North Carolina

Durham, North Carolina

State #7

Where? Durham, North Carolina
State?  #7
Date?  October 18th, 2018
Race?   Bull City Race Fest Half Marathon
Finish Time?   1:40:00
Pace?   7:40/mile

Don’t Wait to Poop…

The perfect time of year for a half marathon? September and October without a doubt. I finished state #7 on October 8th. It was the perfect weather, a perfectly drivable distance, somewhere around 6 hours (far, but not too far). AND I had just gotten a NEW PAIR OF RUNNING SHOES (extremely exciting).

First let’s talk about the drive from Athens, Ohio to Durham, North Carolina. It is absolutely beautiful, especially in fall. The rolling hills, the vast display of trees which were in the middle of changing their leaves, the crisp air in the morning which transformed into warm air by the afternoon, and back to crisp, cool, air again by evening. It was an amazing, beautiful, time to travel for a race.

This half was BIG. It had an amazing pre-race expo set up with all kinds of booths: physical therapy, massages, goo packets (LOVE), everything you could imagine. The city was buzzing with people traveling in to run in one of the many races offered this weekend.

For dinner we ate at an adorable little local Italian restaurant. I get extremely excited for the “bigger” races. There’s a whole lot more adrenaline and anxious energy the night before a big race than before a small, locally held, race. Not to say that they aren’t both exciting races in their own right, because there is something exciting about each and every state I’ve traveled to, but something about the bigger races gets me really pumped to run.

I had quite a close call on the morning of race #7. Just I questioned in my post from half marathon #1, I found myself wondering again… WHO KNEW EVERYONE HAD TO POOP RIGHT BEFORE THEY RUN A HALF MARATHON? UGH. I should have known this by now… I mean it wasn’t my first half, or second, or third, you get the picture. Yet much like the rest of the runners, I waited until I arrived at the race to get in line for the bathrooms, BIG MISTAKE. “5, 4, 3…” With just 3 seconds left in the countdown I sprinted out of the porta-potty, down the sidewalk, I jumped over the railing and took off with the other runners. Noted: DO NOT WAIT until the last second to poop.

Somewhere around mile 4 or 5 I felt something odd happening in my left leg. It wasn’t painful but it was more-so uncomfortable and unfamiliar. It felt weird, but I didn’t think it was too serious so I pressed on. Somewhere around mile 10 the discomfort grew into pain. The back of my left leg was throbbing, all the way from the top of my hamstring to the back of my foot. But I couldn’t quit, I couldn’t stop, not after making it this far. I pressed on. After finishing I realized how much pain I was in, my leg was pounding, almost like it had its own heartbeat. I could barely walk, I started limping around and hobbled over to my mom and my boyfriend to help me walk.

Even with the pain, I was absolutely elated. I had finished my seventh half marathon, I was with people I love, the finish expo had a beer garden (YAY!), and it was absolutely beautiful outside. I ignored the pain through our post-run pizza, I ignored the pain as we walked around the beautiful city of Durham. But… I couldn’t ignore the pain during the 6 hour ride home. You can see my tips section to find out more about what was causing me so much pain, and what I did to help myself heal before half marathon #8 in March.