I went to bed at 10:45, but probably got to sleep at midnight. Just couldn’t turn my brain off. Got up at 5 AM. Got shaved, dressed and ate breakfast. Did all my normal things in preparation for a race day especially a long one. Left the house at 5:30 AM and drove to San Marcos, TX. It’s about a 50 minute drive. Arrived at 6:20 AM and parked. I went to the porta-potti. Then I rested in the car with the heater on. The outside temperature was about 45 degrees Fahrenheit. I changed my clothes a bit to adjust to the location, and temperature – took things off. Still had on two long sleeve shirts, shorts, gloves (two layers), and a hat along with ear covering. I found the 4:15 pace group lead by Dan-O and Kate just a few minutes before the start. This pace is 9:44\/M. The race was through a series of country roads and rolling hills. Nothing much to look at – pastures, a few homes, and a large power plant – nothing exciting and after a while I’m so focused on ending the pain of the race I see nothing around me. Once the race started the crush of people (over 1000 of us) caused me to be about 50 feet behind my pace group. I sped up to catch them. At about mile 3 I was ahead of the pace group and I had to pee behind a telephone shed. I had felt the need for a while, but it was too late at the start to go. Now the pace group was ahead of me. Slowly over the next few miles I caught and passed them. I took a Clif-Shot every 5 miles and drank at every water stop. Around mile 13-15 I was getting tighter and stiffer. The last few miles were very tough. Especially when the last two miles ran into a headwind. Around then the two pacers passed me, but none of the original crowd was with them. The pacers were running alone (no Tony, or no Melodye, etc.). Nevertheless, I ran the whole thing (except for water stops) and finished in 3:15:10 or 9:49\/M pace with a position of 512 out of 1120 and 16 out of 29 in my 55-59 age group. I was also disappointed that they didn’t hand out medals instead they gave out a coffee mug which I refused. Afterwards my legs were cramping badly and I could barely walk. I was so sore and stiff. So instead of staying and talking to friends I hopped in my car and drove home. During the drive I was yelling each time my legs cramped and throbbed. Thanks for speed control. By the time I was home at least the throbbing had subsided. On the way I rubbed my face and could feel and taste granules of salt. I might need to consider taking salts during my runs. This run was very tough for me. Oh, but I did PR (after the debacle of last year’s 20 miler where I ran faster, but hit the wall and walked the last 4 miles).<\/p>\n
Here are my splits:
| Mile<\/th>\n | Split<\/th>\n | Total<\/th>\n | Heart Rate<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1<\/td>\n | 09:26.80<\/td>\n | 0:09:26.80<\/td>\n | 132<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 2<\/td>\n | 09:31.49<\/td>\n | 0:18:58.29<\/td>\n | 142<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 3<\/td>\n | 11:00.00*<\/td>\n | 0:29.58.29<\/td>\n | 142<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 4<\/td>\n | 08:54.73<\/td>\n | 0:38:53.02<\/td>\n | 143<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 5<\/td>\n | 09:44.77<\/td>\n | 0:48:37.79<\/td>\n | 141<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 6<\/td>\n | 09:24.87<\/td>\n | 0:58:02.66<\/td>\n | 148<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 7<\/td>\n | 09:34.09<\/td>\n | 1:07:36 <\/td>\n | 147<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 8<\/td>\n | 09:33.41<\/td>\n | 1:17:10 <\/td>\n | 147<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 9<\/td>\n | 09:14.74<\/td>\n | 1:26:24 <\/td>\n | 148<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 10<\/td>\n | 08:58.85<\/td>\n | 1:35:23 <\/td>\n | 149<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 11<\/td>\n | 09:48.65<\/td>\n | 1:45:12 <\/td>\n | 148<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 12<\/td>\n | 09:10.97<\/td>\n | 1:54:23 <\/td>\n | 148<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 13<\/td>\n | 09:22.86<\/td>\n | 2:03:46 <\/td>\n | 148<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 14<\/td>\n | 09:08.30<\/td>\n | 2:12:54 <\/td>\n | 151<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 15<\/td>\n | 09:21.50<\/td>\n | 2:22:16 <\/td>\n | 150<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 16<\/td>\n | 10:33.86**<\/td>\n | 2:32:49** <\/td>\n | 143<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 17<\/td>\n | 10:33.86**<\/td>\n | 2:43:23 <\/td>\n | 143<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 18<\/td>\n | 09:53.50<\/td>\n | 2:53:17 <\/td>\n | 143<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 19<\/td>\n | 11:26.48<\/td>\n | 3:04.43 <\/td>\n | 141<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 20<\/td>\n | 10:24.30<\/td>\n | 3:15:08 <\/td>\n | 146<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n * pee break I went to bed at 10:45, but probably got to sleep at midnight. Just couldn’t turn my brain off. Got up at 5 AM. Got shaved, dressed and ate breakfast. Did all my normal things in preparation for a race … Continue reading |