2 Gu, a protien bar, and lots of oranges later...

Well, I did it! And...I liked it! Who'd have guessed?
The Bataan Memorial Death March

I can't believe it's me saying that, but it was cool! I'd do it again. Or a different one.
(When's the next race?)

I did the first 10 miles with a lady from my town that I met in line for the bathrooms. (Races can be like that.) So that was nice, but she had only trained up to 8 miles, and had never run further than 3 in a race, so pushing her to 10 was fun. Unfortunately, after that, I mostly had my iPod for company. (I love my little iPod!) Miles 15-18 were crappy. I took a 10+ min rest at 18 and changed my socks, drained a blister with the safety pin from my bib number, and taped up my feet a bit. That was really helpful.

While running, there was always someone nearby, always someone just slow enough that I figured I could catch, and for the most part I caught all my "rabbits". (If you can call teams of military personnel in full uniform and boots with fully loaded rucksacks rabbits. Yes, I'm that slow.)

There were plenty of porta-potties, water, Gatorade, and oranges!

Miles 23-25 were stinky too, and the mile+ of loose sand was just plain mean. It was great to finish, and the sports massage afterward was icing on the cake.

The whole history and purpose of the event is moving. (Click the history at the top of the page at http://www.bataanmarch.com/.) The Bataan Veterans were incredibly sweet grandpas, aka: Tough Old Coots. Their stories from the actual 1942 Death March are incredible. I was sure to shake their spouses hands as well, 'cause many of them went through it in their own way too.

Anyway, Maybe long runs of this sort leave a longer 'runners high', and I just havn't crashed yet. I expect I'll return to my senses shortly, and retract my statement of repeat marathons, but you never can tell.

Today I'm not so sore, but stiff and achy and my feet hurt to walk barefoot, so I've been wearing sneakers instead of sandals all day. (That's really hard to do in these parts, with our 80 degree weather.)

The picture is of my once grey shoes, now brown. These shoes were only worn three times before (~25 miles) and looked pretty new until yesterday. This picture is AFTER I shook off all the sand and knocked them around a bit. It's also the only picture I have to help me tell my tale, as my friend and I both forgot our cameras. (I tell ya, Mom brains! The kids stole most of our brain cells and now they continually distract us from using the ones we have left.)

Anyhow, great race! Come join us next year. (Yes, it's on a Sunday, call me for the disclaimer.)

Now I get to sit around and eat bon-bons 'til my hubby comes home. :)