I officially got my WPR yesterday. WPR: Worst Personal Record. My emotions are running high when I say I was there to do just the opposite. I was ready to walk away with a Boston time and a smile on my face. But the best laid plans....
Saturday's marathon was a sufferfest. Black flags began to fly at the Mile 5 aide station indicating the race conditions: extreme heat, extreme conditions, advisable to abandon the race. Once I saw those flags, everything goes hazy from there -- I heard cheering crowds, cowbells, bands, and a lone harmonica, but the rest I just tried to forget.
The humidity clocked in at 99 percent at five in the morning. Race officials considered abandoning the race, but the dew point changed enough to let the insanity begin. I felt like I was running through a sticky wall of physical exhaustion. I was not ready for the thickness of the air like a heavy blanket draping my body. My legs never tired, but I was a wreck. As I crossed the finish line one hour after my original goal, I sat down in a wheelchair and let the medics take over. They massaged my legs, fed me ice chips and Gatorade, and let me rest my weary bones, all to the symphony of a man screaming in pain about his seized-up calves.
At that point, I started to laugh. I found Janeen, Kimberly and Clayton and all we could do was look at each other and smile. "We PAID to do this?" "Are you kidding me?" Luckily I have friends with perspective. And enough stories and analogies later I realize that this was a small thing compared to the big things in life. We looked at that larger picture and it comes down to this: sometimes we need that reminder that the One controlling the weather is the One in charge. So don't sweat the small stuff, even in, I'm quite sure, the sweatiest place on earth on 6/20/09, Duluth, Minn.
Goodbye Grandmas. Boston, I'm still coming.....
Oh, and on the brighter side, check out the Newton Blog. Scroll down to June 21, 2009. I am famous. http://www.therunningfront.com/
Saturday's marathon was a sufferfest. Black flags began to fly at the Mile 5 aide station indicating the race conditions: extreme heat, extreme conditions, advisable to abandon the race. Once I saw those flags, everything goes hazy from there -- I heard cheering crowds, cowbells, bands, and a lone harmonica, but the rest I just tried to forget.
The humidity clocked in at 99 percent at five in the morning. Race officials considered abandoning the race, but the dew point changed enough to let the insanity begin. I felt like I was running through a sticky wall of physical exhaustion. I was not ready for the thickness of the air like a heavy blanket draping my body. My legs never tired, but I was a wreck. As I crossed the finish line one hour after my original goal, I sat down in a wheelchair and let the medics take over. They massaged my legs, fed me ice chips and Gatorade, and let me rest my weary bones, all to the symphony of a man screaming in pain about his seized-up calves.
At that point, I started to laugh. I found Janeen, Kimberly and Clayton and all we could do was look at each other and smile. "We PAID to do this?" "Are you kidding me?" Luckily I have friends with perspective. And enough stories and analogies later I realize that this was a small thing compared to the big things in life. We looked at that larger picture and it comes down to this: sometimes we need that reminder that the One controlling the weather is the One in charge. So don't sweat the small stuff, even in, I'm quite sure, the sweatiest place on earth on 6/20/09, Duluth, Minn.
Goodbye Grandmas. Boston, I'm still coming.....
Oh, and on the brighter side, check out the Newton Blog. Scroll down to June 21, 2009. I am famous. http://www.therunningfront.com/
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