
One word: #Clusterfuck. π
Excuse my French… but, that’s just the only way to describe this race. I knew when I sat on the airport runway for 4 hours waiting to take off from Louisville that this was not going to be a good weekend. I joked that I should have got off the plane and went back home. As it turns out, I really should have. π It was an omen.
FINALLY made it to Houston at 3:30pm. Should’ve been there at 11:15am… but I digress… Anyway, I met up at the hotel with my friend Julie – we were gonna share the room, hang out for the weekend and run the race together. I was actually supposed to be her pacer and help her try to get a 5:30 finish time. We caught up, went to dinner, then set out to find the race expo. Turns out we got bum directions and got lost. By the time we got to the expo, they had JUST closed for the night!! π My bad luck continues…
This is my good friend Julie! Lung cancer survivor, and all around GREAT woman!β€οΈ

On Saturday, luck changed for the better, lol. We found the Expo!! YAY! Walked around got our race stuff, and spent WAY too much money, lol. I even bought a new pair of running shoes!π³ smh π€¦π½ββοΈ But WAIT. We saw MEB!!!! π²π²π²





I couldn’t resist a #photobomb, lol. The line to get an autograph was LOOOOOOONNNNGG!! I didn’t want to stand in the line. We had been there all day and I was hungry ππππ Besides, I get too star struck. I would’ve just made a fool out of myself if I had met Meb, LOL!
So, we left the Expo and to Cracker Barrel for lunch. Had some SnapChat fun while waiting for our food lol.

We be CRAZY. ππππ
Moving on to Sunday Morning… Race day… This is pretty much where everything went to hell. π. I mean the day “started” pretty good. Got up, ate breakfast, walked to the start area. We even made a new friend! I mean, that’s pretty good, right???

Well, then we had to, ya know, start running. We were in corral D, so we stood there for 45 minutes waiting to finally make it to the timing mat and start the race. Well, it was COLD that morning. 30 degrees cold. I didn’t want to “overdress” for the race, so I wore minimal clothing. I was FROZEN by the time I got to start my race. I knew that once I started running, I would be fine – and I was. Except for my feet. My feet would NOT move and bend right for me to run well. They never got better. π
I was doing “ok” until about the 10 mile mark – when I could sense oncoming cramping issues stirring up.
I had some precautionary cramping remedies on hand, and I used them to keep the cramps at bay. It worked up until about the 14 mile mark. Julie was having cramping too, but she appeared to be running well, so she ran on ahead of me. She didn’t even realize that I wasn’t with her anymore, Lol. Then slowly but surely the cramps began to get out of control. I even grabbed a beer from the Beer Stop at mile 16 or so. And, I don’t even drink!! πΊ I just needed “something” to help me forget how much I was hurting. I knew that, sooner or later, running would turn me into an alcoholic π³π³π³π³π³
I stopped at the next medical station that I saw and asked if they had anything that would help ease cramping. They DID!! The gave me some BioFreeze to rub on my legs and ankles. By this time, I was in full blown charley horses from my feet all the way up to my hamstrings. On both legs. π’π’π’π’. I’ll tell you what, the BioFreeze was A. M. A. Z. I. N. G. π. Thank the Good Lord, because I swear that stuff is the only thing that kept me moving to the finish line – when I REALLY wanted to just throw in the towel.
So… on I went. I stopped at EVERY medical tent I saw and grabbed more BioFreeze until I finished the race. At the last medical station, I had just finished rubbing the stuff on my legs when I saw the police cars coming!!! π±π±π±π±π± BAD NEWS!! They were opening the closed streets. So WOW. I had no idea that I was lagging THAT far behind. This was just past mile 23.5 or so. NOW, the pressure was seriously on. My new goal was to stay ahead of the police cars. They passed me at one point, but I dug down deep and found some strength to push through and increase my pace enough to past the police cars again. The police officers were shouting: “Great job Ma’am”!!, LOL. I was like: THANK YOU… as I ran past them as fast as I could muster.
Soon, I began to pass other people who were struggling along with me. I suppose there were about 30, maybe, still out on the course struggling to get to the finish. Not sure if they too were cramping? Anyway, I ran my little heart out for those last 2 miles to the finish. Somehow, my watch didn’t save my run stats πππ I would have been interested to see how fast those last 2 miles were. It felt like I was flying… but I couldn’t have been doing much more than a 12 min mile pace, LOL. But, it felt like I was FLYING!ππππππ
I MADE IT to the finish!! Ummmm, only there was no finish line. π€π€π€π³π³. As I was running to the finish, a volunteer was pointing for everyone to go to the left, onto the sidewalk. Well, the side walk was FILLED with crowds of pedestrians. I had NO IDEA what to do or where to go when they directed me there. There was no one else telling us what to do, or where to go. There were some off chutes, but I just running straight, weaving around people, and hoping I was going the right way. π
Then all of a sudden a lady said: “Stop” “This is the finish line” – pointing to the ground. I mean, I saw nothing, but you know, #whatever. π. So, there I was. At the finish line??? Standing there. Lost in a crowd of people. Nobody handed me a medal. There was no race clock. No timing mat to cross. Nothing. I started thinking: “I struggled to keep running ALL this way, and, NOTHING.” Nothing. It looked like everyone from the race had packed up and left me there. I felt abandoned. And hurt that they didn’t wait for us.
I just stood there and started crying. Hysterically. Some lady came over to me, and just hugged me. She was saying something in Spanish, I think, but I had no clue what she was saying. She just kept hugging me, to comfort me. She was SO very sweet. I tell you, no matter how bad this world seems at times, there are STILL some very good people out there! She was definitely one of themβ€οΈβ€οΈβ€οΈβ€οΈβ€οΈ
After I stood there for a while, I noticed a line of people. They all had medals on, so I figured they were going in the building to get food. So, I got in the line to go get food to take back to the hotel. Well, when I went in the building, there was a guy there who scanned my race bib, then he sent me to a table where they gave me my MEDAL!!! That’s all I wanted – my medal to show how hard I worked to finish this race. It’s SO pretty too!βΊοΈ (See pic at the top of post) To my surprise, they gave me a nice glass and a finisher shirt too!!
I was still really bummed out that they officially listed me as a DNF, and I don’t have an official finish time. There’s not a whole lot of races out there that stick to a STRICT cutoff time – just my friggin luck to find the one that does. π My watch said I finished in 6:21:20. The official cutoff was 6:00:00. Sucks. But, whatever.
Worst. Race. Ever. Btw. No matter what the race, there’s never been a “road” marathon that I couldn’t finish in 5:30 or under. π
Now, I don’t even have my watch stats. I don’t know what happened, I “thought” I saved it when I stopped the watch. Guess I didn’t. Perfect. I’m fairly sure I wouldn’t want to go back and see my race stats anything. I’m depressed enough already.π«
NOTE: My friend Julie did well for herself. She finished in 6:11. The finish line was still in tact, and she actually crossed the timing mat… But, again, 6:00:00 cutoff… She was also listed as DNF in the official record. Again, sucks. π . But she is very happy with her time – it marks a 20 minute PR in the marathon for her!!! SO PROUD of her!!! She overcame her cramps to achieve a huge PR!!! Way to GO Jules!!!! ππΎππΎππΎππΎππΎ
So, that’s my race recap. I would love to take a much needed break from running for a while… but, I’ve obligated myself to lead the 5:30 pace group for the Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon in April 2018. So, it’s back to training for this weary girl.
My self confidence is at an ALL TIME LOW right now. So, if, halfway through training, I don’t feel as though it’s coming together, I’m calling it off, so they can find someone else. I’m not gonna visit another bad race on the runners depending on me to help them finish on time. π
Some random race pics: I saw met my FB buddy Cleve!! First time meeting in person.π. Also, there was this guy in a diaper costume trying to hand us glasses of margaritas, LOL!!


Well…. stay tuned, I guess… Nextup: KDF Marathon, April 28, 2018. Or not. π€·π½ββοΈ
Happy Trails Friends!