Death Run 2008

This past Sunday, my training schedule informed me that I had one very long run, and then another short run. Unfortunately, as is the case for most age groupers, work interfered and I had to alter my plans. My first of three night shifts was Saturday night and the first night always knocks me on my ass. Decided I would take the day off (scheduled for Monday) and move my run to Monday -- mistake #1. Woke up on Monday after 5 hours of restless sleep and headed out the door.... Not able to do the full workout due to time constraints (13 hour shifts do that to your day) I had settled on a two hour run. It was 3:00 in the afternoon, sunny 96 degrees, 60% humidity - it was one of those days that had 'Tready' written all over it, mistake # 2. I thought it would make me tough.
From the very first step I knew it would be a fight against my body/mother nature the whole way.
By 20 minutes, I had almost finished my two fuel belt bottles - it holds four and I decided I didn't need them, mistake # 3. Yet, I kept running...

By the time I decided to turn/cut my run short, I was needing to partake in a little ritual called "ten & ones" and 'squeezing my cheeks' to keep everything in.
I had no choice but to stop early and walk the last km in.... I was dizzy, goose bumpy and had the worst headache ever. Once I was home, I took off my soaked clothes and laid naked on the floor in front of the open fridge for 15 minutes. Not one of my better moments. I had one hour to take in as much fluid as possible (ended up being close to 3 litres) before I had to head off to my last night shift -- perfect recipe for recovery.....

An old coach of mine used to say that it was a good sign to have a horrible long run close to goal race time.... mission accomplished.