running: the dawn

I am so embarrassed!

I had a 15 miler scheduled for yesterday.  I made it 12 miles.

Here’s the story:

I made plans to run with a new running buddy who had a 12 miler planned.  I was then going to just loop around my neighborhood and finish up the last three miles on my own.  Mr. Woods, I’ll call him, showed up right on time, ready to roll.  We headed out on my favorite 12-mile loop.  By mile four, I was beginning to feel an uncomfortable gurgling in my stomach.  At mile six I had to dash off into the woods.  As my GPS clicked off 8 miles I felt so close to vomiting I had to stop and walk.

I have always prided myself on having an iron stomach.  I can eat almost anything without ever dealing with negative consequences.  In fact, during part of the run Mr. Woods had been asking about my pre-race nutrition plan.  I was laughing about how I can really handle just about anything without a problem when I started feeling the percolating in my belly.

When I stopped to walk, I assured him that I would be fine and encouraged him to head on without me.  He did and I was left to walk until the nausea subsided.  Kicking myself I went through the the meals from Saturday, trying to pinpoint the culprit.  When I couldn’t find any fault with my lunch of lasagna and salad or my dinner of veggie tacos, I turned my attention to earlier that day.  Was it the pancakes?  No, couldn’t be…. the eggs?  Maybe, but I’ve never had problems with that before…

I finally felt decent enough to run the last four miles home.  By the time I got there I had given up all hopes of finishing those last three miles.  I walked into the kitchen and there on the table I found my answer.

I had run some errands in town before going on my run.  In line and Marshalls these jelly beans screamed out to me.  Sugar free?  Sour?  Yes please!  What you can’t read in that picture, and what I didn’t read until after the unfortunate run is the little warning in the lower right hand corner.  It reads, “Consumption may cause stomach discomfort and/or laxative effect.  Individual tolerance will vary; we suggest starting with 8 beans or less.”

Awesome.

But you know what’s MORE awesome than that?  The fact that this EXACT SAME thing has happened to me before.  Not just “oh I accidentally ate something that was a laxative”…NO.  I have eaten this exact bag of beans before.  Right before I drove 11 hours in my car.  And I wondered why my stomach was so upset.  And I found the bag after the fact.  And read the label and had a good laugh at myself.

Last night as I laid in bed there was a full three-ring circus in my abdomen.  Complete with lions roaring, clowns juggling, acrobats flying, and my poor husband trying to sleep next to me.

Note to self: READ!

I just hope I can convince Mr. Woods that I’m not usually one to wimp out on a long run…