We had a lot of friends doing it, so we signed up a few weeks ago.
But when the alarm went off at 5:30, I was really regretting that decision.
I have managed to get over my foot problem from the Cary half marathon 3 weeks ago, but now I am suffering from a low grade, lingering cold.
Pre-race
We drove up to Durham, and as soon as I got out of the car, I started sweating. It was only 75 deg, but very humid and the sun was radiating fiercely.
We picked up our bibs, which were larger and heavier than license plates, but not as flexible. These we the "combo" bibs that have the timing "chip" in them. But instead of a tiny chip, it contains several feet of wire, transistor tubes, transformers, and 4 "D" cell batteries. It looked like the inside of a 1940's era stereo.
I selfishly decided to ignore public decency and leave my shirt in the car. Combined with the short shorts, red shoes and visor, it was highly embarrassing... for somebody. But I just didn't care. I just turned 40 and got married, so my days of worrying about my personal appearance are gone. I was more concerned about staying cool.
Start
The race started at 7:30, and we all immediately turned a corner. I ran that first mile a little fast finding some space to settle into. My watch said it was a 6:00 pace, and I was astounded. I hadn't run a mile that fast in 4 months, and it didn't feel too hard. But soon the rolling hills and the heat got to me.My head was really pounding. The heat was intense, but more like a microwave than a conventional oven. It felt my brain was boiling in my skull. At the water stops I dumped water on my head and it provided temporary relief.
Cooked
But at the 4 mile mark, I started to get dizzy and nauseated so I had to slow down. Usually in a race it is my legs or my lungs holding me back, but this time it was my head.
We finished around the baseball diamond of the old Durham Bulls park, which was pretty cool.
The finish area had a nice spread of fruit, biscuits, and water. For some reason they also were serving a nasty toxic pesticide called HEED.
I managed to cool off and after a few minutes felt better. We waited around for the awards, and Godiva members took many of them.
Shannon ran with her camera as usual, and got a lot of great pictures, which are here.
This finish line photo is especially great. It is of two sisters who ran the race. I hope they don't mind us posting it here.
Even though I knew it was hot, I totally read the title differently: whose idea was it to get the boy cows high?
ReplyDeleteWow, those are some big bibs. I had one of those integrated chip bibs for my latest 5K, but they were normal sized. I'm amazed yours didn't catch wind and set you sailing away.
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