Too sick to run – the canceled half marathon…

Have you ever been in a race for which you have trained for four months, and were thinking "I wish I was at home feeling dizzy and achy right now!" Yea, me neither... Today is the Rock'n'Roll Portland half marathon. I joined a training group in late January, followed the program, did the long runs, picked up my number and shirt at the expo, and was ready to Rock Portland on Sunday!

Then on Friday I started feeling queasy. I just ate something wrong, right? It’ll pass!

Saturday morning I woke up dizzy. Probably not enough water! Drink more! Drink Nuun! Drink Gatorade! It’ll pass! I spent most of Saturday on the couch because walking around gave me vertigo. So I bundled up and read a book. A day of rest will be good. I can run the 10k instead (since Rock’n’Roll will let you downgrade to a shorter distance by simply following the shorter route and crossing the 10k finish line instead of the longer distance).

Saturday evening came around, and there is no way my body would let me think about running, or even walking a 10k without repercussions. I had to make the smart choice and accept the fact that I won’t be rocking PDX this year. C’est la vie, right? There’ll be other races.. I’m not happy about it (that finisher’s medal was really, really cool!), but life goes on, and the next race isn’t far off. I’ll have the Rum Run on the 25th, Tonkin “For the love of Schools” on June 1st, Blue Lake Triathlon on the 7th, and Vancouver USA Half on June 15th. I hope my body cooperates…

Have you ever had to cancel a race because of illness or injury? Would love to hear your stories!