The rainiest weekend ever

After running 20 miles, running 12 seems like it should be easy. That theory was proven wrong for a multitude of people this past weekend, including myself. The stars were apparently not lined up properly for good running conditions.

For me, a lot went wrong. Since the girls I normally run with were in St. Charles, Missouri, for the Lewis & Clark Half Marathon, I decided I'd do my training run alone, rather than try to run with another group. I wanted to experience a long distance run by myself, since much of my marathon run will likely be solo. I still went to the designated running group location, but started early.

It was still dark when I arrived at the course and took off. The first 2 miles were good. I was enjoying the solitude, darkness, and cool morning air. Our running coach marks the turns in the course with little flags. I saw a flag and took the turn. Then, quite a bit of time passed before I realized I should have hit a mile marker or an aid station. I started to get worried I'd taken a wrong turn. Then, I saw a some people running back the other way. "Are you with the running group? We're going the wrong way! We need to turn around!" Oh, joy. According to someone's GPS, we'd gotten about 1.5 miles off course.

Rather than keep my own pace and get back on my own time, I stupidly decided to keep up with the group until we got back to the marked course. Like many of the decisions I make while running, it was a bad one. I was pretty worn out, and I wasn't even halfway done.

Then, like some cruel joke, it started pouring. We're not talking a light drizzle, or a pleasant sprinkle. This could easily be characterized as a deluge. I just looked up "deluge" to make sure I'm using it appropriately, and yeah, it was definitely a deluge. I was pitifully soaked. I could feel blisters forming on my toes. Ouch.

By mile 9 (which was really mile 10 for me), my blisters were so painful I couldn't run anymore, and I opted to walk the last 3.

Yeah, not fun at all...but at least it was long.

And still, it could have been worse. I could have been one of the many people from our group who did the Lewis & Clark half marathon. They had gale-force winds (40-50 mph), torrential rain, and flooding. The race was cut short and they weren't able to complete the distance. They had to settle for 10 miles, and from what I hear, they had a pretty miserable time doing it.

Or, I could have been like Topher over at I'll Run for Donuts. He opted to avoid the rain all together, and spent his scheduled 18-miler on the treadmill. Can you imagine? I'm not sure whether to admire him or to smack some sense into him.

I don't know about you folks, but I'm ready to see the sun again.