Double-day today, including a race. Went out to Pinnacle Mountain this morning with the Crackheads and got a good 6-miler in over the hills out there. I think I needed a run like that, to break things up. Plus it won't hurt my strength to have run all those hills at a decent pace. Tried to moderate the pace so as not to wear myself out in case I decide to go to Arkadelphia tonight for the Dam Night Run (which, as I suggested, is likely), but still averaged 9:23 miles even with the hills (and mile 6, which is almost all uphill, I ran in 9:06)
Headed for Arkadelphia in late afternoon, still felt good, a little stiff but OK. That changed on the ride up to the start. DNR is a point-to-point race, and to get to the start from the finish, they carry people up the hill on lumber trucks. You're sitting on a bundle of 2X4s, literally. Which is a lawsuit waiting to happen; there's nothing to prevent people from falling off. Anyway, the road is quite rough, there's nothing to hold on to and you're tensing up trying to make sure you don't fall enough. So by the time we got to the top, my back had locked up. Stretching and a warmup run didn't help -- although they definitely warmed me up; sweat was streaming down my back as I stood at the line. It wasn't as hot as it was for this race last year, but it was darn humid. So I'm three miles from the finish, and my car, and I can either run down the hill or bail out and walk down the hill. So I decided to run.
It was obvious early that my back was not going to let me run fast. I just tried to maintain as good a pace as I could. First mile was like 7:20, second mile was 7:50. It actually seemed to loosen up a bit in the third mile and I was able to pick up the pace in the last half-mile, which included a big downhill. By the time I drove halfway back home and had to stop for gas, I was COMPLETELY locked up and limping. | 