Hamilton Marathon- Road to Hope -I CAME IN DEAD LAST, BUT I CAME IN! and that is so much more than I ever dreamed I could do!

I had a lot of time to think about this post on Sunday.  like 4 hours and 20 minutes as I walked the ENTIRE Hamilton half Marathon.  Yup, 21.1 km or 13.1 miles.

I went without the intention of finishing.  I went to see what being in one of these things is like and to get some experience, so that when it really counts (FOR TEAM YACHAD IN MIAMI ON FEB. 2) I would have a clue what I was getting into.

We got up around 5 am and slathered ourselves with body glide and a product from Ellenoire.com,  their 'Double Rich Body Butter' (70% pure SHEA!) in the more delicate places.  I was told by Jean at Moving Comfort (movingcomfort.com) to make sure that I slathered myself with the stuff everywhere chafing could possibly take place.  That meant wherever clothing ended, had seams or met with skin.  Yup pretty much everywhere.  Jean was actually quite a font of information about what I needed to know.  I met her when I picked up my race package and then was thrilled to see her twice on the day of.  She actually works for a company (moving comfort) that makes sports stuff that might actually be large enough for me! This of course is one of the interesting things about being a super overweight half marathoner- most stuff in running stores made for endurance (like flat seams etc.) is made for runners who are often very small in size.  I realize as an oddball I have to do my best and have been cobbling things together to the best of my ability so I am not complaining, but the idea that there is a serious running company out there with stuff I would be able to wear if I lost a little weight is amazing!

I wore three layers of tops and shorts and capris for pants.  I also turned some socks into legwarmers because I knew it was going to be about 2 C and windy.  I took a fanny pack from Mountain Equipment Coop (mec.ca) and a water bottle.  I had purchased some Jelly Belly sports beans at the Expo tent at the race kit pick up Friday and had frozen some water in the bottom of my bottle.

I made myself a Starbucks plain iced coffee with about 4 ounces of water, because I wanted to make sure I didn't set myself up for needing a porta potty (I HATE them!)  I took along some shreddies and a single pack of cookies I got in my race kit at the Wellwood walk.  We set off to Confederation Park and then headed toward the buses.  The buses took us to Arcelor Mittal Park and we stayed in the nice warm arena until it was time to get out to the start line.  Things to remember from this part:

1)   I lived in Vanier Residence in my York University days.  We had co ed bathrooms.  I have ZERO problem with seeing a guy at a urinal since you can't see anything.  Lines to mens rooms are shorter because the only guys who are using the stalls are the guys who need to have a sit down and the womens bathroom lines are nuts.  All in all there were over 2500 of us JUST in the half marathon. You can imagine what the bathroom lineups were like.  I am glad I went to the mens room because I would have been still in the bathroom for 15 minutes after the race started.

2)  I need to find things I LIKE to eat before a race and don't involve preparation.  Next time, energy bars, like clif or lara or something. And I need to eat at least two of them.

3) I dislike carb loading since my favourite foods are all proteins.  best way for me to carb load is a thick chicken noodle type soup, or beef soup.  or with wet rice.  But just choking down carbs is not gonna happen and protein makes me too full to eat enough carbs.  Loading food of any kind sort of goes against what I think is a good idea in general, but it is absolutely needed for even a half marathon.  I could feel the moment I ran out of the carbs pre loaded.  Its a horrible feeling.  Sports beans probably got me through but on the other hand, choking them down dry is hard and it would be better if I didn't need too many of them while moving.

4) If its a cold day, I need a face mask.  My face was FREEZING!  I could barely talk!  There was a very stiff breeze coming down the Red Hill expressway and by the time I got to the lake my face was numb.

5)  Baseball hat good but band needed over it to keep it flying off my head! Also velcro to secure the back band which opened during a flying off episode.  Or maybe wear my outdoor research hat which has a string on it and is lined with gortex.  (now you know that since my next race is Miami in February that I definitely intend to keep doing this....)

6) LOVE WICKING CLOTHING! Have Bought from Addition Elle, Penningtons, Lane Bryant, Walmart, MEC, and Costco Make sure everything I buy has flat seams.
7) Buy blister resistant socks (Nike)!  What doesn't give you a blister at 14k could give you one by 16k
8) Buy throwaway layers to wear when I see them cheap.

I have to go get shopping for United Shabbat so I will have to continue this later!  Thank god for Advil!
Please consider sponsoring me!
http://miami.teamyachad.com/runner/schwevy/