Yeah, I've done 3 in 13 days...so I thought 2 marathons in 7 days piece of cake...When I did Boston to Big Sur in 6 days...NO BIG..I ran a great race in Boston, NO PR, BUT I battled...In Big Sur I went with the motto HAVE some FUN...did just that! NO PR in Big Sur...wasn't my intention. SO When I did PR on the 3rd marathon in 13 days in Eugene...
MY expectations of myself got a little HIGHER!
Santa Rosa! PR!The BIG PR in Santa Rosa sets my BAR a little high...HAPPY as heck to be a sub 3:30 marathoner...I KNOW I can get better and faster...I know I made mistakes...STILL need to learn few lessons. 3:28 in SR was a cool accomplishment for me! FOR most maybe....
MAUI...KILLED my MOJO...Psychological crap to deal with...NEXT race COWTOWN...NOT too BAD no PR a top 5 finish and a top 10 overall finish...MISSED a PR by 1 MIN...SO that I can call a wash..DID I mention that was 1 week before Long Beach????? 10/4....
Swag!
Swag!Here's where it gets tricky...GET to Long Beach...check the course...FLAT and fast with a downhill finish..hmmmm....thinking I can PR...NO problem...ALSO not remembering what I have been advised...DO NOT RACE Long Beach...it's a LONG training run...DO my pre-race thing...Ya know chicken nachos and beer w/@runner03....
Roberto and I!Meet up with the the twitter clan for some more pre-race "get your mojo on" kind of fun...HEAD back to my room and get my gear ready....You know...the norm. GO to sleep thinking 1 thing...PR this COURSE!
Alarm goes off at 5:15AM on 10/11....I get up (WAS the hardest time I've ever had getting up for a race)...hit the coffee..get my stuff together...race gear on & packed my belt... @runner03 called from the lobby and 6AM we hit the road to the start! GET there with 15 mins to spare...stand in the bathroom line...YEH, that wasn't moving...DECIDED to head to the start....
COULDN'T get in with wave 1....WHERE I was supposed to be...
SO we ended up in wave 2...RIGHT behind the 3:40 group...
THIS is where the mind games begin for me....
I check my watch...Start time for me is like 3+ minutes after the clock time...SO of course I am NOW pissed I'm not with wave and I break out...WAY ahead of the 3:40 group now...pacing a 3:25 most of the first half...til 16 miles maybe...
CUZ I know I am better then a 3:40 pace.
DUMB attitude...
Lets just say...I started to REALLY listen to my body at mile 18...ITB's a little rough...and I couldn't seem to get enough nutrients into my body. YEH...I was drinking a ton of fluid...
BUT the GU was hard to choke down...BY mile 16 I had only taken a GU and a half and 2 salt tabs...JUST wasn't feeling it! Decided I would NOT aid station til 20, (MISTAKE #28) and would then do a little GallowayING. If I could just finish under 3:45 I would be happy....AND truly ALL I was shooting for on this SUPPOSED to be LONG Run was a 3:45 max! MILE 21 came and went and GUESS what? SO did the 3:40 pace dude..Stuck with them til 23....HERE's where the nutrition ISSUE kicked in...calves started to hurt a little...dehydration perhaps...took 2 more salt tabs...GOT sprayed with some cool down spray on my legs...ITBands were killing me..NOT just one BUT 2...NO Ibuprofen pre-race either...MISTAKE #29...SO I sucked it up GallowayING to mile 24...YES..I walked between 23-24..LOSER!
MY RACE JUST started...MANY people were fading at the 22-24 mark...I got a second wind around 24 and picked it up. ALL the powerade kicked in perhaps...MAYBE the line up of fans...WHO Knows...LOOKED at my watch and realized based on my start time I would still sub 3:45 and of course BQ ANYWAY! Mile 25 to the finish was a complete downhill...FAST last mile..MY pace was around a 7 min mile...WAS picking off lots of chicks and dudes...that felt pretty good...
Moral of the story...GO into the race with a strategy (amateur mistake)...NO flip flopping...AND I did that all the way from the expo to mile 16'ish...THE other mistakes...fueling my body is necessary in endurance racing even if my MIND is saying something else....CHOKE IT DOWN!
THE other lesson I learned...
A Blackberry cannot absorb 26.2 miles of sweat
and keep working...
Fuel is a huge problem for me because I have some weird mindset that eating=fail. Thanks for great report. Great athlete, and loved the BB line.
ReplyDeleteYou inspired me! And you know what? You are one heck of a stubborn runner but at the same time endures whatever you're going through during your race. You rock! Keep up the awesomeness!
ReplyDelete-meechellee
By far that was an awesome story. Sorry about the phone...
ReplyDeleteAwesome job. Amazing feat with great times to boot.
ReplyDelete