Volksläufe is German for Cooked Alive

I knew this July 4th was going to be a tough one.  Nevertheless, I had signed up for the 20K, and I was going to do it.  I had a few choices to make beforehand though, given the heat:

-Pancake Breakfast - Yes or No
-Hydration Backpack - Yes or No
-Start Conservative - Yes or No

I went yes, no, yes.  I should have been a full on yes man. 

I started really slow, and for once allowed myself to run my own race.  I figured the sun and heat moving closer and closer to the 90s and above would cause a lot of people to fall apart, and I could slowly cruise on by.

I love that pig

When I hit the 12K mark, I thought myself a genius.  I was poised to start eating everyone alive.  I felt really in charge and ready to bust the rest of the race out.  At that point, I had no fatigue whatsoever.  The only problem was, shortly after that, I realized, despite double-fisting every water stop I was getting that not so hydrated feeling.  I made up about a 2 minute deficit and caught J, but after the next water stop, I turned backwards and ran right back to it to get 2 more waters on top of the gatorade and 2 waters I had.  I knew I needed fluids, and was trying to help make sure I didn't lose everything because of it.  However, by that point, I think it was probably too late.

I have you now......or not

Shortly after, about everything shut down on me.  As usual, I refused to stop running, but that invincible feeling I had just minutes before was gone.  I felt desperate, thirsty, and, until about another two miles, there wasn't a whole lot I could do about it.  For the heat that it was, two miles was too far without water for me.  I was leaking so much human coolant that I probably would have needed about a gallon of water to not be physically hindered in this race.  J pulled back ahead, and stayed in sight, but I never caught him, even though he had slowed considerably as well.

From that point on, I hit literally every water hose and sprinkler the neighborhood spectators had to offer me, and I thank all of Frankenmuth for the water.  I'm not sure I could have made it without the cool downs.  Also, I have to fess up to drinking some of it.  I know people are paranoid of drinking sprinkler and hose water these days, but I'm a lot more paranoid of turning into a melting glob of Crisco on the pavement. 

With barely enough energy to even finish the thing, I still made my way over to the opposite side of the street to high five Sparty before heading in for the last 2.5K.  From there I really tried to kick it in just to finish strong several times, but I didn't have it.  The sun had had it's way with me, and the human waterfall was out of flow.  I came in at a deplorable 2:13 (6 minutes slower than last year).  Sad thing was, I was happy with it, because I was just happy to be done. 

Hello Sir!

We skipped the $4 beer booth, and just went up to the Frankenmuth Brewery for a beer and some food.  Wednesday is $5 growler refill day there, anyway.  So a cup of beer for $4, or a 1/2 gallon for $5 wasn't really a hard call to make, being I prepared and brought Mr. Gluggy with me.

He is now empty again, a victim of "drink before it gets warm"
during our recent power outage