The race went as planned in the early going. I ran with the leaders through about 4 miles when I decided to let them go. I was solidly in 4th place overall at that point and continued to average about 6:15 pace through 8 miles, despite some nasty headwinds. At some point in the 12th mile all of the lactic acid that I'd generated got into my stomach and I started dry heaving. I finally had to stop and throw up 3 or 4 times. At that point I continued running, but was really struggling to get my rythym back. I started talking walk breaks and that was the worst thing that I could have done. I just completely broke down at that point. I tried to alternate walking and running the rest of the way, I was mostly just intent on finishing at that point. The sad thing is that I still ended up 2nd in my age group and wasn't that far behing the winner of my age group. I'm pretty sure that he'd passed me in the last mile as I was walking. Had I known, I would have tried to suck it up and beat him, but it wasn't to be.
The floor on the condo was not conducive to sleeping well and I went from being sleep deprived to exhausted over the weekend. My quads are very sore and I just hope that I can recover enough to run well on Friday for a bit of redemption.
Other than the race, the weekend was a blast. It was really cool getting to hang out with everyone and getting to know them better. Scott and I bonded over Will Ferrell humor, Liz and I discovered that we are unbeatable as a team at board games and trivia games, and we discovered that Monica is a conisseur of the drink now known as 'The Fizzy Navel'.
Everyone kicked ass at the race and I am really glad to count you all among my friends. See you all soon. Happy trails !
Dave
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2 comments:
Dave,
I'm so sorry you had such a miserable race. I felt your pain as I experienced a humbling race at my last December Cal Int Marathon. It is meant to be. It only re-focuses us to help us reach our goals and become the runners we want to be. The cool thing is, this race is not your target race so it really doesn't matter... gotta have those from time to time to give us (more) character!
This was definitely a fun team experience and hope to make it an annual event! You'll redeem yourself next year! It's funny that the only person that actually did register early is someone who ended up not racing. Sleep definitely is a huge factor.
Glad you had fun other than the race, though! I have to agree this is a great bunch to hang with!
Monica
I can't wait for the next game. . . or should I say slaughter?
Y'know, Dave? At the risk of sounding too coachy, races like this are really good for us. They remind us that we're not invincible, and they remind us that who we are is more important than how well we run. Success has benefits but it can ruin our perspective. I think crappy races can help knock us back into line.
:) Liz
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