I'm not really sure where to start with this post. I didn't finish the 50K at Psycho Wyco, but I know I did the right thing by dropping out at 10 miles. I've been fighting a cold for weeks. I've been sick off and on and have no energy. Every run the last two weeks (of which there have been very few) was a miserable slog. To be honest, I probably should have never started this race, but I was signed up and determined.
I woke up Saturday morning with a bad headache but was hoping it would go away. It didn't. The first couple of miles of the race I was really battling nausea. That happens when I'm dehydrated but I knew I wasn't. Still, the course is a lot of fun and I was actually enjoying myself. The first half was muddy but not too bad and I was settling in for a long day of running. There are a couple of tough parts, but nothing I couldn't handle. Then you come to a long grassy hill, then some blacktop to an aid station. Still doing ok! After you leave the aid station you have a loooooong steep climb up some blacktop. I went up it eating a brownie from the aid station, so I didn't hate it too much. Then we entered the woods again and I just hit a wall. The nausea was mostly gone, but my head hurt and it was like every bit of my energy had evaporated. This doesn't usually happen to me until after 10 miles and I had gone somewhere around 6 at that point. Someone had passed me right after we entered the woods and I made it my goal to keep up with her. This probably pushed me to go faster than I really wanted to go, which was good. Still, with every mile my head hurt more.
We hit the three hills section of the course and I didn't think I would make it. Thankfully the very nice lady that had passed me was with me and she was amazingly encouraging. I told her my head hurt really bad and she asked if I needed some electrolytes. I knew that wasn't the problem because I had felt bad before the race and it didn't feel like dehydration. Having much experience with that issue, I know what it feels like for me. I think I was maybe 2 miles from the end when I started getting blurry vision. Then the nausea and headache symptoms kind of came together for me and I realized I had a migraine. I had been bragging to my husband that I hadn't had one for a really long time just a few days ago. I've been pretty stressed lately and sick and it all came together to ruin my day. With a mile left to go I knew I wasn't going to do the second two laps. Could I have finished? Maybe. Probably. Would I have enjoyed it? Not a chance. Every step sent pain shooting up my back into my head. How many steps is in 20 miles? My back, shoulders, neck and head were killing me. When I got to the start/finish area I found Libby. I immediately started crying. I was tired and in pain and done and so disappointed. She sat me down, gave me a drink and some food and did the best she could to encourage me. I really evaluated how I felt and just knew it wasn't my day. She walked to the finish line with me to tell them that I was dropping. I still got a medal! The cool thing about this race is that if you drop down at the end of a loop you still get a medal for the distance you covered.
I called my mom to come get me and went to Libby's car. I was so tense and couldn't relax and just hurt everywhere from my waste up. I whined to her for quite a while and when my mom got there we got everything loaded in the car and they took me to get some excedrin migraine at Wal-Mart. My head finally started feeling better but everything else ached. On the way home I started getting chills and body aches. It felt like the flu. I spent the rest of the evening in bed feeling awful. I woke up this morning hoping that I would suddenly feel better, but that's not the case. I feel better than yesterday but still feel pretty crappy. I'm very disappointed that I didn't finish but it is what it is.
I'm actually realy happy with my time for the lap I did. I enjoyed the course and even enjoyed the mud. I definitely want to do this race again when I'm not sick. Maybe next year!
