well, I'm glad I dressed fancy

because there was nothing else going right for me on that run.

I started off a bit late, due to my own klutziness: I had packed my bag the night before, including the stuff I was going to wear. When I put that stuff on, I dumped the bag out including the chip and bib. So I had to borrow my friend's bike to go back home and get it. Still, that felt nice and refreshing with the breeze. It looked like it was clouding over, so I was optimistic.

I ended up at the very back of the pack, and I gradually eased forward. In retrospect, I had been going too fast--I hadn't realized that my gun and chip time were so far apart. And it was hot. I couldn't tell what was going on effort wise. IT felt easy, just hot. I passed the 4:15 bunny and could see the 4:00 bunnies, and felt hot. Passed 10K in 56 min, I think. Which turned out to be 53, but it was still slow as a 10K, but fast for the first one of a marathon. This is where a garmin would have come in handy! LOL. The course started downhill, though, which made it easier. But I was hot. I dumped water over my head every chance I got.

I had to slow down. I started walking through aid stations. Around 17 km, I toyed with the idea of quitting after 21.1 k. Got through that at 2:02/1:58, and decided to stop at the next medic. It was about this point that a medic passing by on a bicycle asked if I was ok. I told him I was hot, but alright. But I was starting to get dizzy.

Somehow I didn't get to a medic until 27/28 k...I was alternating walking and running at this point, and saw a few medics with bicycles but none that appeared to have what I needed: ice. I didn't know if medics had ice, but I had hopes. Finally, I got to a medic station and asked them for ice. I was pretty loopy at this point and couldn't quite explain myself--I was ok, just really hot. Although, when I stopped, I almost felt chilled. I wasn't getting to the crying stage of heat exhaustion (been there!) but I felt close. They got me some ice and discussed my plans for the future. They said I was looking pale.

I stayed there for a few minutes and deliberated. At that point in the course, I was almost the furthest away from the finish. It didn't seem to matter which way I went. I didn't care about finishing the thing, really, although the prospect of two DNFs in a row sort of sucked, but I didn't want to go back the way I came because it had been so horrible getting there. The medics offered a ride, but I decided to wait a bit longer and then walk. I was starting to get chilled (!) standing in the shade. They wrote down my bib number and offered to have someone check in on me further down, but I said I would check in myself. There was a station around 30K. I could make it there.

I got more ice, walked, jogged, got more ice, walked, jogged. I walked until I stopped feeling dizzy and ran until I started feeling dizzy. It worked. And I chatted with people. I met a guy doing a video of the course (he had a camera strapped to his head) and a woman who had just had cancer and some operations (I didn't ask for specifics). She had had to restart running from scratch this January. I talked with other people as well, but those were the two that stood out.

And, honestly, the fans were great. I felt horrible, but was smiling. After a while, I got tired of holding the ice against the back of my neck or head or whatever, so I tucked it in my bra. It worked.

I just kind of went along until about 36-37 k, when I was sick enough of the whole enterprize and decided to run more to get it over with sooner. My legs felt ok. My head was still a problem, but less and less so as I went along. There was a guy with an injury at 38K, so I gave him my ice. I hoped to get more, but didn't. So I just continued jogging and finished it. Got a bit dizzy but got it done.

At the end, I got to the medic tent and asked for more ice, but they were out. I also had a space blanket. I was feeling hot and cold at the same time.
I drank some fluids--I was well hydrated and well fueled, just hot.

I'm not sure if this has to do with my heart issues or what, but my thermostat was totally off. Temps ranged from 14-19C and the humidity was kind of high, and it was sunny, but other people seemed to deal with that a lot better than me. 5C is tank top and shorts weather for me, and it sure didn't help that I got used to winter conditions all too well, lol. Someone pointed that out to me, and it makes sense. If I try the Ottawa marathon again, I'd have to train indoors at least a little bit. I don't think I will. I enjoy the winter races too much and would rather acclimatize to those.

But at least my legs didn't get too beat up. my foot was fine. Wearing really light and flimsy shoes helped a lot.

So I'm not sure where I'll go from here. Rest, yes, and then jog easy for a few weeks. I'm still waiting to see a cardiologist. I signed up for the army 1/2 but if I can't work hard enough in training, I'll have to jog it. And maybe drop out of run club. dunno

My head still hurts! lol