Done! A report will magically appear later. I hope. ~
The alarm sounded at 5:00 a.m.—as expected. I had been awake for what felt like most of
the night anyway with pre-race anxiety.
You’d think after 60+ races, and never missing a one due to
sleeping through the alarm, I’d be able to get in a good night’s rest.
Whatever.
A quick shower, don the running clothes, insert contact
lenses, run through mental checklist, load up the car, run through mental
checklist, head out. That could be, and
probably is, the morning ritual for me every race day. On this one though, I was trying to talk
myself out of it as well. Even while I
was on the road I kept thinking how easy it would be to turn the car around and
go back home.
That’s a pretty stark contrast to the feelings I was having
12 hours earlier when I was really excited and hoping for a muddy run with the
benefit of a light snow fall. Maybe the
fact that I woke up to a star filled sky dampened my excitement. There would be no lightly falling snow. There was, however, the near certainty of
mud.
I had to stop at Walmart twice. Once as I was leaving town to get my
breakfast and a can of veggies. The
second just before arriving at the island to take care of some urgent business. Picked up a long-sleeved shirt on my second
stop fearing I hadn’t brought the right combination of shirts. I looked for some of those cheap knit gloves
thinking I had forgotten mine—stupid review of my mental checklist had let me
down. Twice.
Or not. I had an old
pair in my gym bag hidden under the deodorant and the hair gel.
No, I did not use hair gel before the race. But I probably should have. The hat I brought to wear did not even come
close to matching either my shirt or my shorts.
I was once told by a Western States 100 finisher that it’s not how fast
you finish that’s important—it’s how you look while you’re running. If she saw me in that hat with the shirt and
shorts I had… Well, I’d never hear the
end of it.
I made it to the island in time to see the 50k runners
off. I was fortunate to park next to
someone who had also decided to bring a can a Bush’s Black Beans. In the hour between the 50k start and the 25k
start, I decided I really had planned well in the shirts I brought. The new long-sleeved shirt I picked up for
$10 would have to wait for another day to be worn.
I don’t know that I knew anyone running the 25k. I take that back—I did know one person. I knew a couple folks running the 50k. And one person running the 100 mile.
So 9:00 rolls around and the 25k race begins. We were instructed to move off the trail for
the other runners coming down. I was
probably somewhere in the middle of the pack and noticed that all the runners
coming down were going out wide around us.
I don’t know if it was cause the folks up front didn’t hear the
announcements or were just mean bullies.
No shouting or cursing occurred as a result. At least none that I heard. Led Zepplin’s D’yer Mak’er and Cee-Lo Green’s
Forget You were playing fairly loud in my ears that first mile so I don’t know
for sure.
I needed to make a bathroom stop early on but resisted the
urge. There’s just nowhere to hide out
there. It wasn’t until mile 3.6 that I
was able to secure enough cover to take care of business.
I was skipping along, about 5 miles in, whistling a happy
tune, when up ahead I spied Fly coming towards me wearing his signature
Hawaiian shirt. He looked good too! He was cruising along. I actually just typed cursing before I
realized my typo—but then again, was it a typo?
But like I said—he was cruising at, as per his report, an average pace
of 9:49. My average was 10:55 and I only
ran half of what he did! We high-fived
and each went merrily along our separate ways.
He was wearing some knit gloves.
I had taken mine off. I hoped he
hadn’t been using his to wipe his nose like I had been using mine…
THERE WAS PEPSI AT THE ELEPHANT HEAD AID STATION! I love that aid station.
I clocked a 7:55 running down to the bottom of the Split
Rock Bay trail. Maybe the Pepsi had
something to do with that—I don’t know.
I ran/walked up to the top of the switchbacks and then ran most of the
way back to the Elephant Head aid station jonesing for some more Pepsi. They were happy to oblige. I probably should have passed on the Oreos
though. I was coughing up and spitting out
Oreo gu for 20 minutes after leaving.
That’s a personal note-to-self: skip the Oreos or make sure they’re
properly washed down before moving on.
I passed Fly again at about mile 12 and we did the high-five
thing again despite the concerns I had the last time about where his gloves had
been.
After that last climb that ends at about mile 12.5 I just
wanted to keep moving without the wheels coming off. Or wobbling much. Seeing as how I didn’t get a good look at my
backside through those last 4 miles, I’m not sure how I looked, but I felt
OK. When I got passed by a lady I had
passed way back on the switchbacks, I kinda got ticked off at myself and took
off passing a number of folks in the last two miles but not, unfortunately,
that one lady. I’m sure I’ll get my
chance at some payback though. Maybe.
So I crossed the finish with a 2:55:31.7 finish, feeling pretty
good about it. The neuroma didn’t flare
up at all! I enjoyed some delicious
buffalo stew and a Pepsi and had to head on home. My grandparents home is getting remodeled and
there’s at least two people that expect me to contribute to that effort. I’d hate to disappoint them.
Jim puts on a first rate production out there on Antelope
Island and I’d encourage everyone to sign up for one of his races next year.
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