The day started dark and quiet at 3:30am. After dressing and eating some breakfast (I had some peanut butter waffles while I fiddled with my iPod), my cousin braided both TJ's hair and mine before we left the house.
The only bit of eventfulness that happened between home and the starting line was the crazy driver tailgating us on the way down Highway 78, but luckily he didn't injure anybody and we made it safely to the starting line. I think that the race directors did a much better job this year in terms of parking. The lots were much closer to the Start pavilion this year and they had so many more bathrooms than I remember from last year. The only thing that TJ didn't like was the cold, but I thought it was great weather.
I was a little bit shocked as I looked around. I only saw one other person before the start of the race wearing her shirt from last year's race, which was a shame to me. It made me wonder if people decide to do this race once and then retire from it to go to OC (same day) or La Jolla (weekend before) instead. Did I not get the memo?
Before I forget, though, I do need to mention that the second we got out of the car there was a runner about two cars away who was representing Half Fanatics in her Diva singlet. I have to say that the HF group is one of the most active and kindhearted groups of people that I've ever encountered. When I told her that this was my qualifying group for the race she gave me a huge smile and congratulations before heading down to the starting area. It was awesome.
The race started promptly at 6:30am and we were off. Just like previous years, there were pace teams for those who wanted to follow them, but this year they had much better shirts than I remember. Between their florescent yellow tech tees and what we've affectionately come to call "their sticks," it seemed easier to keep an eye on where I was supposed to be this year timing-wise.
The course had a lot more sections of downhill than I remembered and aside from a few tiny rolling hills, the course was calm and extraordinarily scenic. The only major hills were the ones I remembered at Miles 6 and 11. The infamous Mile 6 was not as bad as I remember, but it was much more sandy than last year and my mom said that it has been getting sandier and sandier every year since she's been doing this race. If you're reading this someday to determine whether or not you might want to do this race, this hill is gnarly, but once you get to the top, you get a fantastic downhill slope for the next half to three-quarters of a mile. Your shoes, socks, and feet will be disgustingly dirty after you finish this race.
After Mile 6, things continued to go well for the next four miles. At Mile 10, I started to experience some really strange symptoms, though. My feet had been hurting for about six miles, which would have been fine, but at Mile 10 I started to really experience pain in my feet and I started to feel really off. The farther I went, the more strange I began to feel and within half a mile I started to feel very paranoid like I was being followed (duh--it's a running race!), panicky, and freezing cold--so much so that I began to shiver. The only thing keeping me from having a panic attack and a subsequent asthma attack was the fact that I knew they'd pull me from the race if I alerted the race guards to how I was feeling and I knew that if I didn't finish this race I would probably never be mentally strong enough to qualify for Half Fanatics again, so I kept trucking and slowly made my way through the last three miles of my race.
I was glad that I knew the last few miles of this course when the time came. I knew that the finish line was close, but not close enough to get my hopes up, so I slowly kept moving forward despite how ill I was feeling. I crossed the finish line at 3:13:09.7 and went directly to medical. I wasn't 100% sure that I had heat stroke, but I knew that something was very, very, very wrong with how I was feeling when I just kept running past the finish line and straight to the medical tent. You can tell by running form alone in the finish line video my mom took of me that I was screwed up. I hope that nobody ever has to see me with heat stroke again. And actually, after watching my mom's video again, the very last thing that I said was "I have-" which was "I have to go to medical now."
For the record, as I passed the medal distribution area, I didn't get a medal. I got an IOU because the medal manufacturer didn't get them shipped to the United States in time. I'll update on that issue as I get more information, but as of May 13th, still no medal.
I would just like to say that for both year's I've run this race, I've had incredible experiences with the medical teams they've provided. The second I got into the med tent, I had two people making sure I was OK. When I told them that I was cold despite the 90° F outside--and that I on the verge of having an asthma attack--they immediately got a doctor to come assess me...and then I started having the worst asthma attack I've had in years and the first one I've had that's actually affected me during a race. The medical staff loaded me with ice bags on my groin, my neck, and (because of my own personal efforts) in my sports bra. They cleared and released me after forty minutes of heat stroke and blister care before TJ and I attempted to go find the finisher breakfast..
The breakfast tickets that we printed out the night before the race said that breakfast was at Hunte Pavilion, toward the very front of the park, so that's where we headed. When we got there, though, the area was absolutely deserted, and my mom and I began to get really frustrated. The breakfast tickets we not cheap and we were hungry. We wanted our food, so our next destination was to Guest Relations to either get a some breakfast or get a refund on the tickets because the advertised breakfast was no where to be found.
It took about ten minutes and a very inquisitive phone call, Guest Relations was able to locate the Finisher Breakfast and it was all the way back near the finish line almost half a mile into the park. If we didn't have a point to make about the whole thing, we probably would have said to hell with it, but we were so hungry and so annoyed that we walked all the way back to the breakfast area, blisters, exhaustion and all. the food was actually all right, even for me, Ms. Gluten Free, but they were so close to breaking everything down by the time we got there that the catering staff didn't even check our tickets. At least we got food, though, and for that I was thankful.
I have to admit that my favorite part of today was being able to take another picture with the "You Did It! 13.1 Miles" sign this year--with my Half Fanatics Sign, too! (Thanks, Mom, for letting me borrow your medal for pictures!) There's nothing better than runiversary pictures with the best sign in the world. Hell yeah, I did it again! And TJ, too!
Update: I received my medal in the mail a few weeks after the race with an apology note and an invitation to come back again next year. Aside from the breakfast issues, this race was another awesome one to add to my list. Next year I plan on NOT visiting Medical, though.
