Ran this marathon--well kind of about a month ago and I thought I'll share with you since I am spending more time here now and I would like to get to know you better as time goes by.
Temperature was upper 40's at race time with scatter showers predicted I thought I was prepared for the the rain but more on that later.
As I lined up for the race to start, this girl told me that her sister, a barefoot runner also, was on the back of the line hoping to spot another BF runner so she won't feel so lonely.
I went back looking for her and I found her standing next to "same day" pace group it turned out she's a forumite from BRS, Chelsie I think is her name.
Race started and on our way we go, a short run to the first mighty Mississippi bridge crossing and the surface was very rough and it is a very long bridge.
We crossed from Moline Illinois to Bettendorf Iowa and went across town into Davenport Iowa and from there we crossed the mighty Mississippi again into Rock Island Illinois and back to Moline Illinois luckily this bridge was in much better shape that the first one.
I must tell you that this Marathon is not, I repeat is not BF friendly as all the roads in every city were in very poor shape. The surface is mostly chip seal and cracks all over so there was no way around but to sucked up and keep moving.
In Davenport we went through this park and it was brutal, not only was rough but the city had decided to fix some portions of it so they tore down the old surface and didn't replace it on time for the race so it was all gravel and it was no way I was going to run thru it so I jumped on the grass and you guessed it, my right foot landed on a walnut there were millions of them on the ground.
I felt a twitch on my right ankle but didn't hurt too bad maybe the adrenaline who knows.
I was doing really well despite the road conditions, I crossed the 13.1 mile at the 2 hr mark and I was feeling really good saving my energy for the last leg.
Then it started to rain, a very cold rain and everything went downhill from there.
I was wearing a waterproof windbreaker but no hood so the water sipped down my neck and my top got soaked and my core temp dropped to very uncomfortable levels.
Finally, the rain stopped but by then I was just plain frozen(I felt that way). I couldn't feel my feet and my hands had no blood circulation, my fingers were turning purple(that's what happens when one suffers from Raynaud's condition) I was just praying that the Mortons Neuroma wouldn't start acting up but at this point I think it didn't matter my legs felt so heavy and I couldn't even feel my feet and I knew I was landing much harder due to the lack of sensation so I decided to walk the rest of the race, this was at mile 18.
At mile 23 I needed to used the bathroom and for the life of me I just couldn't pull my pants up because of my frozen fingers and I thought that I would just ask some spectator to do it for me but I thought it wouldn't be a good idea to be arrested for indecent exposure so I struggle some more and managed to pull my pants half way up, good enough I said.
There were times I thought about dropping out but I told myself that I was going to finished even if I had to crawl my way to the finish line.
My finished time was an embarrassing 4:50:19(for me). I will post pictures when they become available.
I did see two other BF runners besides Chelsie and myself, one was doing the half and the other the full.
Got lots of positive comments and admiration and some inquires about BFR.
The moral of the story is...always come prepare for what mother nature throws at you..
Happy times here before the rain.
Trying to run here not sure what mile is here.
Here at my lowest point.
This was taken about 25 feet from the finish dug deep to give the fotographer a smile.
Temperature was upper 40's at race time with scatter showers predicted I thought I was prepared for the the rain but more on that later.
As I lined up for the race to start, this girl told me that her sister, a barefoot runner also, was on the back of the line hoping to spot another BF runner so she won't feel so lonely.
I went back looking for her and I found her standing next to "same day" pace group it turned out she's a forumite from BRS, Chelsie I think is her name.
Race started and on our way we go, a short run to the first mighty Mississippi bridge crossing and the surface was very rough and it is a very long bridge.
We crossed from Moline Illinois to Bettendorf Iowa and went across town into Davenport Iowa and from there we crossed the mighty Mississippi again into Rock Island Illinois and back to Moline Illinois luckily this bridge was in much better shape that the first one.
I must tell you that this Marathon is not, I repeat is not BF friendly as all the roads in every city were in very poor shape. The surface is mostly chip seal and cracks all over so there was no way around but to sucked up and keep moving.
In Davenport we went through this park and it was brutal, not only was rough but the city had decided to fix some portions of it so they tore down the old surface and didn't replace it on time for the race so it was all gravel and it was no way I was going to run thru it so I jumped on the grass and you guessed it, my right foot landed on a walnut there were millions of them on the ground.
I felt a twitch on my right ankle but didn't hurt too bad maybe the adrenaline who knows.
I was doing really well despite the road conditions, I crossed the 13.1 mile at the 2 hr mark and I was feeling really good saving my energy for the last leg.
Then it started to rain, a very cold rain and everything went downhill from there.
I was wearing a waterproof windbreaker but no hood so the water sipped down my neck and my top got soaked and my core temp dropped to very uncomfortable levels.
Finally, the rain stopped but by then I was just plain frozen(I felt that way). I couldn't feel my feet and my hands had no blood circulation, my fingers were turning purple(that's what happens when one suffers from Raynaud's condition) I was just praying that the Mortons Neuroma wouldn't start acting up but at this point I think it didn't matter my legs felt so heavy and I couldn't even feel my feet and I knew I was landing much harder due to the lack of sensation so I decided to walk the rest of the race, this was at mile 18.
At mile 23 I needed to used the bathroom and for the life of me I just couldn't pull my pants up because of my frozen fingers and I thought that I would just ask some spectator to do it for me but I thought it wouldn't be a good idea to be arrested for indecent exposure so I struggle some more and managed to pull my pants half way up, good enough I said.
There were times I thought about dropping out but I told myself that I was going to finished even if I had to crawl my way to the finish line.
My finished time was an embarrassing 4:50:19(for me). I will post pictures when they become available.
I did see two other BF runners besides Chelsie and myself, one was doing the half and the other the full.
Got lots of positive comments and admiration and some inquires about BFR.
The moral of the story is...always come prepare for what mother nature throws at you..
Happy times here before the rain.Trying to run here not sure what mile is here.Here at my lowest point.This was taken about 25 feet from the finish dug deep to give the fotographer a smile.
