By mile 10, I was more prune than man, the steady drenching rain soaking me through and through.
By the teens, I wondered if my prune hands would make my fingerprints more or less identifiable. I decided since I couldn’t recall that being a plot point on CSI it probably didn’t matter.
By mile 20, I flashed onto my seventh grade science book and wondered if I could die from cytolsis, the process whereby excess water causes the cell to burst and explode. I know over-hydration can be fatal… but that’s if one drinks too much water, right? Or is that the same thing as my cells absorbing all this water pelting me for miles upon miles? Again, I couldn’t recall that being a plot point on CSI but I do think it could make a killer faux-science-y killing MO for a detective novel.
I stopped taking photos pretty early on as the rain came down. But here are some shots of the day because that’s what I do on these posts when I’m delirious and unable to think much of anything besides the all-too-applicable running mantra: “run, eat, sleep, repeat.”
One quick note — my body is so tired that I don’t think it knows how to process the pain receptors… that or they shorted out in the water logged mileage. Either way, I’m fervently a proponent of the shock and awe self-health care. By running these crazy distances, it seems to purge toxins and germs and I’ve very often been able to burn out a cold or an illness on a race course. Maybe the same thing is happening with the hip and leg issues of the past few months. We’ll see when I stop running for a bit… which apparently should be in 2044.
As an aside, Kate asked me as she handed me my medal if I wanted the day’s venus fly trap trivia. I thought she knew me better than that. OF COURSE I wanted the venus fly trap trivia! The reason she and George named today’s marathon after the VFT is because the only place in the world with a native population is all within the coastal bogs and swamps near Wilmington, NC.
Trivia!
Tomorrow — one last time… or, well, 12 last times as it’s supposedly a 12 loop course again. Sigh.