I got stuck farther back in the starting line up than I should have (they organize you by expected finishing time). This wasn't a huge deal but it meant that, once I crossed the starting line, I had to work hard to weave through the crowd to get ahead of the people that should have been behind me. At mile 1 I was averaging the 8:30 pace I had hoped for. I got to mile 2 keeping that pace. However, somewhere between 2 and 3 I realized that I had to slow down. I also had to stop for water. In the last 2 years of doing this race I've never stopped for water. With proper hydration ahead of time I can make it the 10 miles to the finish line without having to stop. Not this year. I stopped at all but 2 of the water stations.
They opened up the fire hydrants along the course to help cool people off. I think I must have run through 10 of them. The water was so cold it would take my breath away but I think it was the only thing that kept me going to the end. The sound of ambulance sirens was almost constant in the background and at one point I was nearly run over by a stretcher as they took someone off the course. At the nine mile mark, just one mile from the finish line, there were about 10-15 runners laying on the pavement, in the shade of an overpass, being attended to by medical personnel. Instead of being disappointed in my time (now close to a 10-minute mile) I decided I was happy to not be among the fallen.
When I finally got back to my car I was still drenched from the fire hydrants. I had to get creative in order to drive home without completely soaking the upholstery in the van. As a side benefit from not pushing myself hard I am not sore at all today and I didn't lose any more toenails (although when you start out with only 7.5 the odds of losing one go down).
I'm supposed to be running the Race for the Cure this Sunday. I have to admit my enthusiasm for the event has waned as a result of this experience. Of course, the Race for the Cure is only a 5K and the current forecast calls for a high of 64 and mostly sunny. I guess we'll just see how this week shapes up. As much as I liked the fire hydrants I don't really want to repeat a race like yesterday any time soon.
