Toots and Sally Ride Again

Well, even though my thighs won’t let me forget it, it’s been 2 days since the marathon and lets just say I’ve had some time to reflect.  Even though I did not finish in the time I wanted to…I still FINISHED…despite the weather, despite the lack of water, despite the jetlag, despite the fear of dehydration, despite the moments of desperation thinking I would literally have to walk off the race.  I was in the last group (the expected 4h30 finishers) to start the race; therefore, unlike Lumpy and Sally who started the race a bit earlier, my moment of desperation started at the very 1st water station a mere 3 miles into the race when already THERE WAS NO WATER.

If you want to learn how to curse in about 20 different languages, all you have to do is hang out at the 1st water station of the Paris Marathon April 15, 2007 and listen to the marathon runners being told that there is NO WATER, that it has “run out”.  How can this be possible?  It’s only been 3 miles?  It was unusually hot for the season.  Runners got desperate, some (that were smart enough to carry money with them) immediately ran into nearby tabac stores to buy bottled water,  others were desperate enough to pick up half used water bottles from the street.  This is when I started to panic.  I’m from Texas, I can handle the heat, but NOT WITHOUT WATER!!!  I did not carry any money with me, I could not bring my self to pick up used water bottles from the street, and I wasn’t expecting to see Banana and Old Uncle Brad (our support crew) in the crowd until somewhere along mile 15.  This wasn’t going to be good.

I ran waterless until the 20th kilometer (aproximately the 12th mile) when I was finally able to get a small bottled water.  I had acquired some sort of sports drink a few miles back, but like Lumpy mentioned it was pretty nasty.  However, I was able to use the same sports drink bottle to refill it with water from a couple of water fountains we came across along the path and from the hoses at the sponge stations (no, not from the sponge buckets, that would be nasty!).  I also took in quite a bit of oranges provided at the “water stations” to try to stay hydrated.  Eventually I made it to the half way mark and it did get better the rest of the marathon; however, by then I had already used up too much time and energy panicking about the whole situation.

Mentally, the race was over…or so I thought.  I saw at least 5 runners suffering from heat exhausting & dehydration being taken away in ambulances.  It was hot and the sun was out in full force.  At the halfway point, I took note of my time and realized that there was no way I was going to finish within my goal time.  But I was going to finish.  I caught up with Lumpy at the last 5 or 6 miles and we ran/walked together off and on the rest of the way.  In the end, for me, it was all good.  I came to run a marathon and I did.  I trained well for this marathon, everything that happened beyond my training was entirely out of my control.  I finished in 5 hours 22 minutes.  So, I didn’t make my time goal but there will always be other marathons.