I never sleep well before these races, so I had some people over last night. They were partying, but I was a good boy.
Woke up around 7:15, took care of the standard pre-game routine. (No, not THAT routine, SBR) 
. Got to the course around 8:30.The course was a zoo!
Kind of cool though. About 30,000 runners, the biggest 8k in the world.
I kept running into friends from college, law school, and a few random ones I hadn't seen in years. It was a great scene, and I really like the social aspect of this stuff. 
The weather was INCREDIBLE!!
Lower 70s, and all sun! But I was completely overdressed.
Early in the morning it was kinda gray and somewhat cool. So I wore a long sleeve underarmor shirt, with another long sleeve shirt over it. I knew right when I got to the course that I was wearing too much 
, and sure enough, I was uncomfortably hot throughout the race. 
I was in the 'C' start corral so I started in front of many people, but there were still plenty ahead of me. The gun goes off, and I think it took me about 2 minutes to cross the start line. Right off the bat I was getting soooo frustrated by getting stuck behind packs of people. I probably ran an extra 3 miles from all the weaving I had to do.
I'm really starting to dislike the intensity of these shorter races.
At one point during the race I questioned why I do them, and really wanted to stop. The discomfort is just so severe. I think I have a low tolerance for pain. Maybe I should start doing some speedwork? I really don't do any right now.The finish line was a wonderful sight, but I was too fatigued to have any significant kick. The last mile was my fastest though. I just kinda pushed a lil harder with whatever I had left. I crossed the finish line, put my hands on my knees, and panted for a good 3 or 4 minutes.
There was SOOO much food at the post-race party. Chips, cookies, candy, pretzels, crackers etc. People were emptying out the boxes (which were the size of 2 shoes boxes) and filling them to the brim! I wasn't really that hungry, so I just looked on, somewhat in awe of how greedy people were. But I did down 3 bottles of water, and 4 cups of Gatorade, so maybe I'm just as guilty
I ran into a former law student that I used to date. Fortunately we're on good terms now, so I hung out with her and some of her friends at the post-race party. There was a band and free beer, so that was kinda fun. I think I'll give her a call, maybe rekindle a lil sumin' sumin'
My Garmin lost its signal when I went under a tunnel, so no splits. I'm thinking about maybe getting a regular watch for races, and just hitting the split button at every mile marker.
FINISH- 35:12
Overall I'm pleased with this time as it's about a full minute faster than I was expecting, and I qualified to start in the 'A' corral for next year's race.
But I still need to figure out what to do about the discomfort I'm experiencing. This was also my 3rd race this month, and don't have another one planned for a while, so I've got time to make some adjustments. As always, thanks for reading, and thanks for your unending support. 
No comments:
Post a Comment