Amsterdam Half Marathon Recap….

This is a little lot over due, but here is the recap of my first half marathon.  Those who know, or have read my lack of posts over the past year, know I have been training for a half marathon.  Many injuries, a surgery and more injuries later, it finally happened!!!

We ran the Amsterdam Half Marathon together, on a chilly 21st of October.  We drove up the day before in order to get our bibs and goodie bags, and then stuffed ourselves with yummy carbs!  I was in love with my veggie lasagna…and all of the cheese!!

The hotel room was amazing…so cool (although, tiny)!  You could change the light theme, and make it blue, purple, red, etc in the room!  After a somewhat restful sleep, we hung out eating bagels and then got ready to go!  I was sure to represent my running group by wearing my custom shirt!

After packing up, we wandered over to the stadium.  It was cold.  Like, really cold.  The kind of cold that made us sit in our car to warm up on more than one occasion!

The race started off great!  I was feeling good, and loved the energy!  I quickly discarded the headband, because I was heating up!!  Then the jacket came off, which Eric carried in his hoodie pocket the rest of the race!

I had no idea why I was heating up so quickly….until I hit mile 3.  I slowed down to take some sport drink a chug of water and a piece of banana from the water stop…then I had to use the porta-potty…that shit is nasty…not that you would assume otherwise.  From that moment on, I was in full stomach flu mode…no further detail is needed, I am sure!  I started running right away (after my potty break) and was hurting badly.  I felt hot sweats (not from the running), nausea, tightness in my stomach and severe cramping.  I kept running…

I had some fuel around mile 5 and then that was ready to leave my system just as quickly as it entered!  I was shaking and just focusing on getting to the next water stop (AKA: Porta-Potty).  That was when I came to the cruel realization that there was no toilet paper…none.  Being the fast thinker and problem solver that I am, I decided water sponges were versatile…hence, the reason I hung onto one after each water stop!

Don’t be fooled…I saw these cameras coming and put on a smile….if you take note you will see my belly swelling more and more as the pictures go on!!! This was at mile 9 when I thought another potty was around the corner.  It wasn’t.  I ran a bit farther, and Eric saw one on the other side of the road blocks.  I racked my shin on the gate in order to get to the potty, only to find it locked.  That was when I cried.  Yup, I cried because I needed to go to the bathroom so badly and that stupid porta potty gave me false hope.  At this point, a panic attack ensued and then the road man came over with a map to check on me and kindly pointed out that I only needed to go another mile to get to a potty.  Only. Another. Mile….that is a long time for someone in the condition that I was in.  Nevertheless, I squeezed my ass tighter and kept going.  Poor Eric was probably just worried about being behind me, so he kindly lead the way instead.

I would never normally show this picture, but I think it captured the moment perfectly.  This was right before that long awaited porta-potty.  I didn’t know whether to cry (which is what I was pretty much doing), or to just pull a ‘Bridesmaids” and crouch down in the street…don’t worry, I would never have done that.  After that stop, I was pretty much a dehydrated mess.  I was shaking, couldn’t down fuel or water and was just wanting to finish.  When we came up to the arena, I was so grateful to have pushed through all the crap (literally and figuratively) that held me back this past year from reaching my half marathon goal!  I grabbed for Eric and ran through that finish line, more proud than I could ever imagine!

After re-telling the story to my sister (who appreciates all of my gut issues and the laughs they give her) she made sure to remind me of two things.  One, that I finished like this:

Two: that I didn’t finish like this!

Ain’t that the truth!!!!  So, first half marathon DONE AND DONE!!  Next up, Tough Mudder in May, and hopefully the Dublin Rock ‘N’ Roll Half marathon in August!  I am sure I will sneak in some races before these ones, but these are the big ones!!!

So……ever shit your way through a race?