I ran the Missoula Half Marathon on Sunday morning, and it didn't quite go as planned, but I finished.

The morning of the race, I got up at 3:30 feeling nauseous.  This isn't entirely unusual for me, as my stomach is prone to being troublesome, so I tried not to let it bother me to much.  After a bowl of cheerios & a banana, and several trips to the bathroom, I headed to the start line.  The race began at 6:00.  The sun was not over the mountains yet, and it was about 47 degrees.  The cannon went off, and fireworks were shot into the air over the start line.  The booming of those cannons really got my adrenaline going, and I started to feel a little better.

At about mile 3, I had to stop to use a porta potty, which is always a wonderful experience.  I carry a Nathan hands-free hand-held water bottle when I run, and despite the weight, I generally forget that it is there.  This was true when I reached back to try to get some toilet paper.  After about a minute of fumbling around, I looked back at the roll and noticed that I was rubbing the mouthpiece of my water bottle all against the toilet paper holder box thingy.  I could not get them damn paper to come out, so I just left.  Soggy.  With a filthy water bottle.

I stopped at the next aid station and dumped 2 cups of water over the mouthpiece of my water bottle, squeezed some of the water out of it, and rubbed it against my shirt hoping that whatever e-coli or other microscopic monster might have hitched a ride was now gone.  Then, I went back to running.

I was making OK time for me, ticking off miles at about 9:00 each despite the gnawing and nausea.  The sun came up over the Clark Fork River, there was a guy playing grand piano in a horse pasture, and people in their pajamas stood outside ringing cowbells and waiving funny signs.  All was going well until about mile 9.

I was almost to mile 9 when the nausea overwhelmed me.  I am truly phobic of throwing-up, and I panic a bit if I feel sick in public, so having this feeling mid-race was not entirely welcome, to say the least.  I stuck to the side of the road, and ended up walking miles 9, 10, and 11. Friends were passing me.  Old guys were passing me.  Kids were passing me.  People in knee braces were passing me.  I just kept walking, hoping I'd make it to the end.

Around mile 11, the nausea wore off a little bit, and I decided to run.  I ran the last 2 miles at about an 11 minute pace.  The guy who won the full marathon passed me just before I was at the finish line, and I thought, wow, that guy just covered twice the distance that I did in almost the same amount of time.  It was good to see him break the ribbon, but I felt awful.

The race finishes downtown on the Higgins Street Bridge with a band playing, a big food tent full of free organic food, a free beer tent, photos, massage, and tons of festivities.  I had to get out of there.  I grabbed my race bag, pulled on my hoodie, and walked as fast as I could to an open area to wait for my SO to pick me up.  I finished in 2:25:55, went home, and went to bed.

Congrats on finishing a tough race!  Sometimes, just finishing is celebration enough (I hope).  I'm sorry to hear about the stomach issues.  I was fully expecting to read that your handheld ended up in the porta-potty.

I, too, like the idea of a fireworks start!

Stomach issues on race morning really suck, great job grunting it out. That

finish time is damn good for walking 3 miles. Congrats and thanks for sharing

with us.

You finished, so way to tough it out.  

Thanks, all.  I'm feeling better today, and all in all, it was a positive experience.  I'm glad to be done with road racing for now and am ready to get back to the trails until next July.

Jamezilla: Yeah, it's the same stuff from earlier in the year.  Actually, the same problem I've have most of my adult life.  I've just got a bum gut I guess.  I tried that WA medicine back in college.  It's not very effective for me.

runtraildc: I am SO glad it didn't end up in the porta potty.

mtwarden: Ouch, sounds like you've been trough some tough ones lately.  I'm glad the tums helps you.  Alas, it doesn't work for me.  But from a practical standpoint, it's probably easier to bring with you to a race than James' medicine.  

It's easy to finish a race when everything goes right, it takes more strength to finish when you have problems, congrats! Hope you get stomach problems figured out.