Run fast

Today has been an interesting day. Barely made it to the start line on time even though I left my house at 5:30 (race started at 8), passed a Buffalo and Antelope on the course (go figure), ran the first half in 1:46:30 which I think is the 25k course record (probably doesn’t mean much), took two wrong turns on the course, BLEW up at about mile 26 (second half was 12 minutes slower than the first), earned two large blisters on my feet, and I walked up the hill to the finish which might have been a 3 percent grade.  Despite all of that I did win the race by ~6 minutes and now I have a spiffy statue of a Buffalo.

Prerace Recap-

Left my house promptly at 5:30 just to make sure I had plenty of time to get my bid and to get acquainted to island.  Arrived at the gate to the cosway at 6:30 where I was supposed to find a parking lot with my bid.  I didn’t see the first parking (this is what I get for leaving early in the dark) and pulled into the second only to find nobody there.  Stupidly I continued on and 20 minutes later I entered the finisher’s tent only to find out that I had passed my bid and had to go back.  Fortunately I ran into a doctor, a smart person who also made the same mistake, in the parking lot and hitched a ride with him (thanks Dave). We got back to the parking lot with the bids by 7:10, waited in line for 15 minutes and made it back to the starting area by 7:45.  Plenty of time, right?  At 7:52 I got up to the start line and noticed a few little orange things on people’s shoes.  Hmmmm….are those chips?  “I wonder why I didn’t get one.”   Oh yeah, they gave me a big white bag with a bunch of junk in it and…..raced back to the car at sub 6 pace, found the chip, raced back to the start line at sub 5:30 pace  and made it with 2 minutes to spare.  Now for the shoelace check.  Left shoe good, right shoe too loose.   Tried to untie the knot but couldn’t do it before the race started.  Spent the first mile obsessing over my loose shoe but fortunately a hill at mile two caught my attention and I didn’t think about the shoelace again.  This is probably the longest I have ever written about a prerace mishap but I wanted to get it on paper to see if it will help prevent reliving this in a nightmare.

Race Recap-

Went out a bit too fast because I was worried that my loose shoe would slow.  Partly kidding but there is probably some truth to it.  Put some distance on everyone except two guys who were sticking within 100 yards or so.  One of those guys dropped back after mile 2 and then spent the next 8 miles or so going back and forth with a guy named Brad who ran for Cornell and Boise St.  I dropped him on the switchbacks at mile 9 but he stayed within sight all the way through the half turnaround.  Finished feeling good going through the first half in 1:46:30 but already knew that it wouldn’t be able to even split.  So then the questions became: how much time will I lose on the second loop and can Brad catch up?  At the turnaround (mile 16.25????) I took my third GU and managed to get down two tiny cups of water and Sprite.  I didn’t carry a water bottle and because it was heating up I think dehydration was probably already setting in.  I managed to hold a decent pace for the first climb but I had to resort to hiking on the super steep climb at mile 22 (8:39 mile) because my quads were nearing their end.  That hike just about did them in and my splits compared to the first started to suffer (see below).  From there I was still able to run the downhills fairly fast but anything with an incline was slow and painful.   I did my best to maintain some resemblance of moving until I reached the top of the switchbacks and then I tried to let gravity do the work until I hit the next steep incline at mile 29.  By that point my quads had nothing left so I speed hiked about half of a mile (9:18) split until I reached the peak.  After that I was sure someone would be gaining on my but there was still no one in sight.  It was a sufferfest for the last 3 miles and shameful for the last .25 because I hiked/walked up an incline that my 90 year old grandma (birthday is tomorrow) could easily handle herself.  BUT, I did run through the finish!  My garmin said 32.65…I could have gone without the extra 1.65.

All said, I am happy that I stuck it out and winning is always nice.  Would have been better to run strong on the second half but oh well.  In hindsight, I think I underestimated the hills on the course (not flat) and pushed them too hard in the first half.  I also know my electrolytes and dehydration were an issue because I had lots of salt on my face and arms after the race.

Post race was spent chatting with Brad from Boise, Lulu Walls (best volunteer at the race hands down), Jun, Smooth, Dan V. (2^nd 25k), Albert (winner 25k), another FRB’er and her friend (sorry I can’t remember names) and waiting for the 25k folks to get their massages. :) Fun time!

I got a few blisters, lost a toe nail and won a buffalo