Heritage 5 miler race recap

This week marked the first official week of marathon training for me. By my training matrix for the next 17 weeks is a little intimidating! However, it also appears that I need to get super clean with my diet again for the duration. Tuesday evening kicked off my training, and I attempted 3 easy miles, except my stomach had other plans. I had to stop my run by mile 2. So, I was like, okay, I will run again tomorrow. Well, it turns out that the Heritage 5 miler was on Thursday, and it would be a great training run to participate in. Plus, I love running amongst a crowd, even if I am talking to myself the whole time. So, I wake up super excited, and I eat a banana.

I saw some of my CrossFit buddies, and got a photo op with them.



Then, as soon as the race kicked off, my stomach or should I say, colon, started to protest. I forewarn you now, that I am very unfiltered about my bodily functions, so if you are prudent, please abort this blog post now. I have decided to call my spastic colon, Theodora, after the wicked witch from the Wizard of Oz. In previous race caps, I have mentioned my colon mishaps, but I thought I was slowly getting into the clear this week. Apparently not.

I start to jog a slow steady run, as to pace myself, so I don't make the mistake of burning out too soon. It was hot and humid, but I was doing quite well - until Theodora decided to protest around 2 miles. By this time, my pace started to get slower and slower, and I panicked due to no port-o-johns along the way. By mile 3, we were along a canal path with deep brush. I was able to ask a race official to step aside into the wooded area, to do my business. I want to say 10 minutes were added to my time. It was quite embarrassing, and I felt defeated as I finished the race, and throughout the day.

Now that I can reflect on it, I can honestly say, "You know what? I went out there and I tried. I did what I could with the conditions my body gave me, and I didn't just quit."

I am going to have many more runs and races by the time I do my full marathon, and I will have plenty of redemptions. "Just because it burns, doesn't mean you're gonna die, you gotta get up and try, try, try." -Pink