Sunday. WELL.... Mother nature decided she had different plans for us!! Saturday turned out to only be a high of like 48 with terrible winds! We tried to walk on the beach... check out our picture... and my ear hurt afterwards thanks to the dang wind!
We were glad the expo was inside when we went to get our bibs. They also had some cool zoo animals there. I took a picture of the one eye owl. She was hit by a car and lost her eye and the zoo rescued her. 💗Saturday night we celebrated January & December birthdays since we had not done that yet... thanks to a couple of the girls having COVID during that time!
Seven women in a condo.... interesting.. let's just say there were a couple of air mattress blown up. 😂 I was a tad concerned about the bathroom situation..but it all worked out fine. 💓 It was a tad warm in the condo... some like it HOT... So I didn't sleep real well. I'm use to 66 degrees at home when we go to bed and only up to 68 during the day. They had it on 72! 👎 However, I don't usually sleep well the night before a race anyway.
We were all up early and ready to rock and roll on Sunday. The forecast called for about 10 degrees warmer on Sunday. I was happy about that. It really wasn't bad starting. I had been feeling really good lately and decided I would join Joe & Richard who were pacing the 4:40 group. I had ran a 4:39 in Memphis for St. Jude and figured since Big Beach was basically flat (or so I thought).. that maybe I could hang with Joe and Richard and then push it faster the 2nd half of the race and maybe get back to my 4:30 average.
Joe, Richard and me at the start line.. Felicia is right behind me... the sun was in the wrong direction for the pic.. or we should have turned around.. 😂
We were all smiles to start. The rest of the girls had gotten further behind us. They planned to have more of a "social" run. I do love to hang with them sometimes because they are a lot of fun. Michelle had her pockets loaded down with fire balls! 😁 Today, however, I wanted to focus on time and I had encouraged Feleica to try to stay with us. I'm bad about putting in my ear buds and getting in my own little zone so soon Felicia and I were separated. I felt bad she ended up running the whole race basically by herself.
I ran with Joe & Richard for almost half the race. I felt really good. I wasn't out of breath or anything. Felt like I was running a comfortable pace............ Then the dreaded stomach issues reared up! 😢 I honestly don't know what to do about this issue! I've been taking Imodium on my long runs and races, which help some. I went to the GI doctor last week and basically she said it was age most likely... (I'm not happy about this!! I see many older than me still running and they don't have to stop multi times during a race!), however she started me on some new medicine she wanted me to try on race day instead of my Imodium. Well, let's just say IT DID NOT WORK! The first time I had to stop at the bathroom, Joe told me not to push hard catching back up because I'd wear myself out. So I didn't and it took me a mile before I caught back up. I thought things would be ok .... until the next 3 miles and it hit me again!! and then it hit again... and then again!!!!!!!!! After 4 stops at the bathroom... I didn't have the energy to catch back up to them. The wind had started to pick up and my whole body just felt bad by then. I was so aggravated and SAD. I honestly don't know what I could run if I didn't have to stop for the bathroom.. and I ain't pooping in my pants!! especially 4X!! I only have this issue when running and it only started like 1-2 years ago and keeps getting worse! 😕 I have follow up in 6 weeks with the GI doc.. can't wait to see what we try next 😞
I figured Feleica would catch up to me after all my stops and we would finish together, but that never happen. I have really enjoyed getting to know her better. We traveled together to the beach. She's a super sweet lady! and she also LOVES Peloton 💓 The wind was so bad coming in the last couple of miles that everyone was walking. It was a massive headwind that was brutally cold! I asked myself over and over... why did I sign up for this... 😞
Once I crossed that finish line, I almost forgot all that wind and cold and stomach issues..... I did have that high of finishing yet another marathon... maybe that's why I keep doing these....😏😀
I waited on the others to finish and we took some quick pictures before heading back to take turns to shower. I do LOVE these girls. Michelle had her fireballs and she was as happy as a kid. We laughed at all her crazy pictures at the finish banner.
Virginia and Susan were our cheerleaders so they are not in this picture.
We were so tired and over the cold weather that we didn't even get dressed and go out to eat Sunday night... we brought in Pizza and just chilled in the condo. It actually felt good to not have to get dressed and do anything.
My take on this marathon.... be prepared for any kind of weather! the previous year Penny & Michelle were in tanks and shorts! It's not totally flat. The trails have some incline. There is not much crowd support at all because the marathon is 90% on the trails. Would I do it again?? Probably not unless these crazy girls talked me into it again! 😉 To me St. Jude was much harder due to hills and I had a much better time there.... however, I didn't have the stomach issues so bad at St. Jude either.
As I told Feleica, she said she wasn't doing another marathon after that Big Beach.... You really can't judge one bad one... every race is different. It's all a combination of weather, course, and how you feel on race day. So many factors go into a race. That's one reason I try not to look at past race results or judge friends results... you never know what they faced that day. You really just have to make the decision that whatever you face on race day... you will not quit! Just continue on one step at a time and FINISH the dang thing. 😎 It's called GRIT
AND most important... a STRONG FAITH Until next time.. Happy Running
Marathon #2 of 2022 for me coming up on 3-5-22
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