Cavedog Running

Who would think that stopping for 20 little seconds at a porta-potty could make such a huge difference when trying to run a Boston Marathon qualifying time? Well, going potty did just that during my qualifying attempt at the Gasparilla Marathon Sunday. While running mile 22, I decided I would stop at a potty for some minor relief. I didn't have to go particulary bad or anything but also figured it would be good to see if I was getting dehydrated. In the back of my mind, I thought about possible consequences of letting the legs stop running as sometimes they don't come back to life after a break.

As you can clearly see from the race splits below, I was running great up to my break at mile 22 causing my worst mile time of the race. But, also took a while to get my pace back completely blowing the qualifying time. At least a positive is that every mile after the potty break was faster than the mile that preceded it.

So, the moral of the story is this...unless you are going to crap all over yourself just let it fly in your shorts. The shorts are already wet with sweat, so who cares! Grab some water at the next aid station and wash your legs off if you feel the need. Odds are, nobody will ever know you did anything!

Split	Time	Avg Speed
1	0:07:15	7:15
2	0:07:15	7:15
3	0:07:10	7:10
4	0:07:15	7:15
5	0:07:20	7:20
6	0:07:14	7:14
7	0:07:16	7:16
8	0:07:15	7:15
9	0:07:12	7:12
10	0:07:14	7:14
11	0:07:10	7:10
12	0:07:14	7:14
13	0:07:20	7:21
14	0:07:29	7:29
15	0:07:20	7:20
16	0:07:23	7:23
17	0:07:24	7:24
18	0:07:24	7:24
19	0:07:23	7:23
20	0:07:24	7:24
21	0:07:37	7:37
22	0:08:28	8:28
23	0:08:07	8:07
24	0:08:06	8:06
25	0:07:55	7:55
26	0:07:27	7:27
27	0:02:16	7:06
Summary	3:16:08	7:27