Posts Tagged ‘race report’

Not bad at all!

Chip time – 43:11
26/1859 females (chip time…gun time has me one later)
161/3268 OA (ditto chip time)
Useless factoid, Age-Grade: 79.32%

…and that was with a first mile of 7:21 (that bridge is the bane of my existence).  No placing, thanks to a couple 39s and a couple 40s in my AG (I was 6th).  It was a fast field in general, including a number of Ethiopians and/or Kenyans (sorry, I don’t know enough to separate).

3268 runners & about 1000 walkers.  Was colder than crap, I wore my fleece with a down coat over and did not want to give either of them to bagcheck.  That said, I wore tights when I left the house but brought capris, which I changed into in the car.

I’ve been feeling good about the race for the last couple days, knowing that it’s not a fast course and it’d be cold, so I didn’t have to worry too much about final outcome, just doing the best I could.  My only worries going into the race were that I didn’t go pooh before I left the house and when I got there, I thought there’d be something to eat, so I didn’t eat at home (you have to get there early since they close the bridge) but I found a couple donut holes on some vendor’s table, so that was enough.

Btw, last night I had my new magic meal: mushroom cheeseburger as big as my head and sweet potato fries.  It’s what I ate before last Sunday’s fabulous long run, so I figured I’d try it again – that’s why I wasn’t hungry enough to eat upon waking.  Anyway…

After the first mile or so, just one woman passed me at around mile 3.  Me and another girl played cat and mouse for the last mile and she outkicked me, but that was mainly because I was looking around the field for the finish line when it was right in front of my face (they changed the course a bit this year).  Didn’t even get a chance to kick.

Garmin loves Camden, NJ, so the splits were right on with the markers:
7:21 (wake up, Flo!)
6:49 (still on the bridge but the down side got my legs moving for the second pass uphill)
6:44 (one last mile of bridge)
6:46 (finally off the damn bridge)
7:06 (hill and wind here)
7:00 (nothing interesting to report)
1:25 (6:25 pace)

One thing I did after the first mile was sing to myself Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell” because that’s one of the songs I used to practice with when I did cadence training a couple years ago.  It actually works as a helper.

Bottom line, I’m pleased with my performance, I was controlled and not breathing maniacally through any of it.  Could have done better out the gate, but I think the speed is returning, it’s just a matter of learning to give it more gas from the get-go.  I seem to start timidly as habit now, so that’s something I need to work on.

Not a great showing from me.  21:05.

The race was a good size, around 400 people.  It was windy but I didn’t really feel it as a detriment, so I won’t use it as an excuse.  I didn’t draft behind anyone, we were spread out a bit.

Right before lining up, the woman I beat last race who had vied against me, came up to chat and asked my pace plan, then lined up right alongside me at the start. I wasn’t too thrilled because she’s 43, so in my 10-year AG and I knew she was hungry to beat me (though I have to say, she is a really nice woman).

When the gun went off, she zoomed ahead but I wasn’t feeling like pushing the pace.  In fact, I ran this race very much like the last one,  slower early miles, speeding up in the last, but this time it wasn’t intentional, so when I saw my Garmin showing late 6:4xs for miles 1 and 2, I just went with it, didn’t even try to “correct” it by speeding up, I just worked on passing people.  The third mile was when I finally got moving, Garmin says 6:23 but it’s wrong, it was more like 6:30.

The one thing I’m really disappointed in isn’t my time (ok, that’s a suck, but other than that), it’s that I made a huge tactical error involving that woman.  As I mentioned, she’d zoomed out the gate and I figured I’d close the gap eventually, which I was able to do in the third mile.  However, if I’d have been smarter, I’d have hidden behind her until the last 1/4 mile or so and taken her by surprise.  At that point I would have probably been able to outkick her.

My error was coming alongside her with enough distance left that she sped up and was able to fend me off to the finish, knowing I was chasing her.  I think there’s a photo of us right as I slid alongside her, as a matter of fact.  So yeah, she beat me but she also puked at the end of the race.  I like to think that had something to do with me.

I, on the otherhand, wasn’t heaving or anything at the end.  A very healthy finish for me, albeit not so great timewise.  On the good side, there weren’t that many women before me.  Again, I’ll have to see the results to know.  They only had awards for 1st in each AG so nothing for me today.

Reflections
All in all, if I look at the racers I come in alongside at any race, I can feel very good with where I am as a runner – it’s a younger, fit crowd, and I’m definitely in a great area for my age, that’s not in question.  But as far as reality is concerned, I think it’s time to get rid of my PRs on the right and change them out for 2010 PRs only.

There’s something gnawing at having these faster times from last year constantly there as carrots I can’t catch.  Aside from the marathon (and that was basically by default) I haven’t had a PR in over a year.  You know…that’s kinda depressing.  Not that I was trying for a PR today, that was never on the table.

But the truth is, I don’t think I’ll ever push as hard to get those faster times again, trading off some race pain for more headroom (as Adam smartly puts it) instead.  It makes me sad, like I’m giving up, but the collapsing body incidents have definitely changed me.  I’m not sure I’ll ever regain the drive I had before.

That said, I’m never going to stop trying to get faster, I’ll always keep working to improve and I certainly expect to get faster from where I am at this point in time, but…I’m not “getting back” to anything, as I’ve been saying I have.  Yesterday was yesterday, those old race times are history.  Today is where it begins.

Not only did this small race have great prizes, but I got some ok photos out of the deal.  Nothing fabulous, but way better than my usual suckfest.

This is in the first section of the race when I started passing people like these 3 dudes. I'm doing something turtle-ish with my neck which is annoying but I've certainly taken worse. Lol.

The clock is totally wrong due to the short course, but note the main feature: Upright & Vertical (which is redundant, but screw it)

Prizes!

Checking out the medal. Happy.

If you follow me on Facebook or the 3:20 RW thread, you know the scoop already but here’s how it went down…

This morning, while dressing, there was one thought in my mind: how is this going to feel?  I had mentioned the pacing plan was to go 6:50s but yesterday during my run, I had doubts.  I ran to the race site since we had major river flooding and I wanted to check that it was going to be clear.

That portion of the river isn’t like the usual flat riverside course on which so many of our local races are run.  This one is an out-and-back with some hilliness in the middle of each way, so as I traveled it, I was thinking “Dang, 6:50s would have been easy enough on the flat but this isn’t flat.  It’ll probably feel as crummy as a regular 5K.  Oh well, Upright and Vertical, that’s the only goal.”

The Race
I line up a couple rows behind where I’d ordinarily start.  The gun goes off and I obey the law, the first mile is 6:54ish.

I was a little weirded out by the number of people who passed me at the start.  Seemed like they were swarming from behind, but I stuck to my guns.  Besides sticking to my pace plan, I was also aware that the uphill starts about .5mi in, then a steep little section after that, so going faster was not even a minor temptation.  I knew a lot of that swarm would slow down soon enough.

Around 1mi I see a woman who looks to be in my AG (10-year groupings) so I work on moving up, but slowly.  It was cool to have confidence in my ability to pick her off.  Around 1.5mi, I’m next to her, but she’s not having any of it and vies against me.  I feel a little mean because I can tell by her effort that she’s working to do it.  I’m not in la-la land at this point, btw, I am working, but definitely not as hard as a usual 5K.  I finally say “screw it”, gather speed and move ahead.

I passed a lot of people and don’t recall anyone passing me after the initial surge.  I wasn’t even looking at my Garmin after the initial bit where I stabilized my pace – this race was that much of a “run by feel” type deal.  Such a weight off to ignore PRs and goal times!

At the turnaround, which was a bit of a mess because they routed it through this very public area (Lloyd Hall for the locals) this other girl comes out of nowhere and is in front of me.  I get a little pissed off thinking she’s cheating, so I decided that I will beat her ass even if she is younger than me.  That gave me a boost of energy.

I pass her as we deal with the last little hill and then it’s downhill to flat from there, about a mile. Garmin says the 2nd mile was 6:52 but the third was 6:27 pace.  It felt like I was racing at that point but not wheezing or anything (55 degrees sure helped).   About .5 to the end, someone on the side yells “3rd woman!” to me and I yell back, “Cool!”.  I totally did not expect that.

Short Course
As I approach the clock, I see the last digits, 40, 41, etc. and think how excellent, I can beat 21, but then I see the first digits “19″ and I immediately know it’s a short course…I may have done well, but definitely not that well.  I finished with a clock time of 19:57ish (have to check results), under 20 anyway.

I walk around and ask a couple fasties if they think it was a short course and they agree that yeah, it was.  Later, we’re told it was .1 of a mile off, so this will forever be an asterisk race. No problem, I wasn’t looking for a good time, I was looking for Upright and Vertical and I got it.

Results
3rd O.A female.  Adding in the .1mi gives me 20:36 for a finish time.  Fabulous!  So close to my PR and with hills and going slow the first 2/3s and I didn’t feel like utter ass at the end, plus I have a wicked head cold and am a total snotface (I ran with a handkerchief tucked in my shorts) so triple Woohoo!!!

To top it all off, this sweet little race has the absolute best prizes.  Not only did I get a $25 gift certificate to Whole Foods, which is fab since it’s my neighborhood grocery store, but in a fine stroke of fate, I also got a $75 gift certificate for Zipcars!  How wild is that?  I just got my paperwork for Zipcars on Thursday!  Crazy.  Meant To Be, even.

So this was a wonderful experience in about 5 different ways and I jogged home with the most huge smile on my face.  “Look at me, Look at me…I can race like normal people!”

If ever there was a report I did not want to write, it was this one.  I don’t even want to think about it, really.  I scare myself.  Each time I have one of these incidents  (it’s now “each time” which is so magnificently depressing) my tolerance for “look on the bright side, it was a valuable lesson” dims exponentially.  But lucky me, I have this blog and many lovely people looking out for me, so I have to explain it.

The Girlies
Because this is going to be long, I’ll just say that it was a wonderful weekend despite the shit that went down thanks to the gaggle of wonderful girlies I got to meet, remeet and spend serious fun time with.  Kat, Rebecca, Reyana, Audra, Loren, Sharon and Daleen are my kind of women: strong, funny, smart, surprising and loving.  What else is there?

Couple of photos reposted from FB (unfortunately, not everyone was around when there was a camera).

Me and Kat waiting for the bus after the Expo

Brunch after the race with Reyana, Kat and Rebecca

Race Morning
I was excited and ready to roll.  I’ve had a feeling of happiness all week about this race, haven’t placed much pressure on myself, even though I’ve mentioned a PR, my thought was  “if I can, cool, if not, the next one will get it.”

A few of the gals met at my apartment for a last-minute pit stop (so great living a few blocks from the race start) then we left for the race.  Loren and I were in corral 2, so we kissed the others good luck and got in place. I saw Esined from the MRT forum and we had a little hello, then I stepped back and got ready for a great race.  Great race.  Funny.

The Race
It was warm to start (the weather thing I use reports 67 at the start and 70 when I finished) but I’ve been comfortably running in low 70s these past couple weeks (after way hotter) that I wasn’t overly concerned.  The first 3 miles were right on target, 7:08s (I didn’t stop at any water stops), though my Garmin was wonky during that time due to the buildings and the 4th split was marked incorrectly.  At one point my Garmin said 10:20 then went to 6:49s so I was really playing it by effort for that first section though I kept looking at that sub 7 business wondering if it was me or the Garmin.

It had to have been the Garmin but I carried a bit of anger at myself in the later miles for possibly having run too hard early on.  Also, I kept missing mile markers which threw me off further.

Water and Gels
I did probably 5 water stops which put a little panic into me each time because I really do suck at them, though I think I got enough fluids overall.  I ended up grabbing 2-3 cups as I’d go through, though got only one swig from each cup.  It definitely slowed me down but still, I felt I was doing ok on that score.  For the record, you can be sure I was well hydrated to begin with.

I had a gel 35 minutes in and maybe 2/3 of another about 1:05 in (fuzzy memory on this).  I nursed the second gel over a wide stretch since there wasn’t water for a while.  It was the first time I’d pinned gels to my shorts which worked great except for the second one, when I didn’t realize I’d pulled the pin off with the gel till I jabbed my lip.  Live and learn.

Also, I had a huge plate of pasta the night before and PB and banana on bread before leaving the apartment, so I was well covered in the carbs department.

My Breathing
My breathing was labored from about 5mi on, but it always is so I can’t use it as a cue of overworking.  In fact, the reason I quit smoking pot last year was because of this very race, I hated the way I sounded throughout and thought maybe that’d help.

Around mile 5.5, Loren passed me looking very casual and comfortable and later told me she noticed my breathing when I said something to her but again, that’s how I am in these things.  I always feel sorry for the people around me, as I’ve posted in several race reports.

That said, I did feel as though I was working hard around the time I saw Loren but doing a body check my legs felt ok and while I wasn’t comfortable, it’s a race and I have yet to feel anything but crappy while in the midst of one.

I thought I was slowing for a few miles but accepted it.  I had written main splits on my arm (5K, 10K, 10mi) but didn’t bother looking at them because what was I going to do? I could only go as fast as I could go.

Friend Sightings
I was so happy to see my buddy Lara on her bike around mile 11 or so (she reports that I looked good at that point) and about a mile later saw my friend Kevin on his bike who yelled out great encouragement.   I was actually feeling ok after that (I mean, within the race crap feeling) so I sped up a bit, which ended up biting me in the ass when I hit mile 13.

The Horrible Part
Irony of ironies, at the very beginning of the race I saw an ambulance waiting on the side and laughed to myself that at least this race wasn’t going to be one of “those”.  Ah, hubris.

In mile 13, I lost control of my legs.  It felt exactly as it did during June’s 5K when I collapsed. I describe it as a Road Runner feeling, the way he’d run with this legs behind him in a circle, that’s how it feels when I’m doing it (though without his efficiency).  Incidentally, this happened in the same part of the course as that 5K, a treeless, sunny area that I never like running through.

When I felt this start to happen, I ordered myself to slow down, though I didn’t quite bring myself to walk at that point, I was scared and couldn’t believe that this thing was happening again.  Then, in a crazy deja vu, I stumbled, just like at that 5K and again, a nice runner helped me up and I waved him on, though this time I was able to compose myself a bit. (I would have forgotten touching the ground, btw, if it wasn’t for the small hole on my palm that I discovered as we were walking back to the apartment.)

God, I did not want to, but I started walking.  Honestly, it was about 1/4 mile left to the finish, so there were tons of people screaming and other runners telling me to keep going.  It was overwhelming and depressing and scary and  Oh look, now I’m crying writing this.  I’ve managed to fend off tears the entire day.

Anyway, there’s all those people yelling and I just don’t understand what’s wrong with me and how I let myself get into this horrible frightening place and I manage to jog again.  More fuzziness while I stumble up to the finish line and another nice runner man helps me across (I don’t remember how long he was with me beforehand, could have been the finish line or a bit before…so weird).

I’m genuinely scared to see the photos.  Bet they’ll get a lot of hits on the photo site though, lol.

Afterwards
I see Rebecca immediately, I need some time to breathe, my friend Jenn comes up and says she saw and am I ok?  At this point, I just feel like a loser.  We take a finishers photo together, then I ask for one solo because god, the finish line photo is going to suck so horribly, maybe I can have one fakeout for the memory books.  It’ll probably look like I’m possessed anyway.

Rebecca gets food, I can’t stomach anything, and I have to sit down so we find a grassy spot to wait for the rest of the gals.  After 20 minutes, I feel nauseous and come close to puking but don’t.  A bit later, I’m feeling like I can eat a bagel so I go get one.  As I get up, Rebecca comments on how sweaty I am, which seems normal to me but then I look around and compared to everyone else, it is pretty excessive.

Finally the girls are gathered (great job to all of you!!) and we’re standing around, Loren comments on my goosebumps which I wave away, figuring it’s just from being all sweaty but I guess it was weird since we were in full hot sun at that point.  A few minutes later (this is probably 45 minutes after I’ve been done) Rebecca says “your lips are blue” then everyone else nods and says , “yeah, they’re really blue”.  OK, this is beginning to scare the crap out of me. But physically, I’m not feeling bad anymore.

What Do I Think About This
Well, I think it’s shit.  I think I’m afraid of myself.  I think all my Facebook pals suggesting I go to a doctor is a smart decision and I will call tomorrow. Though when I was in the hospital in June they gave me an EKG and x-rays and other fancy things before announcing me incredibly healthy.

But if you really want to know what I think, I think I did it to myself.  I think it’s my own fucking ego again running too hard, that I don’t have a “red danger zone” button or if I have it, I’m not able to see when it’s flashing until it’s too late.   I honestly don’t think it was dehydration this time.  OK, so I didn’t get giant gulps of water but I did get it at enough places that it had to have been enough.

And yes folks, it was warm but if you’ve gone through this at 83 degrees as I did with the 5K (and running much harder, mind you) 70 is nothing, plus I’ve been doing all my tempos and intervals in warmer weather than this.

So I feel like an utter wuss as a racer and at the same time too strong/stubborn for my own good.  I guess it’s the same way I’m an extremely introverted extrovert.  Life throws those weird combinations of tricks to confuse you, I guess.

The Finish Time
1:36:13.  The time means nothing to me, I don’t care about it one bit, it doesn’t make me sad or unhappy, it just is.  It was the “incident”, the weakness that troubles me so much.  It’s making me really scared to race – do I have to take everything easy from now on?  What kind of racing is that?

I stopped crying btw, soon after I wrote that I started, so you know, I’ll get through this.  It’s just one more interesting race report.  Hah!  Like I need another one of these ridiculous things.

In the spirit of the infamous dehydration race report from 2008, we have a new set of firsts:

1. First blackout
2. First memory hole
3. First hallucination
4. First overnight hospital stay

83 degrees, 69 dewpoint, mostly sunny.  From my dewpoint musings post, when adding temp and dewpoint: “if it’s above 150, forget pace altogether and just focus on finishing.”

I got some great advice from running mentor Adam on how to handle the race, as I’d been freaking about the temps for a few days.  He said bring ice and ice cold water so I did, stashing them in a bush for after the warmup.  Brilliant call on the ice, btw, I suggest everyone do that in summer races.

The Warmup
I go out for a little over a mile, do 4 strides and as usual, they’re slower than shit, about 30 seconds away from my usual stride speed which always happens pre-race but I never get used to it.  “At least I won’t have to worry about leaving the gate too fast”, I think to myself.

As I return to the clump of people standing around, a teenage girl wearing a walker t-shirt calls to me, “Miss…Miss, is that water on you?”  I’m not sure what she’s talking about, then I look at the thick suit of sweat on me and laugh, “Yep, it’s hot out here!”

I go to my ice stash and coat myself with a few cubes, stick a couple in my sports bra, drink some water, visit the porta-potty and line up.   It’s an out and back on the usual race course by the museum, so I know what to expect.  Small field today, more of a walker event.

Go!
I look down at my Garmin and think I see 6:59 and I get pissed with myself, but then look again, realizing it says 5:59.  I have never done such a stupid start in my life, didn’t think it was possible with that sluggish warmup so maybe it was Garmin acting wacky, still, I slow down and the first mile clocks in at 6:40.  Just right.

There’s only one girl in front of me, a young thing, and I pass her around the 1/2 mile mark, then realize, “Wow, if I can keep this up, I can win this thing!”  There’s a water stop at the turn-around point and I take a cup of water and dump it on my head (again, as per Adam’s stellar advice) …ahhh.

The folks going the other way are yelling out at me “first woman, wooohoo!”  “you go, girl!” and other fun stuff like that.  I have to admit, it’s a fantastic feeling.  Second split clocks in at 6:48.

I’m definitely hurting at this point, but I want to win, dammit!  And I wish I had eyes in the back of my head so I could know what kind of lead I have (didn’t think to watch for gals at the turnaround).  I’m slowing and I see guys in front of me stopping to walk but I barrel on, thinking, almost there, just a few minutes more, but at the same time, “man, would I love to stop.”  Nothing that I don’t think at least twice in every 5K.

Then, out of nowhere, my legs go jello, I stumble and fall on the ground – that same knee that’s opened up twice already, gets it again.  Another racer is at my side in a heartbeat wanting to help me up, but I wave him away saying, “You go ahead, I don’t want to ruin your race” but he tells me “This race doesn’t mean anything, c’mon, we’ll run in together”.  So I get up and slowly we go, then I remember stumbling again and my next memory is in the hospital being lifted from the stretcher to the ER bed.

What I’m told happened
Until this afternoon, I thought I had a DNF, but  when I got home, I called the StridesForStroke place and spoke to a girl who was there and who gave me the lowdown (what she missed, her parents saw). I crossed the line with the help of that guy and whoever was standing there.  Then I went over to the sidewalk and I collapsed again, they put me on a chair, then they put me, still sitting in the chair, into an ambulance.  Now that she explained this to me, I’m just this evening remembering little tiny snapshots.

Btw, someone from the race called me while I was in the hospital but I didn’t think to ask about what happened.  Nice of them to check on me, though.

The Hospital

Once in the hospital bed, I didn’t realize till an hour later that I had a big memory hole.  I was too freaked because the 3 friends I could call to get me were all out of town, I didn’t have a cent on me or a phone and I felt utterly alone.   On top of it, I was thinking, “This is humiliating, that’ll teach your stupid ego, you should stop racing for a few months, maybe even forever, you really have no clue of what you’re doing, blah blah…”

About an hour later, I was able to compartmentalize this where it belonged, as a medical/heat related problem and not the end of my racing “career” but it was breaking my heart up until then.

Meanwhile, I was in a bad way physically, they don’t give you water for a while and you’re dying of thirst, plus I had a fever so I felt like death, wanting to barf, too.  They gave me ice to suck on and I started to feel a bit better, eventually everyone dispersed.  A short while later, I start to see things.

Hallucinations
It’s no secret I’ve had my sampling of recreational drugs but never have I had “visions”.  This scared the shit out of me more than anything.   It was like smokey gray dancing ribbons everywhere I looked, ghostly because you could see through them.  I called for the nurse thinking I’d fried my brain or my eyesight, but she told me it’s normal when dealing with exhaustion.

They gave me tons of tests and took chest x-rays.  I’m told I have serious heat stroke, am profoundly dehydrated, my lactic (lactate?) acid is extraordinarily high and they’re concerned about my kidneys.  So I have to stay overnight.  Super duper suckage bummer of the universe.

On a cute note, everyone was taking a big interest in my plight, the doctors and nurses had running/racing stories and called me the “athlete”.  One of the doctors sent in another doc, a 3-time Ironman, to chat with me who told me my case was cool.

Note: The resident that eventually was assigned to me didn’t even think I should stay overnight.  She thought I would be fine to go home and that my levels would return within hours, which they did, but she didn’t have a say-so in it.

Overnight Stay In Cardiac
My nurse in cardiac had done a tri-relay with her sisters and was thrilled to have me.  She was a nutritionist and wouldn’t stop giving me advice, some of it quite loopy, like next time I race I need to fill a camelback with Gatorade.  She also told me a couple times that I’d approached acute renal failure but when I asked the doctor,  the doc said, “WHAT???  That’s not true, she had no business saying that”.  How’s that for weirdness?

My roommate was an obese woman with Lupus and Crohn’s disease, a funny lady, though we talked through the curtain most of the time.  The only bad thing was she slept a lot but left the TV on a channel that alternates Jerry Springer and Maury Povich for hours.  That was hell.

I was monitored all night and this morning got an echocardiagram.  I should have been able to leave early but had to wait for the main doc to start his shift.  So at 3pm I took the “walk of shame”, not in high heels and evening wear, but sports bra, shorts and racing flats.  Just as pathetic.  At least I’d removed my bib.

My thoughts
Yeah,  I pushed, but it drives me nuts that I couldn’t tell the difference between normal 5K suck and heat suck.  I was asked if I had chest palpitations or any other warning signs but I didn’t.

As for the dehydration, I had a couple glasses of wine the night before (not so good) but also a few non-caffeinated sodas and some water.  Drank a huge glass of water a couple hours before the race and water when I got there.  What I’m kicking myself for was not taking S-caps, I keep forgetting to use them this summer – most idiotic, I would have avoided the whole scenario if I’d taken them (or any other type of electrolyte/salt thing).

Other than that, I think my furnace burns hotter than most.  I’ve always thought that and here’s why:  I would like nothing better than to run in sportsbra/shorts at 65 degrees.  The women where I run won’t wear them until it’s near 80.  I would die.  It’s a little embarrassing to be nekkid compared to everyone else, but I “allow” myself to wear one as soon as it’s 70 degrees.  In fact, when it’s 65, I actually wait for it to get to 70 so I don’t have to wear a sopping wet singlet.

I asked a couple docs separately about this today, wondering if maybe it could be due to perimenopause (sorry folks, this is unsexy talk and I hate it because it shows my age, but it’s my reality).  Both doctors said it very well could be.

HTFU?
I wanted to do was making myself do these summer races because I felt like a whiner and excuser when I bitched about how I don’t handle heat well, especially when everyone goes “hey, it’s only a 5K!”  The whole point was to harden up, but I think I’m confusing guts with self-knowledge, something I seem to lack.  Maybe time will give me that.   Until then, I guess it’s my achilles heel.

On the good note, even with the silly start and soap opera finish, it was an improvement over the last 5K and in worse conditions.  But what to do now?  Do I really want to “race for fun” in 80 degrees?  That’s an oxymoron.  I’d hate racing at partial capacity and getting beat.  Stupid ego.  Guess I need to set a temperature limit at which I won’t race (which, if I had my druthers would be 65, but then I won’t be racing much).

Anyway, I’m fine, so no worries – a little weirded out but none the worse for wear.  Thanks for reading this ridiculously long report.  And to think…it was only a 5K.