As expected, I slept horribly last night. Even worse than usual. It really felt like this was my first race for how anxious I was about it. It took me a long time to fall asleep, and a long time to fall asleep again after I woke up (several times). I finally settled into a deep sleep about 2:00. When my alarm went off at 3:30 I was in such a deep sleep, my wife had trouble waking me up. I probably got somewhere between 3-4 hours of sleep. Glad I got all that sleep Thursday night. Luckily, I wake up pretty good and am not usually groggy.
I got ready and left by about 4:10. It just takes about 7-8 minutes to get there. Parking was a bit of an issue due to all the rain we have received in the past couple of days. The field was too soggy for cars. Luckily, we were able to park at nearby schools (very close). The busses arrived at 4:30, just as scheduled. Just the marathoners were loading at this time. We all piled on the busses. On my bus some welcome laughter came when on of the last guys on said (jokingly), "Is this the bus for the 5k?" Everyone had a good laugh.
We were soon off. The starting point is about 30 mins from the park where we loaded. I sat way in the back and just practiced some deep breathing exercises to calm me. I was not feeling particularly nervous now, but I knew that would help overall. Once we got on the island, the first bus missed the turn-off for the ranch, and like good little ants, all the following busses missed it, too. Luckily, you can only drive so far on that road before you realize you missed it (the road does not go very far). We all turned around and were soon on the road to Garr Ranch. The starting point is a little more than 9 miles down that road, and just like the road to Garr Ranch, we flew right pass the starting point. I was thinking they were just going to the ranch to turn around (which is as far as you can go), but once we got to the ranch the bus driver made it obvious that none of the bus drivers knew where they were going. People in the front of the bus informed him, and once again we were on our way. This was okay by me because it meant less time out in the cold.
We all piled out of the busses and, of course, hit the porta-potties. That is just a fact of life, or races : ) We then had about 45 minutes to wait. Luckily they did have a heater, but only one, and we were all crowded around that. One tent was set up and I was glad I managed to find a spot in it because it was lightly slushing most of the next 45 minutes. Not enough to soak anybody, thank goodness, but good not to be in it. As luck would have it, it stopped by the time we went to line up for the race.
The race started 8 minutes late, but the countdown was soon upon us. Once at the race site, I am always ready for that countdown. I was not planning on starting near the front, but I found out the timing company's chips were not working accurately for the start of the race and so it would be strictly a gun time. We were soon off and I had already decided that I did not want to go out too fast. I wanted somewhere between a 7:15-7:30 first mile. As I started running, I felt the best I have ever felt at the beginning of a race. Everything was smooth and I was thinking that my training had really paid off. I finished the first mile in 7:23 and felt like I was just going along at a comfortable pace, and that I could sustain it forever. The sun was not even beginning to come up yet, there are no street lights out there, and with full cloud cover if there was a moon, we had no benefit. I always run with my sunglasses on, they actually keep my eyes from watering, so that made it even darker. It was actually a bit of a strange sensation. People who know me know I love darkness and seem to be able to see better than most people in the dark. But, admittedly, with my sunglasses on I could not see much of anything. I found this strangely calming. My eyes could not see far enough ahead of me to determine if I was going up or downhill. I had to rely solely on the sensations I was actually feeling to give me that information. And I welcomed it and wished that the whole race was in the dark (and actually was a bit disappointed when it started getting light later). I just kept my eyes focused on anybody ahead of me. I don't know how many went out ahead of me, but almost immediately I began passing people. My plan was to walk all the aid stations and take in two cups of water. I was still concerned about dehydration. The weather was perfect, no wind, and as I said, I just felt like I could run like that forever. The miles passed quickly and soon I was to mile 6, which is the beginning of the very long uphill. There are a few places where it levels out before you get to the final, no respites, half-mile climb, but not many and they are short-lived. With that half-mile climb my goal was just to not lose any ground on those in front of me. Not only did I manage to do that, but I also gained a little on them.
Getting to the top of that hill I knew would be a wonderful feeling. The descent soon began and I soon passed the people that I had gained a little on coming up the hill. I love running downhill. My body is made for it. If I could find an all downhill marathon nearby, I would race it. Anyway, by mile 10 I was at the Antelope Island marina and there found my lovely wife along with my inherited daughter (Bekah) and her friend, cheering me on. For being a little before 8:00 am on a Saturday, and realizing that they had to get up early just to get to this point, I was very appreciative. I threw my long-sleeve shirt to my wife (I had a sleeveless shirt on underneath) and began the 7 mile trek across the causeway. The causeway has always been a bit of a struggle for me. It is mostly flat, and I actually enjoy the run, but there is just nothing out there as far as markers. It is harder for me to gauge how fast I am going. Shortly after beginning mile 12, I began having lower GI distress. It was soon very obvious that I would not be able to wait until the end of the race, I need a porta-potty and I needed it now. I struggled to make it to the halfway point, which is where the half-marthon started and knew there were plenty of porta-potties. I arrived with no problems, but unfortunately it proved to be a very extended stop and took about 7 minutes off of my time. I listened as various runners were passing me by. I was soon out again, and knew that I wanted to gain back some of that ground I had lost. I did so and soon began passing runners again. At about mile 15 I began passing the very last of the half-marathoners. Even though they were walking, it was a wonderful feeling to catch up to those people. However, even though they were walking, it just did not seem right that I caught up to them so soon. My wife later told me they begun about 20 minutes late due to some busses being late. Soon, the ranger station was in view to pay the toll to get onto the island. I love this point because for whatever reason, I always feel faster and run faster once I am off the causeway.
Now I was passing the half-marathoners literally every few steps. Most of them were walking, some were running. (I am always glad to see people out participating, regardless of how they are doing it. At least they are not home sitting on the couch.) By mile 20, I knew that the best I could hope for would be a 3:30 time, and that would be pushing it. My legs did not have much more energy. I did not hit the wall. I have hit the wall, luckily only one time, and I know what that is like. This was not like that. I simply did not have the energy. I did have some stomach cramps, which are highly uncharacteristic for me. I was sort of confused by the whole thing. This did not feel at all like my 24 mile runs. Yes, those were all on a treadmill, but they were also all on tired legs. What was the difference? I don't know and I started to feel what you do not like feeling as a runner...I just wanted it to be over. But I still had basically the distance of a 10k left to run. By mile 22 I felt I was doing all I could to keep going. I finally swallowed my pride and allowed myself a walk break of 2 minutes. However, in an effort to not lose too much time I kept it at a 5 mph pace. I did this for miles 23, 24 and the very beginning of mile 25. I was not excited about doing this as I knew I was throwing my now hoped for 3:30 time out the window. Would I finish in what would be a very embarrassing 3:45? That may not mean much to those reading, and you may even be thinking that to finish under four hours is very respectable. But I was confident at the beginning that I would be able to finish in 3:15, and maybe even faster. So, to be a full half hour slower than what I predicted for myself would not be a time to be proud of. But then as luck would have it, along about mile 23 I caught up to a person who I thought was in my age group. Funny enough, I made this determination because his hair looked a lot like mine: plenty of natural color thrown in with plenty of grey hairs. We were almost on the same pace, but I was slightly faster than him. However, I needed those walk breaks for a brief respite, but each time I kept him in sight. I would catch up to him each time (he was never more than 0ne-two-tenths of a mile in front of me by this point). I had already planned to run the final mile. Nothing would stop me from doing that. In that final mile I paced myself with him. I knew that if he was in my age group, and if I was to beat him, I had to beat him now. I could not wait until the end to see who had more left in the tank. I already knew I did not have much. So with about a half mile left in the race I passed him, and I passed him fast enough to hopefully discourage him from trying to keep up with me. My strategy worked, and now I was on the straightaway home. My GPS sounded off that mile 26 had just been accomplished. Only two-tenths of a mile left to go. At this point you never know who may be coming up from the rear. Many times people wait for this moment to make their move. So with whatever I had left in me, I gave it all I could. I could feel my body whimper as somehow I managed to go faster. I passed several runners in that final stretch. There was a male runner that I was catching up to but I was sort of resolved that I would not be able to catch him in time. I assumed he had more left than I did. But within about 150 feet of the finish, I thought I would make my move and see what he did. I knew I had to run past him as fast as I could. Every runner knows this strategy and never wants to be on the receiving end. I have been on the receiving end plenty of times. You go by them so fast they either have to a lot left in the tank to even have the confidence to keep up with you, or they just let you go. I can only tell this now as I look back at my GPS, but somehow I managed to sustain a burst of speed at 6:06 mile pace (which equates to about 9.8 mph). A little bit to my surprise, he just let me go. I ended up beating him by about 2.5 seconds. And it turns out the one runner I thought was in my age group really was. I beat him by an even 36 seconds.
The race now over, the first words I said to my wife were, "I'm so glad that is over." My body was weak. I have never felt that weak, not even after my ultra (though close to it). I could barely stay on my feet. I was stumbling around, bumping into people, apologizing each time I did. I knew I could not sit down, nothing is worse for your body than doing that immediately following a workout of this magnitude. I was just trying to get to some open space. But with all the rain we had received the normally restricted area for runners to go to post-race, which was on the grass, was not being used. It seemed like everybody was in my way. I finally got through and had open space to just walk. Looking back now I can honestly say that I was not 100% coherent. I was not totally out of it, but this race had taken a toll on me more than any other race. I did "leave it all out there". I did do my best. I gave it all that I had, and somehow at the end managed to dig up just a little bit more to pleasantly surprise myself.
Final time 3:38:42
Placed first in my age division (by 36 seconds : )
Placed 31st out of 237 participants (an amazing 56 more that were registered did not start)
Total running miles for week = 43.2
Total cycling miles for week =
No comments:
Post a Comment