Grinding to Marathon #99 at SoCal River Marathon

Gysel Parajon(HF18751, MM8995) – I am still processing this past weekend’s race, my 99th strictly 26.2 mile adventure. I had originally planned to run one more trail race for my 99th to taper somewhat before the LA Marathon, but had to cancel plans as I made a logistical error. But on the plus side I was able to slow down, reset, rest, and best of all spend a weekend with my son, which was really special. He ran with me for the first time on one of my recovery runs!
The SoCal River Marathon was on my tentative running list to 100 just in case I needed it, signed up a few days before the race, and set out Friday night for the long drive to SoCal. I don’t recommend this, but I was on a mission to meet my goal and ended up with only two naps on the way to bib pickup at the finish line in Huntington Beach. I was going to drive to the start in Yorba Linda, leave my car there, and figure out transportation back to it after the race, but as luck would have it there were several others that had missed the shuttles to the start there was one last bus sent out with us stragglers!
I knew the day would be warm but it actually became rather hot right from the very start of the race. I ran the first 4 miles, sweating my heart out, but I knew I wouldn’t last in the heat if I didn’t slow down so I ran/walked to mile 10, then solely speed-walked at 4mph until mile 13, then added running bursts along any of the shaded sections and bridge underpasses until mile 24 when my legs and glutes were so cramped up that I had to do the ultra shuffle to the finish. The fact that some aid stations had run out of water probably didn’t help the cramping, but I made it! I MET MY GOAL OF RUNNING 99 MARATHONS BEFORE THE LA MARATHON WITH A CRAZY GOAL OF COMPLETING 8 THIS YEAR, 7 OF THEM WITHIN 6 WEEKENDS!!!
Thank you to the volunteers for being out in the sweltering heat supporting us runners, my fellow runners for pushing themselves in these conditions, I saw a number of people in pain like myself, but still going, many thanks to my friends and family for the support especially my brother and his family for hosting me on this very short trip to meet this goal of mine, as well as my sweet boy and his papa.
Next up is the LA Marathon followed by state 38 the following week in Kentucky!