Stop and go

I did complete the 2010 Madison Half Marathon on May 30th!!
It was a very hot day. Straight off in the morning even. I was super nervous this time. I couldn't drink or eat very much. I had only gotten approx 4 hours of sleep because I was sick with some sort of stomach deal the night before. So it wasn't a promising start.
We stopped by my pal, Forrest's place. He trained and ran the Crazylegs run and this Madison Half marathon with me. Yay, Forrest!!!
Back to the story...we were running behind on time as usual. We drove directly up to the square and Caleb and Finn dropped Forrest and I off. We walked towards the start line where peeps were lining up. I should have peed then. In my head I scoffed at those who stood in line before the race to pee in those port-a-potties!! Ha! I would never have to do that. Little did I know I would have kissed one of those port-a-potties on the seat later on. The race finally started.! There were so many people participating that it once again took several minutes to arrive at the actual start line and where your timing chip clicks on. It was a cool route http://www.madisonfestivals.com/marathon/documents/2010Half_Marathon4.26.pdf
Madison streets, downtown anyway, can be kind of hilly in spots. Especially over by the UW Student Union. Killer hills.
Around mile 6 I had to pee so badly I was forced to stop and line up for one of those aforementioned port-a-potties. That added about 12-14 minutes of time to our finish :( grrrr The last time I ran the Madison Half I didn't have to stop to pee at all so I was disappointed. And poor Forrest had to stand there and wait for me.
We got back on the road. The nine mile marker was by John Nolen and Wilson right by Lake Monona and the Terrace. My mom, step-dad, Dewey, my sister Makenna, Finn and Caleb were there to greet us and heartily cheer us on. The people of Madison, all along the route, were so supportive. And just so you know, when you are running that far or farther, it really helps to have that support. Some madisonians that lived in houses along the route had their hoses or sprinklers out to help cool us off. Those were like a godsend. There were a lot of people dropping out. It was HOT and like no wind and no clouds. Around mile 11.5 my Aunt Sonja was stationed along the route to cheer us on. And we finally got the "Run, Forrest, Run!" I was expecting to hear all day. Haha That was awesome.
Forrest had to talk me through the whole last mile. I would have stopped running if it weren't for his constant reassurance I *was* going to make it up the W. Washington hill to the capitol in the last mile of a half. I started to feel pretty sick to my stomach at about Henry Street. My legs were kind of on auto-pilot at that point. We got to the Capitol Square and turned right and then left and the finish line was right by Martin Luther King Jr. They removed the chip. It was really difficult for me to stop moving my body for the volunteer trying to remove the chip on my wrist. I kept walking around. Even though I was exhausted my legs kept moving. I made the mistake of accepting and drinking a big, cold chocolate milk. Never again. And then I consumed really quickly a water. I almost immediately felt really ill. I tried to lay down. That made it worse. So I started to look for the closest, most inconspicuous spot to puke, cuz I was blow chunks any moment. I saw a very large tree near the railing of the capitol building. Unfortunately, for them really, two little girls were sitting on the railing. I tried to warn them to move or they were going to witness me spewing my guts out, but they didn't move. I totally puked. Then the world started to spin. I sat down. I wasn't feeling top notch. So they made me go to the med tent. I recovered just fine after getting out of the sun and drinking some gatorade. I just got overheated. By 11am they had called off the marathon and stopped times because so many people were dropping like flies from heat exhaustion. We finished in two hours 34 mins. not too bad with the bathroom stop I guess and the extreme temps. I was really happy to attain my goal! I took a lot of the summer off of training for any races. I have started to think about triathlon training. I am just waiting to find the right road bike. Tomorrow is the 5K Zoo Run Run. Hope to see some of you there!