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Subject: Oh, my God, I'm going to die

    For those of you who don't know me, I tend to get beyond upset, beyond reason,  and beyond hope before a race. At least, this has been the case for my first marathon and my first triathlon.  Poor Debi and Betsy have had to listen to me whine, at least, twice a day and have millions of frantic e-mails from me.    Anyway, I went to the Bizz Johnson Marathon in the town of Susanville, CA with an elevation of 4500 to run a marathon starting at elevation 5200 then up to 5600 then a drop down to the town.  Ah, no problem if I arrive early in the week and run in Reno, Nevada thought I as Reno has an elevation of 4,000.  I went out there with Shelly and Tammy and tried to follow the "tomorrow I might go as far as suicide, but I won't let it bother me tonight" philosophy from I think the Eagles.  I did in part stay calmer than usual the first part of the week which is not calm by the standards of others, but I just tried to think of this little run as a training run.  We ran in Reno along the "river" which by our standards would be a small stream and tried to get used to the cool, dry, thin air.  I felt the elevation, but I could handle it.  I was semi-calm, and only calling Debi 2 or 3 times a day, and Betsy may-be 4 times a day.  Tammy was just stuck with me.  That is I remained semi-calm until Thursday when the cold front came in with snow, sleet, and cold air.  Tammy and I ran to Sports Authority ditching shorts for long pants, gloves and headbands.  It was so cold!   O'k, I admit I was getting more scared about this race at that point.

     Finally, off to Susanville on Friday before the Sunday race.  The race check in was in a tiny building with only two little tents for the expo.  Thankfully, I did not have to decide whether it was bad luck to buy marathon stuff before the race as they had none.  We got a cotton shirt, race pins, number and not even a bag. I asked about chips and received a scornful snort so I shut up.  I then asked a girl what she thought the temperature would be when we started at the top of the mountain.  Without hesitation, she replied that it would be around 10 degrees.  Argh!    I don't know what I expected, but I think bands and cheerleaders for my having come all the way across the country and actually showing up to run this race would have been a nice touch at checkin.  Anyway, Tammy and I then went to find the beginning of where the race was to begin.  I felt like I was driving in Narnia travelling through the snow flakes on the Starship Enterprise at light speed.   The snow blew hard at our car as the pine trees were capped with snow.  No underbrush grows in these tall Loplolly like pines.  No redwoods, no alders, or pretty maples up there.  We drove down a logging road which we thought was where the race would begin, but when we stopped where we thought the race might start, only silence and the passing of lumberjacks could be heard.  "Oh, my God, where am I," kept running through my Eeyore like mind. " If Tammy leaves me on this run, I am so dead.  It is so scary up here!"

      Anyway, Saturday morning at 3:00 a.m. is when it started.  I panicked   My mother's words of warning that I was sure to have a heart attack running 26 miles at my age came up in my mind.  My reallization that I was going to run 26 miles in the cold and at this elevation continuously ran through my thoughts.  My memory of promising my husband to give up this craziness if I didn't make the 26 miles so that this was my only chance.  The thought that I'm going to be 50 in December.   And, oh, my God, I'll bet I'll get my feminine problem during the race or on better thought not  having my feminine problem come leaving me feeling like a giant white tick.  I was absolutely sure about my demise.  "Oh, my God, I'm going to die.  Oh, my God, how did I get into this mess and how did this happen. I can't believe that I chose to do this.  Am I insane?"  These thoughts ran continuously through my mind.  I already had received a warning about going bezerk from Tammy so I attempted to cry quietly; however, about an hour later, I hear Tammy from her bed telling me to get over it and asking me what the hell I was actually afraid would happen.  Knowing that this would entail a long disertation which would not be logical made it short and tried to clean up my act. 

      Finally,  Saturday morning came, and we went again up to the top of the mountain and ran a few miles.  The air was noticably thin, dry and very cold, but after running three miles, I thought that it was o'k.  I mean I was out of the car and actually running, and I was still o'k.  The surface of the path was wonderful, and the aide stations were already up and stocked for Sunday.   Well, this euphoria did not last long.  When we returned to the hotel, the panic grabbed me again.  Wonderful Beth and Sherry called, and but I was already outside snuffing so Tammy would not have to deal with me. Debi and Betsy called.  They all tried to console me as best they could and assure me that I would not die.  I am convinced that they thought that I was a definite nut case.  Ruth and Lara were on my phone offering me encourgement along with a bunch of other well wishers.  Poor Debi was being inundated with calls about my pending nervous breakdown and tried her best to keep me going.  I know, I know, I'm really like a shaking, barking chihuahua.

       O'k, so I survived.  The next morning was a touch warmer.  Tammy and I got to the depot at 7:00 where we were allowed to sit in the warmed up buses until 7:45 when they finally left.  It was about a 45 minute trip to the start where we were in a dither about whether to wear long pants when we would have to take off our shoes to get them off.  This would mean putting our foot on mud which was frozen.   OOOOOuuuu, but it was so cold.  Well, I did it.  I took off my pants and left them with the stuff to be brought down.  We kept our gloves, jackets and headbands, though.  Finally, the moment came.  The race started!   Not a sound was made from all of the runners, only the steady sound of feet on the dirt road.  Then we started to climb up in elevation.  No one spoke for miles as no one could breathe.  Tammy started making funky noises in her chest like a purr or a growl.  Finally, around mile 7, the descent started.  At mile 14 or so, just when I thought that I actually might be able to finish this damn thing, my IT band started cramping on the side of my knee.  I had hoped my body wouldn't realize that we were going downhill, but it did.  I stopped and stretched it at each mile until mile 19 where it really started to hurt.  Tammy went ahead of me,at that point.  Each stretch brought me about a half a mile more of running  until the cramp kept me from running;  then a quarter of a mile. Finally, I came upon a girl at mile 23 who was trying to keep from vomiting so we teamed up together stopping for her to gag and me to stretch every 1/4 to 1/2 mile, and together we ran the last three miles.  Yes, indeed, I finished!  I guess that I never thought that I would finish.  I was kind of surprised and ashamed at my surprise. Why didn't I believe Debi?   Tammy came in a short time before I did as she had trouble the last two miles.  The elevation hit everyone pretty hard making it a hard race for most of the people there. On the plus side, the surface was wonderful, and as a bonus with the dry air,  sweat dried immediately leaving most of us with a powdery white salt all over us. We were totally dry, and only a few of the guys were stinky. The last seven miles are really beautiful as more trees grow in the lower elevations and the streams flow along the path.  The snacks were good, and the people are friendly.  I think that if anyone else does this race, they should come up a few days early and train in Susanville and at the top of the mountain.  There is a big difference between 4,000 and 6,000 feet.

     We had to be bussed back to my car.  Whereupon, I immediately phoned our fearless coach who first congratulated me, and then barked "You're never doing this to us, again.  Do you know how many phone calls I have been receiving?  I only asked you to run a  measly 26  miles, not to climb the Sears Tower."  Hmm.  I was a bit taken aback.  You know the Sears Tower might  have been easier for me.

      Thanks for everyone who pulled me through this race especially Debi who told me how it would go down before it did.  Yes, she was right, I did get rid of that white tick feeling a week late, but a day before the race. Yes, you were right, you're training prepared me.  Other than my IT band, I was in very little pain. As for everyone else, I hate running, biking and swimming  alone, and you have been there for me.  I gripe, cry, whine and wimper during track and long runs, but I truly love being with all of you.  I train so that I can be with you, and I need races for goals.  It's a vicious circle.  I know that it was not an easy decision to travel with me and run this race for Tammy and Shelly, and all that I can say is that I owe you.  Without you, I would not have had the courage to go. Shelly's main purpose for going was to pull me through this race. Thank you, again, for helping me achieve a goal which I needed to set. I just don't know how to thank you.  I hope that now I will be calmer in my future races, and  I look forward to spending time with all of you.

 

Irene

aka eeyore

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