The day the shit finally hit the fan (or streets) in Spain

La Melonera 10K

Woke up feeling pretty great for a Saturday morning.  We had BIG plas for the day and we decided to kind of be lazy until our run.  Tonight is our race and then La Noche en Blanco, which is a huuuuuge party in the streets of Madrid as a farewell to summer.  The government puts it on and has hundreds of activities for everyone to participate it.  We mapped out our night so we could hit all the fun things that we wanted to do and they included: the race, a free IMAX showing of Wild Ocean, crazy big game of twister, "a night of balls" that included tons of balls being dropped into the square for all to play with, a big dance party, free breakfast in Retiro park, and a great view of the sun rising in the morning.  Sound great, right???  Well, as we were getting ready to leave for the race I realized that I didn't eat very much and didn't want to be hungry during the run.  I ran into the kitchen and quickly made a grilled ham and cheese sandwich.  I was still a bit hungry and we still had some time so i grabbed a bowl of cereal as well.  Milk was clearly a bad choice.  We walked over to the start of the race and it was hot.  The race started at 6:30 in the evening which just so happens to be when the sun is the most intense here.  Great idea by the planning committee, right??  So we lined up with the other thousands (literally) of runners and took our places.  The gun shot rang and we were off.  The race started off great.  I had a good playlist going and the sights were beautiful.  I even took some pictures along the way.  As we kept going tho, I noticed the sun to be getting pretty extreme and I was getting REALLY hot.  Like almost unbearable hot.  It didn't help that along the sides of the race people were throwing up and a few people were even passed out due to the extreme heat.  Well, at about the 5K mark the milk that I had just consumed finally kicked in and I was in immediate need of a bathroom.  If you are a runner, you will sympathize with what was coming next.  If you are not a runner and are squeamish about bodily functions, I suggest you stop reading now.  I had to stop running and start walking, looking for any signs of a bathroom.  Since there are no public bathrooms here, clearly my search was useless.  I decided after walking 1.5K that the situation wasn't getting any better or worse and decided to start running again and tried to get my mind off the situation.  At the 9K mark i decided that I was going to have an accident if I didn't stop and find a toilet immediately.  I was sooooo close!!  AND if you finish the race you get a free Tshirt!  FREE!  I had to finish.  I put all of my efforts into not soiling myself before the finish since the street was lined with onlookers and ran thru the finish line!! I made it! now, for a bathroom.  There was a long line to exit the finishing area and they were throwing slices of melon and soda at you.  real refreshing after a race, huh?  I was doing okay trying to stay calm in the massive group of people and it happened.  My stomach turned for the worst and I needed to get out of there ASAP.  I grabbed my shirt and some mellon since they wouldn't let you leave without it and started walking up the packed street for a bathroom.   No such luck, so I went behind a construction area, pretended like I was streching and unfortunately was no longer in control of my bowel situation.  A boy that was working the race just so happened to walk past me with a bottle of water and asked if I wanted it.  YES, i wanted the water sooo badly!  Again, I pretended like I was stretching, with massive amounts of people walking within feet of me, and poured the water down my back to try to clean up as much as possible before I had to walk back to my apartment.  Needless to say, I lost a sock or two in the clean up.  I then walked about 2 miles home to find my other roommates that ran the race sitting outside of our building.  No keys.  All I wanted to do was take my freaking clothes off and take a freaking shower and we were locked out.  Our roommate with the keys didn't realize that we didn't have any and walked down to meet us for the IMAX.  The problem?  The IMAX was about a 30 minute walk away and started at 10:45.  The time at this point? 8:15.  After a trip over to the local bar where Jose Carlos was a doll and let me use the restroom and 2.5 hours later, we finally got ahold of the keys and let ourselves inside.  I'm not sure if it was the heat, the milk, or the ham, but I was now puking and needing the restroom at all times and quickly decided that La Noche en Blanco wasn't for me and called it a night while the roommates and some friends went out without me.  Now, most people wouldn't tell you that they shit themselves in public, but if it wasn't me that had the problem, this story would have been really funny so...you're welcome :)  Bring on the jokes, bring on the laughing, I'll laugh with you.  And just remember--->NEVER drink milk before you run in 100 degree weather.  And if you have to, tell me aaalllllll about it when you're done!