So I'm running with the 4-hour pace bunny and all is going well. At the half way mark, we are at 1:57 so all is looking good for a 4-hour race which is all I was hoping for. My first marathon was a 4:18 so my goal was to do better but if I could be close to 4 hours then I was going to be very happy.
As the title says, it all came crumbling down at mile 14. Mr Intestinal Tract decided to go to work and I began having huge intestinal cramps that forced me to stop not once, not twice but four times to the portapotty to relieve the pain...and dehydrate myself even more. The worst was that the toilets were located at the marathon relay exchanges and all the portapotties had huge lineups of people who had completed their own part of the run so none were reserved for those of us who needed to keep going. That made it even worst because on top of the wait and the clock still ticking away, I had to wait there in agony trying to not soil myself.
This little trip to hell repeated itself 3 more times and at one point I had to go 4 miles with cramps before I could find a toilet. So the second half of my marathon was completed in 2:49 for a finish time of 4:46. This was 28 minutes slower than my first and I know I spent that much time waiting and ...dehydrating. Oh! Well! At least I finished it. I walked a lot in the second half but I'm still happy I completed my second full marathon. I'm now at 10 half marathons and 2 fulls in three years of running. I will keep doing halfs and probably do one more full but somewhere else. I need to see a different course and different medal/t-shirt.
The lesson learned here is no matter how hard you train and how fast you are, your body has the last word on how you are going to do and you must respect that. If you want a great example, Google Paula Radcliffe from the UK and see what she did at the 2004 Olympics.
Back to the training runs to prepare for my next temporary moment of insanity.
Cheers!
