CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The excitement is here, runners picked up their race day packets at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi on Friday with preparation on their minds.
“It’s like a slight friendly competitiveness," Chris McCoy said. "But I like it just because it’s cool to get everybody to run together. Usually, I run by myself and it’s cool to run with a large group of people.”
This year the heat is leaning towards one of the hotter days we’ve seen on race day in recent years.
"The main thing we always try to stress, and we do every year— just for everybody to hydrate. Drink plenty of water," marathon director, Doug McBee said.
But apparently, the heat is not bothering the runners.
“No, we’re right along the water so it’ll be great,” Shelly Friecenhahn said.
“I'm more concerned about finishing the race, I'm not worried about the heat at all,” said Tricia Cantwell
The race has 24 water stations set up. And everyone running the full marathon must start with a bottle of water. They will also have Gatorade available at each of the 5 medic tents.
“No, I'm pretty good about staying hydrated and I think they’re really good about handing us water along the way to keep us hydrated to prevent any (…) hopefully everyone is mindful about it,” said McCoy.
“Everybody needs to remember to hydrate," Debbie West said. "Hydrate really well today, the day before, and then during the race bring some water with you. Electrolytes whatever it is that you need.”
Many of the runners share the same comments about staying hydrated during and before the race.
"We got to stay hydrated," said Joshua Brunemeier. "We have a fire department team from station 1 on C-shift. So, we’ve already talked about it in our group feed that we’re going to stay hydrated, get some rest tonight, try to load up on some carbs, and hopefully run a good race tomorrow.”
If you do happen to run into some trouble with the heat, the medical director for Beach to Bay tells you what to look out for.
“Increase in fatigue, dizziness, weakness," said Emergency care physician, Dr. Lonnie Schwritlich, also with physicians premier. "If you get to the point where you are not sweating like you do, your sweat decreases or you stop sweating, that is extremely dangerous."
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