Perhaps yesterday wasn't the best day to run a race. But run we did, the temperatures at the Army Ten Miler started in the low 70's before reaching 80+ degrees by the finish. On top of that we had oppressive humidity at around 95%. The sky was clear and the sun was hot, the last two miles being run along the freeway with absolutely no shelter from the beating sun. It was all a little crazy!
This was the story across the country yesterday as the Army Ten, the Chicago Marathon and the Twin Cities Marathon all experienced record setting temperatures for their races. In Chicago the canceled the race after four hours and pulled anyone not more than half way finished off the course, urging those beyond the half way point to walk it in. Chicago still experienced one fatality from the run.
Back in DC I was thankful to have started near the front, every second counted in heat that would finally top out at 92 degrees. Even though our race was shorter it proved to be about 400 yards to long for one gentleman who collapsed and died just before the finish. I ran by at least three or four other people who were laying down on carts with ice towels and oxygen masks on.
After consuming some 40 ounces of Gatorade on the course I then drank another 20 ounces of Gatorade and 20 more of water within about 15 minutes of finishing. 32 more ounces of water and 12 of coffee disappeared within the hour and I was able to avoid serious dehydration. If you do the math on that you will get a sense for how much fluid I had lost, that's just 4 ounces short of a gallon.
I ran well and I ran harder than I'd anticipated finishing in 1:16:42 a pace of 7:40.
I had planned on running 8:00 pace as I was supposed to run another 10 in the afternoon as part of my marathon training for Richmond but the competitor inside me couldn't let go and I pushed on. I didn't run again in the afternoon, it was just way to hot. I guess its back to back 20's the next two Sundays.
I forgot to add that for those running a slower pace they ran out of water on the second half of the course!
I'd love to tell you how our team did but there's been all kinds of problems with the website and all I know is my time, I don't even know where I placed yet. We all finished, that's the good news.
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