Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Hot Mess

 Yesterday I was scheduled to complete an 18 mile long run.  I was actually feeling somewhat confident about this, despite the typical response of "you're crazy" every time I announced my intentions. Two weeks ago, I finished 16 miles and felt wonderful!  Without even needing to refill my water bottles (worn dutifully on my super sexy bat-belt), I practically breezed through my 16 miles.  The day was cool, the rails-to-trails path was shady and flat, and I finished the second 8 miles faster than the first!


So after my usual ritual of stalling--charging all my gadgets, eating, drinking, peeing, liberally applying Body Glide and baby powder, peeing again, tweeting about running--I was confident that I could conquer another 2 tiny miles on top of my previous success.  So what if it was 20 degrees hotter and I had no idea what this new trail was like?  I mean, it's called Riverfront Trail.  How bad could it be?


So long, suckers!


The St. Louis Gateway Arch is about 3 miles from my apartment.  This makes for a great 6 mile loop that I've enjoyed many times.  I had heard that if you follow the Mississippi River just a bit north, there is a bike trail that runs along it.  Cool!  Got to see this great statue of Lewis, Clark, and their dog Seaman.  These guys were amazingly smart.  They got the hell out of  St. Louis to get to Oregon before Oregon even existed.


Looks welcoming, doesn't it?


As promised, a quick run north took me to the start of the Riverfront Trail.  The neighborhood it was next to would have prompted me to roll up my windows if I were driving, but there was a guy just starting to ride his bike when I got there, so at least I wasn't alone.  There was a sculpture park around the first bend, and I was hopeful that there would be more artwork along the trail to break up my run along the river.


Uh-huh.


Don't think of scary movies, don't think of scary movies...


That was my view for pretty much the entire flipping run.  Industrial yards, shuffling rocks, salt, dirt, and I do believe just plain dust from warehouse to boat, or from train to truck.  I have no idea what was floating around in the air I was breathing, but it was unpleasant, to say the least. I guess maybe I should have seen that coming.  I looked up a map of the trail, and it runs directly between the train tracks and the river.  But the unending scrap metal yards and industry weren't the least scenic of my run...


St Louis's tent city
Oh.  Hi there.  This attraction wasn't mentioned on the Parks Department's webpage.
Don't get me wrong, I understand that poverty exists.  I am aware that sometimes the homeless are really and truly homeless, and don't take advantage of shelters. And I do take precautions when I run...I always let Rob know my route and check in along my run. I only have one headphone in and turn the music down so I can hear what's going on around me.  I just wish I would have been aware that this was on the trail so I could have decided beforehand if that was OK.  If this trail had any redeeming qualities otherwise, it might not bother me.  But it really didn't, and so I won't be returning.


Other fun stuff I saw...
When confused about a detour, I stopped for a minute to collect my thoughts so that I didn't get lost in North St Louis.  There was a man standing next to his van (parked on the trail where cars aren't allowed) holding a cat.  He told me how to get back around to the trail, but as I ran off I got the sense that I had interrupted him from launching that cat into the river.
A little closer to my turn around point, I saw the back of a man's head in the woods.  Looked like he was just sitting down, but I kept my eyes on him anyway.  Then a woman's face came around and it was apparent she was sitting on his lap.  Yeesh, I'm spoiling everyone's fun down by the river today!


I hit the 9 mile mark and headed for home, much slower than I would have liked.  All the water fountains served up water so hot I could have made tea.  What little water and Gatorade I had left was too warm to be any relief.  I started taking walk breaks around mile 12 or so, and finally made it back to the Arch, which meant I still had 3 miles to go before I got home.  The lovely woman at the food cart was kind enough to give me ice water after she ascertained that I was a runner and not just a bum.  And then I had to do this:


Oh no...
Yeah.  I had to climb these steps back up to the Arch.  That was pretty much my breaking point.  I sat down in the shade with my ice water and had a little heatstroke breakdown.  I was dry heaving, shaking, and not really seeing to clearly.  I checked in with Rob to let him know where I was and that I was taking a little break until I felt better.  Luckily, he had some time open in his schedule and came and rescued me.  I really don't know if I could have even walked those last 3 miles!




I've signed up to raise money for the American Cancer Society while I'm training. $1250 seems so much easier to me than the hundreds of training miles I'm putting in. But even though there are people encouraging me to run, in the end it's up to ME to lace up and dig deep. For the fundraising, I have to encourage YOU! So please, I'll endure the heat and rain and blisters and pain. It won't hurt that much to open your wallets, I promise!