Run, Lift, Repeat: Palm Beaches Half Marathon

This past weekend I went down to West Palm Beach with the intent to run the marathon.

Yay for 80 degrees and gorgeous!

After NYCM I just knew that I was kind of done with the marathon for now and officially dropped down to the half at the expo the day before. Sadly I had to keep my 26.2 bib so ran feeling like a fraud (although when the volunteers at the half / full split anxiously told me I was going the wrong way - I did my most excited leap of the day and informed them I had dropped down!).

Anyway so basically this race was crap. Quite literally.

I had been running pretty well the couple weeks prior and thought that I could at least just run a sub 2. No way I thought I would PR (1:53) but a solid race seemed realistic.

Morning of just was not feeling right my stomach was gurgling yet I couldn't actually GO to the bathroom.

Get to the start and they have the race under caution to begin (it was almost 80 at 6 something am it was going to be a hot one!). It was gorgeous along the water though waiting!

The race starts about 20 minutes late and immediately I know I am not making it far without the bathroom. I dodged away right before crossing the start to run to a portopotty.

Thus would continue for the remainder of the race.

At first I was just focusing on making it a mile without walking or stopping for the bathroom.

By the end I was praying for 1/4 mile increments.

So discouraging. It was hot as hell, I was drenched with sweat and incapable of just RUNNING and getting it over with.

I lost count around 7 or 8 bathroom stops. And I threw up at mile 10 when I kept saying I needed water and got handed gatorade which I chugged and promptly threw up. (running can be so sexy, right?).

My poor sister I found out, was running the full (HER FIRST!!!!) and encountering the same exact issues. Which she has NEVER before. I felt so god awful for her.

Turns out we think the culprit was our Publix subs we got the night before for dinner. We each ate half of ours (same subs)...she ate the other half the next day when she was feeling better and soon felt shitty again. Major sad pants because one of my favorite things about Florida is Publix and their subs! I thankfully never ate my second half.

So the recap is: it was super hot, beautiful course, a nice but not too overpowering breeze from the water but I can't actually say I "ran" this sucker.

Thinking Florida is cursed with races for me. Every one is a disaster! Yet I keep coming back for more. One day I will have a good one.

The BEST surprise though - MY PARENTS SHOWED UP!!! They live about 90 minutes north of West Palm and came to surprise me. Best race redemption ever, I was so happy!!!! They have never come to ANY of our races so I was thrilled. We got to spend the afternoon together so that made everything a-okay in my book.

So yeah. Basically - could have been a good one but just not my day. It was actually comical by the end just how incapable of running I was.

I did however really enjoy the course and scenery! And there were some decent crowds. I would run this one again for sure. I love going to Miami but the vibe here was chill, and a lot smaller field makes it more manageable.