First let me start by saying...I AM BOSTON bound...I got that taken care of! Woo Hoo!
Saturday December 5th...Board the plane to Vegas! MY last race of 2009...NEED to make it count. NEED to PR! On the plane I make the perfect play list and look forward to hooking up with all my peeps at the airport in Vegas when I land!
packed 7 peeps in a 5 seater...FUNNY!
Arrive early into Vegas..MY sister & her friend Karen, Monica, my cousin John and his buddies all connect! AND off to the MGM we go! Check in...2 rooms between the 7 of us race night...ONLY 1 room ready! We all head up to the 1 ready room and walk in to find maintenance caulking the sink in the bathroom...NEW room assignment...throw all our bags in the room! Head to Mandalay Bay to the expo!
Monica and I with our free Wynn Beanies on! DORKS!
More.....dork!
Cold walk to the expo....check in get our bibs, etc....met up with some cool twitter people..and then headed for a little lunch! More cool twitter people...back to the hotel...get gear ready..laid out..YOU know the geeky stuff us runners do!Dinner for 16 at Fammia in the MGM...YES...all the cool twitter people, my sis, Mon, the John's and George...GOOD times...Dinner for me CHICKEN and salad...NOT enough chicken. NEEDED a whole chicken...a few stellas and then back to the room to go NIGHT NIGHT!
Alarm goes off at 4:15AM...UGH! I hate 6:15AM start times..throw our gear on...choke down half a bagel and big starbucks coffee...AND off to the start me and my crew head!
HERE's the deal..IT was 30 out and it felt like 25 to me. I planned for the cold so I was OK....walking over to the start helped get us warmed up...My sister and her friend Karen's first half marathon so she had to take pictures of all of us, etc...They were walking it...realizing we only had 25 mins til race start Monica and I headed to corral #2 with the 3 boys who were in corral #1! My cousin John wanted to PR the course and Q for Boston again...the boys lined up with the 3:10 pace group and Monica and I hung back a little in the front of corral #2!
A fake Celine Deon sang the national anthem...countdown...
wheelchairs were off!
Then corral 1...then Monica and I were off!
I had a race plan...I sharpied it on my arm...I knew exactly how I was supposed to race Vegas...BUT of course at mile one when I looked down at my watch and realized I just ran a 6:40 mile...and lost Monica...I needed to regroup and slow the heck down...I finally got back on pace and my first 10k was right on pace....made the turn out to mile 13 and was still feeling pretty good...hit the first half exactly on pace...and then something happened...
I hit a wall...wasn't feeling it...and wasn't loving what I was doing...wished at one point I quit with the half runners...wanted to DNF for the first time in my life...WTF? Mentally I wasn't where I needed to be to push thru for a PR...the mind games started...miles 16 to 20 were complete CRAP! My calves cramped and also a steady incline that made me question this sport...Mile 18'ish I saw my cousin John who was ahead of the 3:10 pace group...at that moment I prayed that he would get the PR, BQ and take any MOJO I had in me...
I knew I was Boston bound anyway....
Mile 20 I got my race back..and I was still pacing for a sub 3:28...my body was tired..my quads not loving me...I picked up some speed on the gradual descent...hit mile 24, an overpass that was a hill...and I walked...NOT to mention from mile 20 on I walked every aid station..NO lie. I needed the recovery for my legs. Mile 25 winded around the back side of Mandalay Bay...
which was ugly and I walked a little...
hit mile 26 and decided to get my crap together and get the race done! HAHA!
Finished at a 3:37 and some change! Didn't care about not PR'ing...still a good race time. COULD have been faster...for sure. Placed 16th in my AG and 129th female finisher overall!
Here is what I learned in Vegas...13 marathons in one year is retarded...
you can't PR every race when you are running that many in a year.
I also learned that if you are NOT mentally in the race you are screwed...
and I learned that what is happening in your personal life affects how you train and race...
sometimes it's better to back off, regroup and make a new plan.
SO...my plan for 2010 is Boston for a PR! Ironman to finish under 12 hours...
and some tri's and 13.1's in there too.
SOME GREAT races by my peeps in VEGAS:
Cousin John... 3:09:49 Boston Q! PR!
George...3:09:50 Boston! He only trained for 7 weeks BTW!
Jared...3:07 Boston Bound and a PR!
Monica....2:00 for the half...NO training! LOL
Teresa, my sis and her pal Karen...3:24 walking the half! First 1/2 marathon ever!
No matter how you felt you gutted it out, take that to the -ronman you will need all the mental toughness training you can get. By the way Your time was still great
ReplyDeleteCool post!! and yes, unfortunately, things in real time can take the best out of us during training.
ReplyDeleteI have to say, that running 13 marathons is crazy!!, I think that is more than the amount of marathons that any average human being is going to run in their life!!
Great running!
Atrusni
http://web.me.com/amaurydeleon
Shelly - enjoyed connecting with you today in twitterland - just wanted to comment here on your Vegas experience - you are tougher than I even imagined. Great stuff. Looking forward to Boston with you. I think you talked me onto the bus out to Hopkinton! Take care,
ReplyDeleteBest from Austin - Joe