The Anti-Running Runner

Why??? Are you crazy??? That is the question. Why would Alyssa and I do another marathon so soon after the Marathon from Hell ? There are some good reasons for us to do the Clearwater Marathon on Jan 19th. At least we think so. REASON #1 - FREE We had a free race coming after the Halloween Halfathon in 2012 where we didn't receive medals until later in the mail. We received a sincere apology AND a complimentary race from the race director (unexpected and very kind) to any of their events, so we naturally chose a marathon. REASON #2 - HAS TO BE BETTER THAN THE LAST This race can't possibly be worse than the Marathon from Hell. REASON #3 - PHYSICALLY, SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO IT We're pretty trained up already. REASON #4 - COURSE WE CAN HANDLE The course is mostly flat (and we believe them) with a few bridges and spectacular views. REASON #5 - A CHANCE TO CATCH UP This is probably our last big race together for quite a while. We'll be staying together the ...

To pick up where I left off... Around mile 11, I started feeling it. I'm convinced it was full-on 85 degrees at that point, it was so hot. That same feeling I usually get around mile 18 came and I was already struggling. Alyssa promised to stay with me, and we slowed the pace. Jenni went ahead on her own where she experienced those heat stroke symptoms I mentioned in Part I. It felt like a really long two miles to get the halfway mark. In my mind, I kept thinking, We have to do this again. Ugh. And then we were introduced to the sand pit. That's right. A sand pit. Not hard sand, but a half-mile stretch of really loose sand that none could go around. The only answer was through. Shoes sank in, making it almost impossible to run through it. We sort of skip-walked through. At that point, I realized that I was not happy. I was struggling before, and now I was getting angry. Because the website made absolutely no mention of the half-mile long sand pit that we would have to go t...