Am fighting trying to stay awake so I thought I would write my recap or try to at least. Training went well this past two weeks although I had to go in for a deep tissue torture massage on Tuesday. I actually begged to get in because he was booked and I was kind of scared. For some unknown reason, my back starting tweaking down low which I now know is due to my hip, not really my back per se. Anyway, that was causing lots of issues all up and down my legs both left and right so I was a bit panicked about running. After he tortured me, I took a few days off and then finished my week with a nice tempo run. For the first time in probably three weeks, i saw 8s again on my watch. It made so soar literally. I did more of a progression run of sorts than a tempo where I just made each mile a little bit quicker. I was consistenly in the low 9s which made me so confident going in to the weekend. I decided to cap the week with just two runs and the half.
I had decided to take friday off to clean the house and catch up on laundry. I had been away thursday night doing some stuff with my BRF so was a little behind. I also have a cleaning fetish so i love to scrub the house so that I leave it in the best possible shape so that maybe it won't be so bad when I get back. I headed out to Olathe around noon so i could get to the expo and check into the hotel. I didn't know but the hotel was literally 2 minutes from the garmin headquarters. I met up with my agility trainer after some shopping where I bought andrew way to much stuff as usual. I also hit up a whole foods and took some samples of pre work out and post work out products from Vega. I have heard really wonderful stuff about them so I decided to spend some dough and try them out. Not sure what I am going to do if I love them since the nearest is in KC. Oh well. We met at an all you can eat pasta place. It was HEAVEN! We finished the night talking and talking and talking. I miss seeing her on a daily basis. She is kind of like a sister/best friend/coach and I am so glad she is making a living in KC but secretly wish she would come home so I could have her back. The only problem with the night was my favorite pasta had onions in it and onions and me don't get along. I had eaten quite a bit of it before I realized what the onions actually where. Once again, I should always have my zantac in my purse but once again it wasn't there. I should have also gotten some on my way home but I usually am immediately affected and I wasn't. I just wanted to chill out in my huge hotel room with my whirlpool tub and couch.
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I have to admit, I am use to staying in super cheap hotel rooms. This one was SO nice and so big. I had booked a king size room for andrew, tony and I but they bailed and I am so glad they did. The weather was not ideal for andrew and tony to be sitting out in at all.
Saturday morning, I woke up around 5 am ready to carb load and um, clean out the system. I am pretty clock work when it comes to dog shows and races but for whatever reason I couldn't, um, produce which is odd. I got nervous about this fact and caused my self to puke. Yes, I am weird. I get nervous about not being nervous. I figured by the time I got to the start line and got parked that it would hit me. I was still kind of pukey although nothing was really coming up. I parked across from a quick trip so went over and tried to go yet again, got nothing, but bought some zantac and promised myself I wouldn't puke anymore. Got a coke and sipped on that till time to head over to the start line. Immediately got in line to the porta potties. Still nothing. Really, really nervous. This race was unique in that there was no staring corrals. Yes, it was a smaller race but still getting 2 K runners organized without corrals was a bit much. I lined up with the 2:15 pacer but could see the 2:10 pacer. The first 8 miles were great. Splits were in the 9s. I hit several significant hills and stayed in the lower 10s which made me happy. I did start to think I needed to stop and potty but not number 2, just pee. I stopped at one bank of potties on the course but waited almost a minute and no one came out so I continued on. Around mile 7 I saw an empty porta potty so stopped real quick and then got back out. I am sure if I didn't stop twice I would of had a 2:10 but I digress. About mile 8ish, we headed off the road and into a forrest with a paved trail. I so felt like the wizard of oz then. I knew flying monkeys would appear at any minute. This was when the storm started. We had seen the storm clouds to our left the whole way and now we were headed directly into them. I had wondered why they were handing out ziploc bags and then it hit me, to protect your phone/ipod. I had my phone in my belt but water still got in and got into my otterbox. It could have been bad but as soon as I was done, I stripped it out and dried everything off. It was a pouring driving rain. I could barely see and the roads quickly flooded. My feet felt like they were carrying 10 pounds on them. The hail was small but it stung and the lightening/thunder was kind of scary as well. I was SOAKED to the bone and my pace suffered. I think mentally i was not handling the cold rain very well. My 13th mile was my worst. I had been high 9s the whole time and that mile was high 10s. I was mentally and physcially done. I finished in 2:13:29 which is a PR but i was disappointed I didn't get my 2:10. I had kept up for so long and 8-13 was not uphill or hard. I just mentally bonked. I went straight back to my van and changed into any dry clothes i had in my bag including my jacket, new shirt and compression socks. I made it back in time to catch up with my buddies and see them finishing. We all were tired and cold and spent. On the way home I couldn't stop shaking so had to find a starbucks and get a coffee to try and heat myself from the inside out.
My overall impression of this race was well organized, tons of volunteers, beautiful YET HILLY course (advertised and flat and fast which was highly inaccurate, see above hill picture). After stuff was nice but I was too cold to participate. They had beer and chicken sandwhiches which did not sound good at all at the time. They also ran out of my beloved chocolate milk. Not only did I get a PR on my half time but I had a PR on my 10 K time. I was under an hour FINALLY. I so am ready to run a 10 K. Bring it on 6 miles. I am being proactive this time and getting a massage on tuesday and taking it easy like I did last time. One more half and my heartland series is over. I will 100% do it again next year, hands down! I also guess i need to order a medal hanger as I am amassing several really nice medals I would like to display. Now off to bed and rest, rest, rest!
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