Quote Originally Posted by skhill View Post
...did not start auspiciously. At 3 AM, I woke to the sound of my dog Pokey having a seizure-- that makes 8 now. I sat with him holding his paw (so to speak) until he calmed down and went back to sleep, and then just dozed a bit until time to get up.

For the race itself, the weather was great, the runners were great, the course was scenic, and the local residents were very gracious. It's got to be annoying to have your town taken over and roads closed like this! First 10 miles went great-- 1:34 at that point. All I had to do was cruise on in at 10 mpm to finish in 2:05. But alas, that's when I started cramping up and feeling nauseous. I drank less than I had in the past, hoping to avoid multiple stops at the port-a-potties, and paid the price. So I ended up walking more and more in those last three miles, and ended up finishing in 2:08, same as last time. Oh well. I learned something important (better to need the potty breaks than deal with the effects of dehydration) and basically had a good time.

Now, if only Pokey would vacate the couch, I'd stretch out for a nap. Don't have the heart to make him move right now. He's feeling fine right now, BTW, just tired and sore (like me!)
Learning still makes a race valuable even if you didn't PR. Sometimes it's hard to find the balance between drinking/eating too much or too little, especially since it varies with the conditions. The good news is up to that point you were right on pace, so you CAN and WILL PR when the right time comes. Rest well!