Saturday, September 22, 2007

Public Stomping #2


And this time it had nothing to do with a lack of effort.

I've had a good week of training. Felt great during all my runs. I was anticipating a fairly good day today at the The Middle Half. Maybe not a PR, but atleast a good solid race.

Well, I guess it's like my parents use to always tell me - you don't always get everything you want. Michele and I got there early and got in our 2 prerace miles with time to spare. We saw several people we knew and chatted for awhile before the gun went off. Then gun went off...and I felt good. It was hot, but we were running under 8:45 for the most part, and creeping down around 8:20. We saw Lisa and Rae and they were running fairly close to the same pace. The whole time we were letting an ironman, Jerry from our swim class, pace us - although he didn't know it until we finally told him thanks. Around mile 6 I didn't feel great, and then around mile 7 I felt nauseous. Michele was doing great, and I was just trying to hang on. I went from smiles and "thank you's" to 'head down, one foot in front of the other, focus' mode. I tried to hang on for about a mile and pretty much fought through the sick feeling, but then my legs just wouldn't go. I walked around mile 8 or 9. And then probably around mile 10 some. And then I probably walked half of the last mile, just trying to get to the finish line.

It was not my day.

I finished the half in 1:58:21 and got some water and found some shade. I sent Michele onward for her 3 miles while I tried to somewhat recover. After about 5 or 10 minutes, I got up and decided to go ahead and do my 3 extra miles so that I would have a total of 18 for the day. I finished them, but it wasn't pretty. I did use the opportunity to try and encourage other runners, and had some good conversation with some of them.

I finished the 18 miles in 2:52:04, which is a 9:34 pace. But I stopped my garmin between the 2 warmup miles and between the half and the 3 post race miles, so that pace is not like a solid 18 miles.

Congrats to Michele who ran a great race and stomped my butt. And also to Rae who did the same and almost placed in her Age Group (5th)! And congrats to Holly, Lisa, Kim R., Kim C., Tony, Heather, Tim, Pam, and Mike (who ran for Kevin) who represented Coffee County well!!!

I said I didn't expect anything to be left in the tank by the time I left there today, and there wasn't, but I thinking more along of the lines of "I gave it 100% percent, had a great race and gutted out 3 more miles at the end" kind of feeling instead of "OMG - I completely bonked, I feel sick and my legs won't move" kind of thing. I couldn't stomach ANYTHING at the end except a coke.
I didn't stick around after I finished the 18. We checked our times, checked for a door prize which I did win - a gift card for a free lunch to somewhere that I can't recall right now. I drove home, showered and headed to the soccer field to coach our soccer game. And we got stomped at the soccer game, too! :(

~Big. Long. Sigh~

Tomorrow is another day.

12 comments:

Michele said...

We have all had those bad runs, yours just ended up the day of a race.

Hang in there. You toughed out 18 miles, drove us home, and coached a game.

You are still badass in my book!!!!!

Tri-Dummy said...

KUDOS to pushing through a crappy experience. We've all had em, but it doesn't make it any easier when you're having one.

You ran a sub 2 half feeling like doo doo. Don't worry about it. Alotta people would kill for that. Keep on pluggin...IM signup is coming up SOON!

Lisa said...

Still a good time considering the heat. Blame the heat! I am. :)
When this comes around next year, someone better remind me of how sick I got. Congrats on your prize and yes, tomorrow is another day. GREAT "18 miler, btw!

Kate said...

Exactly- you've had plenty of good long runs (and 9:34 for 18mi is not BAD in sub-4 training terms), and it just sucks that today was a not-so-hot one. I think you guys are incredibly brave for not racing the half- I'm not sure I could!

Phil said...

This is what makes distance running so challanging. When you bonk on a 5K, no worries, just cruise in to the finish line. When you bonk on a HM, well ... that's a different story. On the plus side, you didn't give up (like you'd know how to do that) and managed to walk your way to a sub 2 Hour 1/2 marathon.

TJ said...

days like that make the good days even better.
way to tough it out and finish what you started!

E-Speed said...

hey you didn't have a great day but you still left with a free lunch! You gotta be happy about that. I think we all just have those days sometimes. You'll be stronger because of it next time I am sure!

DV said...

not every day can be our best day.. way to stick it out and stay positive...

streak said...

Very impressive run even though you think it wasn't good. I think there were many, many bad runs this weekend with this hot weather. Hope you have a better run on the next one.

Lance Notstrong said...

If 1:58:21 is a terrible time, I hope I can run "terrible" at my next 1/2!!! :-)

Brush it off, everyone has bad days.

My Life said...

I'm sorry you had such a rough running day... if it helps, know that I'm super impressed by a 1:59 half and then 3 more miles on top. You're amazing in my book!

Rae said...

Great job out there on a really tough day. I had the a similar horrible experience at CMM1/2 (but ended up with a 2:11) and it still messes me up, but sometimes we just have crappy runs that end up on race day.

It was good to finally properly meet you guys! It's about time!!!