Welp, I ran it. Not sure it was really a very healthy decision on my part but in hindsight I don't regret it. I went an entire day on Saturday with no water butt so I figured if I could chug two 500mL bottles of pedialyte then I could somehow rehydrate from a week's worth of stomach flu. Well, obviously that didn't happen.
The little demons in my intestines struck me again late in the evening on Saturday as we were heading to dinner. I had to lock myself in a little hostel bathroom for awhile and then clinched tight as I power-walked back to the hotel for some imodium relief. I decided just to lie down for the remainder of the evening and argue with myself about whether or not it was worth it to run since I had gotten all the way there, paid all that money (ha! Races here are under $20, no matter the distance), and had plenty of friends there for support. I fell asleep with visions of myself laying in a pool and soaking up all the water like a sponge. Unfortunately, this mental imagery served me no luck.
On race day, I woke up with no stomach aches and decided to give it a go. We walked to the start line, I cranked up my music, and we ran. The first 10K was great. In fact, if I could have kept up that pace I would have been well under my best time. However, at around kilometer 13 with temperatures ranging from 92-95 degrees, the water stations had completely run dry. For about 4 kilometers (but what felt like 10), there was literally no water. People were complaining all around me and their voices all started to run together as I think, for the first time in my life, I started to feel the effects of dehydration. I couldn't keep my mind focused on running, which is like the easiest thing on earth to do. All I could think about was not falling over, not running into anyone, and how much further I had to go before I could be finished with this terrible, stubborn idea of mine.
Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, the clouds parted and a beautiful woman in a red dress rushed to my side. She was holding a bottle of cherry pedialyte and comforting words of how many more kilometers I had left. Disoriented, I opened the bottle, threw the cap on the ground, and chugged about a third of it. Normally, artificial cherry flavoring is one of my least favorite things on earth but that day I had never tasted anything more delicious. The mixture of salts and sugars in the drink for babies with diarrhea gave me exactly what I needed to come back to reality and finish the race. It also cleared my vision and revealed that the beautiful woman in the red dress was my loving roommate, Aubrey. Somehow, that girl always knows how to appear out of thin air just when I need her.
I was able to run the rest of the race, though with quite a heavy amount of reluctance as the race was poorly marked and spectators were crowding the streets to the point of making the runners run in a single file line. I found Juan Pablo about 2 kilometeres from the finish and we encouraged one another to cross the line. We ate our apples and bananas at the finish line, chugged some powerade (powerade sponsored the race and the only powerade I saw the entire time was a 250mL bottle at the finish... thanks guys), and walked very slowly back to our hotel. After a delicious kids pizza from a nearby restaurant, we bought our bus tickets and returned home. Luckily, I had planned to take a personal day from school the following day and I don't think it could have come at a better time. I spent the day stretching, sleeping, writing my report cards, and packing up my room a bit.
What did I learn from this ridiculous Guatemalan adventure?
1. Running 13 miles with the stomach flu leads to more discomfort than sitting at home with the stomach flu.
2. It takes several days to truly rehydrate yourself after losing 6 pounds in 3 days of sickness
3. Pedialyte really is a miracle substance
4. Running the same race next year will feel like revenge on my body... and I'm really looking forward to it.
5. I really, really like my friends.
This school week has already flown by as we took our MAP tests, skyped my dear friend Teresa's third grade class in Nebraska, and began our fourth quarter exams. After Friday, we will only have ten days of school left. Dear god. I'm still not sure how to feel as I am looking forward to this summer break more than any others because of the events I have planned but I just don't feel like my time should be up with my kids. There's so many things I still want to teach them, so many questions that will go unanswered. I'm thankful that I have enjoyed this year so much and learned more than in all the years I attended school, but I can't help but think about all the things I could have done differently. Being a first year teacher is terrifying because I feel like I experimented with everything all year and if I had known what to do in the first place, perhaps more learning would have occurred. I know we all have to start somewhere but dang, its scary.
Well, I'm sure I'll have some fun end of the year stories to tell in the upcoming weeks and hopefully I won't let myself get swamped to the point of not sharing them. Three weeks until summer officially begins; cheers to that :)
Wow, go you for finishing!
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