Not a good race. Let's just call it a great day for a jog in the forrest, never mind the 300 other people on the trail! The first 6 miles felt great; I was successful at keeping the pace slow (around 9 minute miles). This is a first for me in a distance event. I am very pleased with this. We started the first mountain climb, Fragrance Lake, at mile 6.4, and as soon as the trail began climbing, my breath started asthmatic wheezing. This has happened to me on one other occasion, after which I briefly experimented with inhalers. Inhalers never seemed to help. Anyway, on this day, for whatever reason, the wheezing got quite bad, and I was actually walking from about the middle of the climb on, ON THE FIRST CLIMB OF THE RACE. Not looking good. At the top of the climb, the trail begins gently rolling for a mile or so around Fragrance Lake, then descends steeply for another mile to Cleator Road, where the second climb begins. Aid station 2 is here, and its a short walk from here back down and out to the road. I knew that I had to make a decision about the asthma thing at this point, since committing to the second climb would put me into 9 or so miles with no exit. I decided that if my breathing was not normal after the flatter and downhill section approaching aid station 2, I would have to pull. I was not getting nearly enough oxygen and was pretty lightheaded, but I ran this section slowly, just trying to take deep breaths. I just could not get full breaths; I felt pain in my lungs and a raw feeling in my throat. Even after the steep descent, I could barely breathe. My husband and coach were waiting at the bottom, where they had planned to be, and I rested for about 20 minutes, until I was able to walk down the hill to the car. During the rest of the afternoon, I coughed quite a bit, and had some pain in my lungs, but gradually was able to breathe better. In spite of the way the "race" turned out, it is really just a small part of the training leading up to it, and the training has been so spectacular! I will not ever give up running in these mountains, and will make it part of my regular running routine. Having to drop out of the race is a disappointment, but I actually don't really feel it as a HUGE disappointment. Maybe that is yet to come! I am sad, and I think I had better do something really soon to boost my mental confidence a bit. In the meantime, my legs feel like they've still got 20 miles left to run! As soon as the lungs are up to it, I will. | 