The Anti-Running Runner

Is There a Right Way to Fall? Raise your hand if you've ever fallen during a run. Yep, hands everywhere, just like I expected. Doesn't it make you feel better to look around and know you're not alone? It's been a while since I've fallen. Can't quite remember the last incident, so it must not have been too bad. Tripping is a regular occurrence for me. Comes with the running territory. Last Saturday, St. Pete Running Company hosted a free group run at Weedon Island Preserve. A trail run! My favorite! Of course, coworker Chris warned everybody before we got started that, statistically, at least one of us would fall during the run, so to be extra careful. The Ground Getting Nearer and Nearer Chris was right, and I was the statistic. Post-fall. Note the dirty hands and knees. Notice my right wrist in the above photo? That's my emergency medical ID. Don't go on your run without one! No, I don't have any medical issue...

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...

Completed marathon #3: X-Country Marathon in Alafia River State Park Nov 17, 2013 Started with hubby, Alyssa, Jenni, Hea, Mike, and Zach. The course was two 13.1 laps around the park. Completed half due to injury: Hea Completed half due to no desire to finish this ridiculously unfun trail race, plus didn't care whether he ever finished a marathon in his life: hubby That means we lost two out of seven people in our group alone. There were likely a lot more DNFs at this race. I imagine there are worse marathons. The Sahara Desert Marathon, for example. The hills in places like San Francisco make it difficult to even compare to the X-Country Marathon in Florida. There are inclines, not hills. Therefore, I resisted titling this post Worst Marathon Ever. It was my worst ever, but there are so many factors contributing to why some races are tougher than others. This one was tough, first of all, because it was 85 degrees and humid. Total fluke. No one's fault. It didn...