The story for these two races actually starts about 2 weeks before race day. I had been trying to drink a bottle of water a day. I hate water, so I usually gulped down a bottle right before getting to work - no water on weekends. The last couple of weeks I had not been drinking water. I had cut back on fluids altogether for some reason. I left work one afternoon and noticed that I had barely taken a sip out of my Dr. Pepper. This was also a day I didn't drink water. So, at about 4:00 pm, I had only drank 2 cups of coffee and a sip of Dr. Pepper. Even after runs, I didn't drink as much PowerAde as I had been doing.
Also, about 2 weeks ago, Halloween candy entered the picture. My wife bought some, so I started eating some. I have also been eating the left overs leading up to the night before race day. Thursday, we had tacos. I ate eight of them. I knew this was a bad idea, but I ate them anyway. The tacos and 2 weeks of candy got to me Friday night. I didn't get sick, but my stomach had pains that were sometimes sharp.
My mom had called me at work Friday at about 2:30 to say she was in the emergency room, because of chest pains. I was worried, but not too worried, since she was able to call me herself. Still, it was on my mind.
I was feeling a little extra tired and had planned on going to bed a little early to be ready for the 7:00 am race. Instead, I watched "Dateline" about the Michael Jackson case. I have not been following the case too closely, because I would just get mad/sad. I mean, I do know a little about what's going on, but I don't seek out information. I just hear what I hear.
I finally got to bed about 10:30, with a hurting stomach and mom and Michal Jackson on my mind. I was too tired to let those things keep me awake, but I did dream about them. I woke up at about 4:30 (an hour before my alarm was to go off) and could not go back to sleep. I was thinking about the previous things and dreading getting up for the race.
I got up 10 minutes before the alarm to give me a little extra time to get ready. I left just after 6:15, and it was 37 degrees, still dark (the time changes tonight), and FOGGY - 7 degrees warmer than last week. I drank some coffee and PowerAde on the way and ate some dry cereal. I wasn't ready for these races.
It was about 38 degrees when the 10k started at 7:00 am. It was still foggy, but the sun was rising. Like at last weeks Austin Peay 5k, I wore pants and my heavier skull cap with a long sleeve Heatgear shirt. Last week, I wore a UA jacket, too, but got a little sweaty, so went without it today. It felt just right. For the 5k at 8:30, the fog was gone and the sun was bright; the temperature around 41 degrees. I put on a dry, long sleeve Heatgear shirt and a lighter skull cap for this race. Again, it felt pretty good. I hope typing this will remind me of what I need to wear at these temperatures.
I ran my fastest 10k. 7:35, 7:58, 8:16 (slow mile 3), 8:09, 7:47.68, 7:47.68 (remember these back-to-back exact times), and 1:58 for the last 0.2 miles. Total time: 49:32. Pace: 7:59. Eight seconds faster than I ran same race last year. Placed 2nd in age group of 5 runners and 25th of 89 overall.
The 5k was my second fastest. 7:22, 7:47.68, 7:47.68 (back-to-back and the same as the 10k's) - amazes me that back-to-back times are to the 100ths of a second and I did the same time 4 times - and the last 0.1 in 0:40. Total time: 23:38. Pace: 7:37. Placed 2nd in age group out of 5 and 19th of 129 overall.
No comments:
Post a Comment