Bladder Betrayal
Tom Fleming’s Boston Marathon training sign on his wall
[quote]Somewhere in the world someone is training when you are not. When you race him, he will win.[/quote]
Now, as the Boston Marathon comes upon 27,000 people tomorrow morning there is this very real thing that runners, triathletes and I’m sure all athletes (before a competition) find the urge to go the bathroom. Some of us have a very nervous bladder and I’m not sure why. There are times where I have to go the bathroom and then as I finish I have to basically get in line again. Why ?
It is like I drank 10 beers.
What do you do when you begin your long run and shortly before you hit 2 miles the urge to urinate consumes you ? Turn around or try and stick it out ?
Yesterday I wasn’t planning anything super long but after 2 miles it became quite obvious that the rest of the run was going to be very uncomfortable. Now, I know I didn’t have to go that bad but it really slowed me down. WTF. I did hydrate before the run but not to the point of having such an issue. Now, I do have an issue with urinating out in public (like most people) but this run certainly didn’t even give me this option.
I continued the run but it hurt and I decided that I needed to cut the run short. Only about 2 miles short but still frustrating.
I do remember my 2008 Boston Marathon experience and some of the stories. Now, I had the opportunity to ride on luxury buses (with bathrooms we were told) and didn’t have to ride the yellow school buses to Hopkington. Why ? Well, long story but I was part of a VIP program that treated us like Elite athletes and this was one of the perks.
So, part of the program was a great spread before the race and of course our coaches told us to hydrate well before the race. Most of us thought there was a bathroom on the bus. We were wrong. Now, we were a lot luckier than some of the other folks. A friend of mine was running the race and he said the backup in Hopkington caused many people (woman and men both) to just jump out on the highway and relieve themselves.
It seems to be a common scenario.
Ok, so this post is a bit weird, but runners know the dilema you have when running or biking long.
Believe me there is a lot of stress.
