First DNS

DNS - Did not start

I always wanted to be a runner even when my body physically wasn't capable of it. Being known as a runner was a lifestyle that I wanted...no wait...had to have. I couldn't run more than a mile at first without burning lungs and legs forcing me to halt before I felt like I even started. I spent six months strengthening my body and tuning into the world of running. When I crossed my first finish line at the Kilimanjaro Marathon, I was not only just a runner...I was a finisher.

Since then it's been the same. I finish races. I have never signed up for a race I could not handle. Sure I'm often at the back of the pack on the longer beasts, but I finish. Whether it be running through pregnancy, running from trail demons, or neglecting to train seriously, I still finish (and do so uninjured might I add). I don't always do the right things along the way, but I'm constantly learning what my body can and can't do, and the journey so far has been incredible. I've stepped up to start lines wondering if I was really gonna be able to get to the finish line but come January 19th something happened at the San Diego Trail Marathon that has never happened to me before.

I never started.

I managed a full recovery from an exhaustive go at Tuscobia and have been feeling pretty fantastic for the past two weeks. Although I was tired from the flight just 19 hours before race start I was feeling quite chipper. Then I started feeling "funny" and before long my appetite went from ferocious to zip and soon I had waves of nausea crash over me. The following few hours I only got worse. Just two evenings prior my daughter had been ill with some unknown 24-hour virus that emergency room staff could not figure out. Strep - negative. Influenza - negative. I'm certain I was getting nailed with the same thing. 

Chills. Sweats. Nausea. Dry heaving. Aversion to food and food smells. Body aches and headache. Not exactly my ideal physical condition walking up to the start line. 

I ended up going to race start but did not run. I collected my bib and am hoping to be able to run the course unofficially before I leave back for home in a few days. I did a test 3'ish mile run on Sunday after I felt much better; however, I did not fare well. I will never know if I could have finished the marathon on Saturday, but I do know it would have been terribly risky and I would have been flat out miserable. My first finish line was in 2008 and back then I felt an intense need to prove myself (I'm pretty sure the tears at the end of that race prove that). Now in 2013, I have nothing to prove. And you know what? I'm 100% okay with a DNS on my record.

It is what it is!

Revival run on Sunday - not marathon ready yet

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