Ok, so here is all how it worked out. I got up quite early (4:45 am) so I could make sure I had enough time to have a cup of coffee, eat, and relax before heading out the door at 6:am. Of course, Pepper was not too happy that I left without taking him out, but oh well....he has apparently gotten over it. Now, onto the race...
The Potomac River run is a relatively small race (less than 1000 people) that starts in Belle Haven Park just south of Alexandria, Virginia and it follows the Mount Vernon trail heading out to George Washington's home....I assume that anyone can guess what it's called. Although I didn't do any prior visual recon on the course, I did do some reading up on it and it's involves some rolling hills, plus a few larger ones. Here is the link in case anyone is interested. http://www.pvtc.org/marathon Anyway, because I didn't sleep well last night, I was already at a disadvantage heading into this thing. Also, I haven't run as much as I should have lately (right shin splint) and felt that I may have been a tad-bit unprepared for this one. Either way, I did learn a few things along the way.
1. They really needed more port-oh-johns there as they only had 2 for all those people!
2. The schwag wasn't good at all...got a shirt, but that's about it. For 80 bucks, I kind of expected more.
Anway, here we go.
The temp was about 62 degrees at game time, but the real killer was the humidity. It was about 75% humidity for the race, which didn't help the fun. Started off the race right at 7pm and tried to let the main pack get going before me. That was my first mistake because of the narrowness of the trail overall and the fact that on large portions of the trail, it's bordered by river-created swamp land. I hadn't had much of a chance to warm up prior to the race, so the beginning was my warm up. Because of the crowds, I finished the first mile in 9:15...not exactly what I wanted, but due to crowds, not all that bad.
Heading into mile 2, I continued to build the momentum and move through the crowds and eventually passed the marker at about 18:00...improving, but not there yet. I felt good as I continued to run and got into a really good rythm as syncronized my breathing with the Marine Corps Cadence that I was singing in my head.
As I continued to head out to the turnaround point, my pace continued to let me gain ground on the time I lost while in the main pack, and that's also when it started to thin out. While this happened, I also lost track of my times as I was keeping them on my watch, so all I can give is my half-way split later on.
Right around 3, the course started into the rolling hills I mentioned before. The consisted of gentle ups and downs, with a few steeper ones thrown in for good measure. At one point, because of construction on the path, the course veered onto some woodchips, which were not conducive to running on at all. After the chips, we headed directly up a steeper hill and then moved down into steeper hill, then back up another steeper one. Eventually after getting through the smaller hills, it flattened out, then descended back along the river banks. That lasted for what I estimate to be about 1 mile, then we moved back up a long gentle grade that lasted until the turnaround point. I hit the turnaround at about 51:15...give or take a little bit, and headed back the other way.
As I continued and headed past mile 7, I started to feel the fact that I didn't train all that hard for this race. My legs started to burn a little, and I started to lose energy, especially when I hit the hills again. Also, this is when I started to feel the temp go up, as well as the nasty DC humidity kick in. At the aid stations, about ever 1-1.5 miles, I consistently got gatorade and water. The hills weren't all that bad, but when I hit the woodchips, I had to walk for about 30 seconds while we ascended the hill they were on. I figured that it was only 30 seconds, and running on them would probably done more harm than good.
Coming out of the hills, I felt good as the electrolytes in gatorade began to kick in. Heading into about 4 miles left, I continued to stay in a nice rhythm and found some other runners I used as pace setters. This unfortunately, is where the stomach/intestinal issues came into play. As I continued the run, I repeatedly began to feel a sharp pain in my left side, right where my intestines are. I would relieve that pain, as most of it was gas, but it would continually persist until the end of the run. At the time, I didn't know what the culprit was, but now, I do. It was unfortunately the italian dinner I had at a new restaurant last night (not going there again). Now, I can typically take plenty of pain, but this really threw me through a loop as I was running. I just feel bad for the unfortunates behind me. I continued to run, and crossed the finish line in 1:48:30 (unofficial time). I'll update this entry when I actually receive the official time.
Overall, I didn't feel as bad as I predicted I would after the run. The real killer was the humidity, as well as the intestinal issues I had towards the end of the run. I feel like I did a pretty good job, considering the circumstances, and have identified some good and bad things to take away from this. First, more sleep is needed on the night before the run, although I was primarily not because I wasn't trying to sleep. I just couldn't sleep when I tried to. Second, no more eating at Anthony's! Even with the limited training I did for this race, I still feel like I ran pretty well overall. That's a good sign as I'm going to get into training for a fall marathon quite soon. It looks like my sub-4 hour marathon is well within reach, and loftier goals may be in order. Now, if I can just get this intestinal thing work out, I may actually have a good rest of the day.
(Brooks Infinitis 107.7 miles) | 