It's race day and ... it's just ridiculously hot. Car thermometer read 86 degrees at 7 a.m. and I didn't even park in direct sunlight.
Took the last two days off to taper for the race. I don't feel much stronger, but at least I got a solid night of sleep last night after several nights of flipflopping and not sleeping much. Got through work yesterday on pure adrenaline and I think the adrenaline ran out about 2:30 in the afternoon. I think I was asleep within five minutes of saying good night to Pam, which is a nice change.
Got up this morning and went down to the state Capitol to run with the Crackheads. It was the usual route up into the Heights; I decided to cut it down to 5 miles, so turned around at Palm Street and retraced my steps. As usual with Tom's courses, the Garmin says it was more than 5. All the stragglers thought I was hauling-A because I was on the way back so early, but I really was running slower than usual (9:40 average including the downhill return leg), I just ran less than most people. Pat left an hour earlier on his 14-miler; his car was in the lot when I got there at 5:30.
So the plan now is to go back to bed for a while, take it easy this afternoon and head for Arkadelphia somewhere around 5:30. Pam wants to attend a going-away party for one of the psychiatrists at her hospital at 5, so I'm not sure how this is going to work out, but she knows I want to be at the race site no later than 7 -- about the time the temperature goes back below 100.
Update after the race. But no sub-21. Or 22. Or 23. Or 24. It was still 95 or so when I got to the site an hour before the scheduled start (notice I said scheduled; more on that later). Got my packet and bib easily enough, then lined up to get a ride up the hill to the start. The vehicle of choice was a lumber yard truck, stacked with 2x12s to serve as benches. That ride scared the HELL out of me. Thirty mph, twisting road, nothing to hold on to. I think my HR got as high on that truck as it did during the race.
So we get up to the top, the truck disgorges us and goes back down for another load (this pattern would continue for the next hour-plus; I got to the top 35 minutes before the scheduled start). Went for a mile jog to loosen up, then stretched. So far so good. Still hot, but the sun's behind the trees so not too bad. Around 10 til, went to line up. Then I see the trucks unloading again up the road. Then again, 15 minutes later. Then again. Finally, with me standing in the mob for 45 minutes in 90-plus degree heat and nothing to drink, they start the race at 8:35 or so.
Despite the large number of people on a narrow road, it was not too difficult to get my pace going. I hit the first mile in just about what I had hoped. But the legs are not feeling good. Is it dehydration, is it tightening up standing on the road, is it the effects of running five miles this morning, all of the above, or something else? Anyway, I keep pushing, for a while. Then the walk monster jumped on me. Then jumped on me again. Then again. I've gone fast enough early that I didn't get passed by too many people even while walking. I can't see my Garmin (it's completely dark by now), but I have a pretty good idea my sub-22 is out the window. Then I realize I'm on the final downhill and pick up the pace, then as I turned off the downhill and into the parking lot where the finish is located, I'm hauling-A and passing all kinds of people. Got to the line and click off my timer: 24:03; gun time is 24:08 or so (no chips here), maxed out at 170 HR, same as at Firecracker.
Mile splits, from the Garmin: 6:58 (good), 7:09 (not too bad), 9:00 (yuck), and the last 0.17 at 5:30 pace (registered as more than race distance, as usual). Official results: 144th among men, 15th in my age group, time 24:04.70.
Obviously, I have to work on my discipline. I give in all to easily to the walk monster, even on flat parts of the course, and the walk monster is not going to get me to Boston. And I should have paid more attention to hydration; I figured it wouldn't be a big deal in a 23-minute race, but it was the hour-plus before the race that got me. And I have to remember that I haven't been training for 5Ks; I haven't done a tempo run in weeks, and haven't done intervals in longer than that. I'm trying to run 5Ks off marathon training, hoping that better endurance would substitute for lack of specific training.
Oh well, my 5K season is over. Next race, a 20K in two months, by which time I'll be up to 60 mpw if training goes well. If I run the same overall pace then as I did tonight (including the walk monster), I'll be very pleased. But there's a lot of work to be done to be able to run 12 miles at 7:36 pace. | 