Eat, Run, Love!: Disappointment in Gran Canaria

I went into the race knowing that it may not end the way I wanted or wished. I have been battling Plantar Fasciitis in my left foot and achilies tendinitis in my right. Leading up to the race I've taken time off. Two weeks in January, two weeks right before the race and it started to feel better. I even thought that I might actually be able to run not pain free because we all endure pain throughout the race, but somewhat injury free.

The day before the race I picked up my bib and packet and then went back to my hotel to relax by the pool. I was careful not to get too much sun and drank plenty of water. On Friday I ate Linner (lunch/dinner) with my friend Djanina Freytag who was running the Advance trail. It was great to see her and talk about training, racing and our personal lives. Love this lady, she is so strong and sweet! After eating I went back to the hotel and set my alarm for 9pm and fell asleep for about 3 hours. When I woke up I had a slight headache so I took 800 mg of Ibphrofen. It never went away...even during my race.

We started the race at 12am on March 1st, just like the year prior, the whole town of Agate was out cheering! Initially, I thought I might be good. My feet didn't hurt but then around the 20km mark I started to feel issues, I tried to ignore them. Unfortunately, that was hard to do and my pace began to suffer. It was taking me much longer to get from checkpoint to checkpoint then I had expected. My plan was to take Ibphrofen if I started to feel pain but I couldn't because from the time I left Artenara (33km) I was vomiting and couldn't keep anything down. Everything I had eaten at the last checkpoint came back up along with anything else that was left in my stomach. I contemplated just turning around and heading back to Artenara since I was much closer to that checkpoint then the next one but I didn't. I pushed on.

It was a little after 8am when our trail merged with the Advance trail. There were several of us from the TransGranCanaria trail running up a muddy path when we heard the Advance elites coming up behind us. We stepped aside to let them run by. They had just started their race, they looked really fresh and fast! I cheered on a few, wished Salomon athlete Philipp Reiter "good luck" and he was still relaxed enough to thank me. After the group of elites passed, I began running again but would step aside for Advanced runners as they wanted to pass. I kept looking behind me for my friend Djanina but didn't see her. Then, not long after I stopped turning around I heard my name called and felt the hug and kiss from my friend. She asked me how I was doing and I told her I hurt but that I would be cheering for her and hoped that she had a good race.

It was two checkpoints after the merge that I had enough. I took my bib off at Teror surprisingly without much regret. Of course I hate DNFing but I felt that I was doing more damage than good to my injury.

Hopefully now, with a little time off and cross training I will be good to go for my next race, the Iznik Ultra in Turkey. I have to remain positive and just use this experience to make me stronger! I'm really looking forward to this race :)

I did get to enjoy beautiful weather by the pool and beach. Gran Canaria is a very interesting island and has a lot of beautiful places to see. The food is yummy and the people are super friendly. I would recommend visiting this island even if it isn't to race from one end to the other!

At the Expo