Seattle Rock N Roll Marathon Pacing

Remember how I tried to run Sun Mountain 50k with a stomach bug? Try pacing a marathon with a migraine. Here's a tip, don't try to do that. 

I was asked several months back to pace the Seattle Rock N Roll Marathon, which of course I am always happy to do. I love pacing! The race was on Sunday and Saturday morning I woke up with a bad headache which quickly escalated to a migraine. I had it all day long. I stayed in bed, locked up on my dark quiet apartment. I messaged my pace team to let them know I wasn't feeling well and that I was going to do my best the next day. I woke up Sunday feeling a bit better, I was able to move around at least. I got ready and headed to the midway exchange point for the race. Still feeling blah but willing to give the pacing my best shot we started out and I was ok for the first couple of miles then I realized was working 10x harder than I should have been, I let my pace partner know that I was starting to really work hard to run. I started sweating like crazy and getting really really hot. But I kept chugging along. Then things went wonky. . . 

This was at the very start of our pacing before I fell apart.

I got very very hot and couldn't breathe. I had to let my partner know I had to drop. I became disoriented and stopped running, immediately stripping off my shirt. Mind you, it was misty and cold. I was walking around shirtless in the Seattle misty cold morning. I was on the Alaska Way Viaduct just wandering around like a crazy person. 

I couldn't find a first aid tent on there but I found an off ramp. I knew I was close to home but for some reason didn't know how to get home because I was so disoriented, my neck hurt to bad I had to  hang my head, my eyes were so light sensitive that I couldn't look up, my eyes hated all noise but I needed help. I text my pace director to let him know I dropped and called my friend Tiffany, she gave me turn by turn directions over the phone until I was able to find my way the rest of the way home. I got home, put on dry clothes and walked back over the nearest pharmacy and stocked up on migraine meds and crashed again.

I have decided this summer I am the poster child of "What not to do while running!" I am just glad that nothing worse happened and that Tiffany was able to guide me safely home. 

Keep on Running! Unless you have a migraine... then don't.