The Martian Marathon

Yesterday was the big day:

The weather was perfect and I was feeling really great!

We couldn't have had a better day. The first 10K or 6.2 miles of the Martian Marathon were great: the best 10K I've run!

I swear this is me giving the thumbs up.

I ran that 10K in 54 minutes...Unfortunately, I still had 20 miles to go. I started to slow down after nine miles and around mile 10 I started having some pretty severe abdominal pain. I was feeling like I had to pee the whole time, so I finally stopped into a rest room. My pee was dark brown and it burned: I had a UTI! Not only that but I had straight blood coming out the back. It was bright red and there was a lot. I knew this wouldn't be good. To go along with all this, I also started my period the night before. That's pretty much three strikes!

Of course, I had to keep going. But I also knew I wouldn't be running the rest of the way. I started walking for a couple minutes in between running. At mile 12, I felt like I was being squeezed around the stomach, and at one point I could hardly breathe. If I slowed to walk, the pain went away, but if I continued to run it would just get worse. I stopped at a bathroom whenever I saw one, and stopped my Garmin every time I went in. I later calculated that I had spent half an hour in the bathroom!

I tried to distract myself with music or eating coconut butter, but I just hated everything. I called Bryce and talked to him, then I called my Dad to see how he was doing. Between the halfway point and mile 20, most people had passed me. Up to this point, my longest mile time was still under 12 minutes, but I was still in pain every time I tried to pick up the pace. To add to my tummy problems, my foot with the stress fracture was beginning to throb and prick with pain.

By about mile 20, Bryce made it down after dropping the kids off and he ended up walking the last few miles with me. He had water, ibuprofen and UTI meds for me, and after taking them I felt so much better! I was able to run the last 3/4 mile and finally crossed the finish line at 5 hours and 35 minutes. I was totally bummed that I didn't make it under five hours. But I still made it, got the shirt and the medal and PR'ed!

The medal is pretty sweet:

And I'm getting a decent collection going:

A full marathon, two halfs and two 10Ks. This marathon was a pretty rough experience for me, but the good thing is that I know I can only do better from here on out!