Heatwave and the Relay

Of all the weekends to have a heatwave come through it had to be this past weeked! Sunday was the Need For Speed - 50 Mile Relay from Bear Mountain to New Rochelle, NY. This was the HOTEST day of the weekend. With the heat index, it was over 100 degrees. We all had fun until the heat got the best of us.

The race consisted of 9 legs total and we had 6 runners on our team. The race began at 7:30am. All of the runners were walk/running throughout the race because of the heat, even so early in the morning. I made sure I was completely hydrated throughout the day to ensure I was going to be ok for my first leg of 6.8 miles.

My first leg got started at 12:45pm. High noon. Worst time of day to run. I felt great going into the run. The first 3 miles of my leg were on highway (absolutely no shade) and then the last 3.5 miles of the leg was along a secluded trail.

I was just shy of the 3 mile mark when I had to drop out of the race. I cried and felt like such a failure but my team was so supportive of me. I had trained so long and hard for this race and I couldn't run it. The heat overtook me along the highway. About 30 minutes into my run, my team drove past me to head to the next exchange point and they slowed down to look at me. They ended up pulling over because they said something was wrong. As I jogged up to them, they called out to ask if I was ok. All I could do was shake me head no. I was hot, dizzy, sick to my stomach and shaking. I grabbed a bottle of cold water and was just dumping it over my head. At that moment I decided to try and continue.

My team got back in the truck and took off but then pulled off to the curb again where there was a race marshall sitting to guide runners in the right direction. My team was talking with him and as I was running towards them this guy kept looking at me. As I approached I stopped and he wanted to know how I felt. I had to admit that I felt really bad. I was suffering from heat exhaustion and decided to pull myself out of the race. My fear was continuing onto the trail, which was right around the corner, and collapsing. I made the right decision for myself.

We proceeded to the next exchange area so our next runner could take off. While we werre waiting for her to finish her leg, race officials announced they were ending the race. The police and hospitals were begging them to end it because of the heat. During my leg (#5) and leg #6, people were collapsing left and right. The heat was brutal and they should have called it way earlier. It was like the Chicago Marathon all over again.

I am fully recovered now. I needed rest and lots of liquids. I was suppose to run a total of 10.5 miles on Sunday and that would have gotten me to my 100 Miles or Bust marker of over 100 miles in 10 weeks. I did only about 3 on Sunday and wasn't able to run at all yesterday, so I missed making it but am very proud of myself for running as much as I have the past few weeks.

New training goals are in the works. I will be starting my marathon training in a couple of weeks to prepare for my second running of the NYC Marathon on November 2nd. I also got entry into the NYC Half Marathon on July 27th. Of course I will probably throw in some misc. small races.