Running the Race

I wish I had a camera to take a picture of what I REALLY looked like when I finally finished my 10 mile race. I know that I was sweating so hard that there were salt trails all over my face and neck. I know also that I had my tongue sticking out and that my legs were moving out of sync with the rest of my body. I don't mind that people were laughing or that my friend, who finished 2+ minutes faster, had time to finish a banana and a bottle of water before cheering me on. I mind that I felt so bad all the way through the race. WHAT HAPPENED? I don't know. Was I sick? Was I insecure about being the last person to finish (which was not the case although I came pretty close to it)? Did I not eat enough to get me through?....which might have been the answer because my tummy was upset with me the whole way through.
I like to make up excuses for performing so poorly, but in this case, I knew that I was going to be one of the last people to finish and I still feel pretty crummy about it. And the worst of it is that I had a horrible migraine afterwards. I was out for the rest of the day tossing and turning in my bed with a towel over my eyes, 4 Excedrine in my system and barfing up everything that I tried to take in.
I've come to believe that my body is trying to tell me something. It is trying to tell me to go see my doctor, even if she'll tell me that it's been ??? years since my last pap smear and that I should have one now. My body is telling me that it's time to stop pushing too hard to be last. Just give in and enjoy being the last person that everyone hopes that they're not. It was a little hurtful when I reached the final water stop and one of the kids said to a friend, "Yeah, these are all the walkers now." I wasn't walking and I wanted to punch him in the face, but I needed to save my energy for my flash finish. The man that I was jockeying with for close-to-last-place didn't realize that I was running up beside him at first, but I noticed his snot rocket on my arm and tried to get ahead of him so he wouldn't do it again. I think when he realized that a short Asian woman was passing him up, he committed himself to passing me for the last time and he was off and running. I couldn't keep up with his speedy 12:00 min/mile pace. The 2 ladies who would run then walk would pass me on occasion and I could hear them from a pretty far distance. One of them was a "clopper". I don't really know how else to explain it except by saying that it sounded like she was running with tap shoes on. I was ready to drop out of the race every time they passed me running or when I passed them while they were walking. I think they ended up being the "walkers" at the end of the race because the last mile was a bit more pleasurable without them and snot-rocket man.
So, what do I have to say for myself? First I have to thank Steph for keeping positive and running her best race. I know that she tried hard to keep me on pace, but I was just dead-set on running at a snail's pace. She was there to cheer me on at the turn and at the finish. I LOVE her for that. Jerrod and I have concluded that the migraines need to stop so no more distance races or long runs until I can figure out what my problem is. I LOVE my husband. I love that he is backing me up on no more running, although he may not like the look of my square butt after 2 weeks of no real exercise. It was an experience, a good one, and a bad one. I must say though, we rode our bikes to the starting line and that was really enjoyable for me. The ride back was just as much fun. Without registering for this race, I would not have had such a great bike ride and I believe that makes my race a biatholon. AWESOME!