Every race, indeed every run, is a learning experience, and this was no exception.
Lessons learned in a bit, but this race (http://goo.gl/2nJ33) was a blast, six hours on a rolling, paved bike trail through Quiet Waters State Park in Annapolis, MD. Despite the heat, which ranged from 84 at the 0730 start to 90 at the end (but could have been worse considering yesterday), the shaded course helped a lot, along with the fantastic volunteers who filled water bottles with ice water, sprayed us with a hose on each lap, and weighed us at the start and two and four hour marks. Generally took real good care of everyone on a day when a lot could go wrong, but seems like there were no issues.
Those learned lessons: It never hurts to leave really early for a race. I thought I gave myself enough time, but an accident on Rt. 50 at I-97 shut down the highway and ground traffic to a halt an hour before start time. I didn't find out how bad it was and I really hope everyone is ok.
Made it to the race five minutes late and didn't get going until about 15 minutes after the clock started. No worries, just get going. Starting late did make a little difference on my distance, but that's ok.
I kept my pace in the mid 10s which felt fine through the half marathon point. But I started to feel yukky after that, mostly stomach issues. After two hours, I was down about 5 pounds, but gained back 3 in the next two hours, so I was hydrating ok (water with occas gatorade and coke), and keeping the salt coming in. I was taking a gel every four mile lap, plus grabbing a cookie, orange slices, and watermelon at the main aid station. Everything was working fine except the watermelon! The 17th mile, I was thinking, I need to stop eating and drinking until this settles down. Plus walk a bit. Just then I lapped a nice lady who was walking so we walked a half mile or so and had a great conversation about ultras and a lot of other stuff. And you know what? My tummy felt better! Lesson learned: Doesn't hurt to back off on the fuel, walk, and chat a bit. I got back down in the 11-12 min range and did a roughly 8/2 run/walk for the remainder, and managed to get just under 29 miles.
The way they judged our distance was neat too. When you estimated you were starting your last lap, they gave you a little wire stake with a flag with your name and number on it. When six hours were up, they sounded air horns around the course, and you dropped your flag and headed to the finish. They were pretty accurate with the distances too. I'm logging my Garmin distance and they said I got 28.9, which is pretty darn close!
One nice thing I learned about a timed race is that everyone finishes about the same time, so we all congregated at a pavilion for a cookout and the awards. The top mileage was over 41, can you believe it?!
I'm happy, this was the longest I've run on pavement, something I was a bit worried about, but my legs and feet seem to have held up fine. We'll see tomorrow.
Sorry for the dissertation! If you've read this far, thank you.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend, and staying cool!
Hazy, hot, and humid, 90s. #114
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