weird

The family and I headed up to Ohio this weekend, with the main purpose being Nathan's fantasy baseball league draft. I however, had 18 miles to complete. My in-laws generously agreed to watch Liam while I ran - I guess that was a win-win situation. It was an odd run. First off, I started in the morning, which is not usual for me, but good since the marathon starts at 7:30 am. I ran along the Towpath which runs along the Cuyahoga River. It was a beautiful setting for a long run, not much traffic and great weather (50's on the verge of raining).

My father in law dropped me off and I was on my way. I'd planned to do a couple out and backs stopping midway for gatorade and pb&j, which I'd stashed away in a bag somewhat out of sight (or so I thought). The bag also contained some extra Gu, gloves, and cheap sunglasses. Another thing that was odd was how friendly people were during my run. Normally, I try to give off a "don't mess with this b--" vibe with my shades, hat and no smiling since there can be some quite sketchy characters along the routes I choose. But everyone here was oddly friendly. That took some getting used to... :)

I finished my first out and back (9.5 mi total) and headed for my stash. I thought it odd that a half drunk bottle of Gatorade just like the one I'd packed was sitting on the bench where my stuff was. Oh, that was my Gatorade. Someone had rifled through my stuff and helped themselves to my Gatodare! Ack! Needless to say, this freaked me out. A lot. I mean, I had a whole 'nother bottle of Gatorade, but what if they'd done something to it (I was thinking spit or pee, not to be gross)? Well, I had no choice as I was by myself, so I drank my other bottle of gatorade and ate some pb&j which appeared un-tampered with. But i was freaked out - so I didn't drink or eat as much as I should've. So I resumed my run...

The next out and back did not go so smoothly. I ran out of sport beans at about mile 17. I was breathing really hard and feeling a little out of it. I definitely slowed. My main motivation was knowing my in-laws and Liam would be waiting for me at the end. I saw my father in law, Randy, at the top of the final hill and his excitement really pushed me through to the end. It was a great finish to a not so great second half. Liam seemed excited too, but that might not have been about me. :) Sadly, my bag was gone! I almost wasn't surprised, but pretty disappointed that someone would take my stuff - really, junk to anyone else. After a few minutes, Randy was able to retrieve it from the recycling bin. Someone had tossed my stuff!

Another weird thing was that I got a sore throat almost immediately after finishing my run. Dehydration? Not sure... We drove home where i was able to stretch, shower, and rest. I felt amazingly good for running 19 miles. Not too stiff or fatigued. And then the next morning (today), it hit me like a ton of bricks. My sore throat had turned into more - I wonder if I pushed my immune system to the brink. Today has not been as much fun - sitting in the car for 6 hours, trying to hydrate and religiously swab my nose with zicam while popping ricolas and praying that I don't get too sick now!

Anyway, just wanted to give an update on my long run. Next week is hopefully a 20 miler - we'll see how my health holds up. I'm optimistic!