As I often do… I re-read my race report from 2009 the day before the subtitle of this entry is what hit me…
In 2009 I had started with the masses… after being a runner and triathlete for over a decade I had decided a few months prior to get serious about my diet and training and I was just beginning to see results.
Flip the calendar 12 months to march 2010 and the consistent work I’d put in had paid dividends… I had a seeded race number… and was hanging out in the front corral with some fast friends from the local track club. I was planning to run with Barbra, my friend from work… and had already gotten in a decent warm-up with her and her boyfriend Steve…. I felt good.. no injuries… just maybe a little tired…. And slightly bandaged up.
I’d had a full training week complete with a leg work out on Wednesday and a 10 miler on Thursday.. hard to fit everything in with ultras looming… on top of that I had my 2nd Mohs Surgery in as many weeks which meant that I had 13 stitches in my chest…. I’d stayed out a bit to late on Friday night too.. but with a group ride and long run on Spring Forward Sunday.. I thought Friday night out was the better option.
But like I said before… I felt pretty good…. Ready to run…. And to not think… because I had a plan!
Barbra is one of the best female AG runners in the city… she was aiming at a 68 for the 15k… my #1 goal was sub 70… and easily attained I thought if I just stayed with Barbra….
When the cannon went off we were only about 20 rows back… in a crowd of 16,000… getting into a rhythm was easy… just run with everyone else. It felt fast… but it was supposed to… In the second mile my legs started to hurt a little… and for one second I thought… then immediately told myself “Don't think Meat, Thinking can only hurt the ballclub” at which point I settled back in on keeping up with my pacer.
Mile 3 I got separated from Barbra a bit… she had slipped behind me… I figured she was just letting me lead for a while… swapping the lead is something we often do in training… so I thought little of it… I would never have guessed it would be the last I’d see of her until the finish line. Soon after I lost my partner the check engine light came on…
Mile 4 - cramps and a noticeable slowing in pace… my inner Scotty was yelling “"I canna change the laws of physics! I've got to have thirty minutes." I hated it but knew I needed to back off the throttle just a bit or risk blowing up.
Around the mile 6 mark some local band was playing a cover of Cake’s “The Distance” with my cramps fading I hit the gas again to see what I had left. Near the top of the Heart bridge is the 8 mile mark… I hit it in exactly an hour… my hopes for a sub 70 were all but evaporated. I ran as hard as I could down the other side and to the finish and just made it… as long as this is an acceptable way to write my finish time…
69:91
Although I’d missed my goal I had, however, shown some significant progress… a nearly 8 minute PR over the same distance the year before… not to mention the joy of the journey through those calendar pages.
In 2009 I had started with the masses… after being a runner and triathlete for over a decade I had decided a few months prior to get serious about my diet and training and I was just beginning to see results.
Flip the calendar 12 months to march 2010 and the consistent work I’d put in had paid dividends… I had a seeded race number… and was hanging out in the front corral with some fast friends from the local track club. I was planning to run with Barbra, my friend from work… and had already gotten in a decent warm-up with her and her boyfriend Steve…. I felt good.. no injuries… just maybe a little tired…. And slightly bandaged up.
I’d had a full training week complete with a leg work out on Wednesday and a 10 miler on Thursday.. hard to fit everything in with ultras looming… on top of that I had my 2nd Mohs Surgery in as many weeks which meant that I had 13 stitches in my chest…. I’d stayed out a bit to late on Friday night too.. but with a group ride and long run on Spring Forward Sunday.. I thought Friday night out was the better option.
But like I said before… I felt pretty good…. Ready to run…. And to not think… because I had a plan!
Barbra is one of the best female AG runners in the city… she was aiming at a 68 for the 15k… my #1 goal was sub 70… and easily attained I thought if I just stayed with Barbra….
When the cannon went off we were only about 20 rows back… in a crowd of 16,000… getting into a rhythm was easy… just run with everyone else. It felt fast… but it was supposed to… In the second mile my legs started to hurt a little… and for one second I thought… then immediately told myself “Don't think Meat, Thinking can only hurt the ballclub” at which point I settled back in on keeping up with my pacer.
Mile 3 I got separated from Barbra a bit… she had slipped behind me… I figured she was just letting me lead for a while… swapping the lead is something we often do in training… so I thought little of it… I would never have guessed it would be the last I’d see of her until the finish line. Soon after I lost my partner the check engine light came on…
Mile 4 - cramps and a noticeable slowing in pace… my inner Scotty was yelling “"I canna change the laws of physics! I've got to have thirty minutes." I hated it but knew I needed to back off the throttle just a bit or risk blowing up.
Around the mile 6 mark some local band was playing a cover of Cake’s “The Distance” with my cramps fading I hit the gas again to see what I had left. Near the top of the Heart bridge is the 8 mile mark… I hit it in exactly an hour… my hopes for a sub 70 were all but evaporated. I ran as hard as I could down the other side and to the finish and just made it… as long as this is an acceptable way to write my finish time…
69:91
Although I’d missed my goal I had, however, shown some significant progress… a nearly 8 minute PR over the same distance the year before… not to mention the joy of the journey through those calendar pages.
1 comment:
8 minutes from the prvs year is amazing, great approvement
Post a Comment