Whidbey Island Marathon

This was to be my first marathon. And I'm not exactly sure what made we want to try it. As is my wont, I had not really trained properly for the race. I think it was a slow week in racing and this marathon (which I thought was reasonably close to Seattle where I had to go anyway that weekend) would be convenient.

It turns out that Whidbey Island is several hours away from Seattle. I made it to the island the day before just as they were closing up the exhibition. So I managed to get a race number. It started as a sunny but cold day. So I checked my tights and warmup jacket at the start. It was a beautiful race at the start. Just hilly enough to be interesting and beautiful scenic views. I hit the 13 mile mark at 1:55 feeling like it was going to be easy to finish after all. After 13 miles I didn't see anymore water stops for several miles. At 15 miles we hit downtown Gig Harbor. We left the downtown at 16 miles and my legs suddenly felt leaden. I slowed to a job at 18 miles. Still no water or sports drinks. At this point it got cloudy and the wind kicked up. I assume due to the lack of sodium and water, my legs started cramping severely at 19 miles. I eventually laid down on the ground crying out. There really werent that many runners and they were all intent on their own misery at that point. Eventually an ambulance showed up and gave me pretzels and ice packs. After a very long delay I started running and finished in some ungodly long time. A day best forgotten perhaps.