Chapter 2 page 81 - HMTU 20 "the great flood"

Pull up a chair, grab some popcorn and get ready for an adventure in reading - this post won't be a boring.

"C" and I decided to train in the morning (a first for us) and we were planning to go 6.5 miles mostly using the PCT 10K course. I have to admit that I was pretty nervous leading up to this morning's session - I felt a lot like I do on race mornings. When I arrived at our meeting place, guess what? "C" said she was nervous - WHAT A RELIEF - we were definitely in this thing together!

So we started off with a 10 minute walk - so far so good. The high speed traffic caused a breeze to what was between 70-76 degrees and 99% humidity (seriously - 99%). We then began our 2.5:2 intervals. We high-fived after each running segment. We counted them in a type of celebratory victory (1 down, 2 down, 3 down, etc - yeah!) So far so good.

We get to the half-way point - feeling good. Sweaty, but everything was going great. No pains, plenty of conversation, and even laughter. It was pretty enjoyable (minus the humidity and sweat) and most importantly, it felt very do-able. We begin down the ziggy zaggy path and had to combat mosquitoes (thanks "C" for the dryer sheets - made a huge difference). Everything is going pretty smoothly. We had to cross over a downed tree but it was pretty small so it wasn't a problem.

We get about one mile from the half way point (which is about 2.2 miles from the finish line) and are only about 30 yards to the main road (30 yards!!!!). We had just discussed taking a second walking segment when all of the sudden . . . what did we see ahead of us????? (dramatic pause) A completely flooded path!!!! Not a little flooding like we could have made it through - NOPE!!! It was about 20 yards in length and one part was probably up to the mid calf. What now?!?!?! We discussed our options: take off shoes & socks and roll up pants and wade through? No way - it was deep, and beyond GROSS - besides, we would have sandy gravel on our feet and that would have been miserable to continue the remaining distance. So option 2: call for the WOW van :) Ha! Not seriously. That leaves option 3 - walking back to the midway point and then back on the road (an extra 2.5 miles). After a TON of whining (all done by me!!!) we walked back to the half way point and we took a 5 minute break on a park bench and refilled our water bottles.

Still in disbelief that we were literally only 30 yards to where we needed to go only to be stopped by the flooding. Instead of walking a mere 30 yards, we walked 2 1/2 miles around. Are you kidding?!? Wow - that took our 6.5 mile training session to approximately 8.4 miles. We walked the entire extra 2 1/2 miles mostly because we were still just so devastated. Then we did 2:2 for about a mile and then we went the rest of the way slowly to cool down (HA! Cool down - yeah right, we were so sweaty!). To cross the street and get back to our cars we had to climb over this 15' wall (okay, it was more like a 3' fence) - but we were completely wiped out!

Result - 2 hours 12 minutes of actual activity time (I stopped the watch when we were discussing options and while we sat on the park bench). I think the total time was more like 2 hours 20 minutes. "C" and I both had sore legs. My heel, shins, knee, and who-ha are so sore. I have 5 huge blisters on my feet. I even have chaffing on my arms, sunburn on my face and arms. When I got done, I showered and laid on the couch for an hour-I couldn't have gotten up if the house were on fire. When I finally got to work, I was gimpy and my co-worker said "you look terrible!" (just exactly the type of thing you want to hear after doing something so uber healthy earlier in the day). Oh, and don't even ask us about how much sweat leaked out of our body - gallons and gallons and gallons!!!!! Nice, huh!

"L" is still on vacation and missed the entire "event". "C" and I can't wait to discuss this with her. We wonder what would "L" have done when confronted with the flood. I'll let all of you know her response when she comes back next week.

Thank goodness we are taking tomorrow off and Thursday is suppose to be a very easy 3 mile walk (won't that seem so easy compared to today? . . . I can only hope so!)