Tour de Foot

The day was cool but it did not rain on the ~700 participants of the Runaway Pumpkin Half Marathon. There was joy on the shores of Cheadle Lake.

Overall, it was an excellent experience. I did not sprain my ankle, I was not chased by dogs, the people were friendly and demonstrated excellent sportsmanship, and I did not die. My time was mediocre... but it's a start. If nothing else, the race got me out the door and running (training)... 100+ miles of running I would not otherwise have done.

For the first 4 or 5 miles I was running behind a woman with a plush cat tail attached to her pants (Halloween costume). It bounced as she ran. The base of the tail was flat, the rest was round, and I had this split-second feeling that the tail needed to be amputated — it was flat at the base and the blood supply must be cut off and the tail was going to necrose. Yeah, roll your eyes, it's o.k.

Running became difficult around mile 5 or 6. Some minor hills and I wasn't drinking enough water. You'd think I'd've figured out the seriousness of a dry face. Anyway... "This is hard!" I thought — and then — "but who said it was supposed to be easy? There'd be little point in running it, if it was..." ...and... "I've done 10 miles before... this is only three more..."

I began to feel asthmatic after mile 8 or 9. That's never happened before. Kinda freaky, really. My legs would have gone faster but my pulmonary alveoli or bronchioles or something kept closing off and making me wheeze. Undesirable sensation. Due to dehydration? I don't know. I thought of Pahom in "How Much Land Does a Man Need?" by Leo Tolstoy. The Bashkirs will sell him land — all the land he can run around in a day. He is greedy (and doesn't drink enough water) and dies as soon as he reaches his starting point.

Next time I will drink by number — a certain number of ounces per mile — and see how I feel.