med city marathon 20 mile run

The Rochester Post Bulletin contemplating
if the race will go on....

You know what a wuss I am in the heat.

The husband and I ran the Med City Marathon 20 miler (his longest run ever!!) as a training run for Grandma's, and holy cats, if I can do 20 miles on a day like that, I can do damn near anything!

The weekend forecast was/is crazy - thunderstorms and 70's on Saturday, Sunny, hot, humid, windy and high of 91 on Sunday, thunderstorms and 70's for today. Which day to run?? Pick your poison. I love thunderstorms when I'm safe indoors; thunderstorms while running out in the open in the country not so much.  I opted for the heat.  Ugh.

The first 8-9 miles were great and then the temp really took a jump. After that, things got a little ugly. I got totally freaked out around mile 10 when I lost the husband. I was ahead of him and turned around to see how he was doing and he was no where to be seen. I walked back to the water stop to find him and was worried the heat had already gotten to him. Turns out, he just needed to hit the porta potty. But the heat was starting to take it's toll on both of us. After that, we took thing super slow, walked when we needed to and focused on enjoying the course, chatting with other runners, and celebrating each time we passed a mile marker flag.

one stretch of the course had lots of
messages like this. Loved it!

We met some great people during the race including a 73 year old man who was on his 36th or 37th marathon (he wasn't sure), and another guy who had open heart surgery 19 months ago and was running his 58th marathon. Both were such nice guys and really inspiring. Like us, several people were doing the 20 mile as a prep for Grandma's. 

20 hot brutal miles DONE!

I have to say, the people of Rochester MN were amazing - folks had sprinklers on for us, they stood out in the heat and handed us ice cubes from their own freezers or from bags they bought themselves, and a couple of families even handed out water bottles to us. Families were handing out twizzlers and jolly ranchers too! I don't know that we would have been able to finish without the extra ice and water. The generosity was overwhelming really, and the volunteer support was fantastic. Rochester puts on a good show!!

Eventually, we started hearing from the officials that there was a black flag warning due to the heat. It really was brutal. I have never seen so many people walking a race ever. Again, the support was fantastic - fire fighters, police, medics on bikes - all would look at us really hard and ask us how we were doing. I think it helped to be in a town that is so medically in tune! (You know, Rochester MN, Mayo clinic...... it's kind of known for health care.)

a little post-run yumminess.

And I don't know if it was the heat or what, but my feet felt like they grew about two sizes during the race. The husband and I were laughing about how it felt like we had Fred Flintstone feet every time we started running after our walk breaks.  Anywhoo, the big toe on my left foot took a beating for some reason - the toenail is all bruised and painful.  I think it will match nicely with the black toenail on my right foot and all the callouses and funky nubbins on the rest of my toes.  Like having ginormous big girl feet isn't bad enough..... my poor toes look hideous!!  The badge of running, right?  I shall proudly display them for all to see.

Of course, GarminElectra quit on me again - this time after 15 miles. She was bitching about being wet for a while before she quit; I knew she was getting ready to throw in the towel so I kept an eye on her. Good thing too. Untrustworthy beyoch. I'm looking for a new running partner - anyone have suggestions?

the first 15 miles....

.....and the last 5.

I'd definitely run this race again.  It's so great to have supported long runs. I would have quit a million times over if I tried to do this 20 miler on my own!  They kept the price way down for the 20 miler, too - no special race bib, just a generic running room one, no finish line (we just stopped at the 20 mile flag, turned around and went back to the marathon relay station to catch the shuttle back to the finish line) and no medal. We did get a t-shirt though, which was cool. Seemed like a great deal to me! I really did just want the support on the long run. And we certainly got that!!  But the bling whore in me wishes we'd gotten medals after running that far, in that heat..... I'm like a black hole for bling, aren't I?

Grandma's is in three weeks!!  Bring on the taper!!