Sunday, June 03, 2007

 

Race Day

Finished in 11:05:xx for 12th place overall. This is a 23 minute pb on the harder course direction, so I’m super happy with it.

The short version: (run times below, pit times where 2 – 4 minutes between laps.)

Lap 1: 2:22:55 – felt amazing the entire time
Lap 2: 2:31:36 – still felt really good

Lap 3: 3:02:42 – my stomach rebelled and had me in an outhouse for a long time

Lap 4: 2:59:05 – Felt much better and managed to get the groove going again, but the fatigue was setting in and the heat was getting to me.


The long version:
At the start, Kevin, Krista and I got together for a photo, our faces looked nervous with a touch of WTF are we doing? It was a huge crowd compared to last year, and really encouraging to see that many people out for the event.

The first lap went really well and I was in a good groove, power walking the hills and keeping the pace solid. Chatted with a fellow that is from Peace River, which is where I went to high school with his cousin – small world or what? I had a planned stop at an outhouse about 3 miles before the end of the first loop and everything was feeling just dandy. Natalie & Mr. C-lab helped me out with a heavy slathering of body glide on my back from a hot spot I was getting and it was time to go again.

Lap two started with a bit of a scare, as a chunk of power bar got stuck in my throat and I nearly choked. One of the guys coming up behind me stopped to make sure I was OK. Once I cleared my throat, I caught up to him and we ended up running together for about half of the second loop. He dropped back and we wished each other well. I finished lap two in less time than I had done loop one last year, so I knew I was on pace to set a pb as long as I could hold everything together. Near the end of this lap I hit the maniac aid station, you guys rock!

Lap three had a very unpleasant start. At the pit stop I had guzzled a bottle of ensure, something I had trained with and had no problems with. But for whatever reason, it did not agree with me yesterday. Within a mile of leaving the aid station I was reduced to a shuffling mess as my stomach was going crazy. I was on the verge of puking, had a couple of ‘tasty’ belches that grossed out a pair of 50 milers that caught up to me as I was stumbling along. I finally got to an outhouse that I took refuge in for about 10 minutes. It was nasty. It took another couple miles after that to get my body back to a relative ‘normal’ state (as if there is a normal state in running this far). When I hit central alleyway I was totally back into my groove and I managed to pass about 8 or 9 people, including the pair of 50 mile runners from before that gave me a big cheer as I motored past them. When I got to the maniac aid station, Dennis pointed out the big water tank that I soaked my head and hat under, what a feeling to cool off like that! Thanks Dennis! My first shot of coke for the day, and off I went to get the lap from h-e-double hockey sticks over with. I felt a bit defeated when I saw the slip in my split times, but I knew that the stomach troubles where behind me. I did take a couple chunks of ginger to be safe, thanks for giving me that Natalie, super crew!

Lap 4 was where the personal race began. I had set a goal of going sub-11 and I knew that I had to push hard to get there. I had been pretty much with another fellow (Wade) since 1/3 of the way into the third lap and we were discussing our strategy to break 11 hours as we were leaving the first aid station on lap 4. We both had figured out that we needed to get to the top of this one hill by 10:30 race time to break 11:00. I hit a bit of a low point energy wise half way up one hill we were walking together and told him to go kick 11 in the butt and wished him well. About a mile later I saw this woman running along with a little voodoo doll hanging from a noose from her camelback. I thought, hey, that must be Cheryl ☺ We chatted for a bit, she was, as always, 100% optimistic even though she was hurting. A hug and off I went. It was at this point in the race when I started with the internal banter of self-butt-kicking. In doing the math, I knew I had to keep sub 11:00 minute miles to break 11 hours, so I kept telling myself that to stop being a lazy a$$ and keep pushing, you can do 10 minute miles without event pushing that hard, just keep pushing. It nearly paid off. I hit the landmark hill at 10:35 race time and finished at 11:05. I talked to Wade afterwards, ironically he hit the hill at 10:32 and finished at 11:02, not bad for late in the race mental exercises we told each other!

Again, a huge shout out to all of you who came out to volunteer, watch or run. And of course, the biggest thank you to my partner in stupidity, Krista for her hospitality. Last but not least, the best support crew, both on race day and during training, Natalie for all her efforts in getting me through this adventure once again.

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