Weather - 78 degrees, sunny, humid. Ken W. asked me how I did
after the race, and I responded "this is one to forget". During my
warm up I felt well enough, noticing how strong my legs were. However, I
was mindful that my allergies have been interrupting my sleep, the
evening before the race I sat up from 2:00-5:00am. I was also aware
that I should be in rest mode at this point in the season, so I was not
mentally ready to give a 100% effort, and I was satisfied to run at 80%. That
is how I started the race, leisurely and comfortable, passing the first
mile in 7:25. I picked it up a bit, probably running 7:00 pace for
miles 2 & 3. During mile 4 I experienced the awful sensation of
having the body shut down. It felt similar to mile 19 in last
years trail marathon, which I described as hitting the wall - pace slowing
drastically, having no choice but to walk the uphills, and then the
final insult of injuring my foot during the last 2 miles, which put me
out of commission for 6 weeks. However, hitting the wall at
mile 4 seems ridiculous, so I knew that it was not caused by too much
effort expended and a subsequent draining of glycogen, after all, I was
running comfortably, giving only about 80% effort. As I
continued to slow down during mile 5, I recalled my first half marathon
a few years ago. I ran it with Melinda, not racing, but rather just
strolling along comfortably at 9:00 pace.When we hit mile 11 I felt the body shutting down, just like today.
I could no longer keep pace with Melinda at 9:00/mile, and was
struggling to run 10:00 pace. I wanted to desperately stop, but being
my first half marathon, I stubbornly trudged along, finishing in an inglorious 2:07. A few hours after the half marathon I was
struck with symptoms of heat stroke - excess perspiration dripping from
my face, the need to vomit, and the feeling that I was going to lose
consciousness. I iced myself in the tub to bring down the fire burning
inside of my body, and was fortunately able to recover my normal body
temperature.
By mile 6 in today's race I knew I was suffering from the first
signs of heat exhaustion, which could possibly lead to heat stroke. I
knew I had to take the final 1.5 miles easy to avoid a repeat of the
half marathon. I slowed down to 9:30 pace and trudged along in misery,
wanting desperately to walk. Perhaps I should have walked, but I was
too stubborn and kept on with the wall-like death march. From the point in the race where my pace slowed I traded leads with Joe P., a friendly guy in his mid 20's. At Mingo
I finished 6 minutes ahead of Joe, but today he was enjoying his
revenge. I was actually surprised to be even with Joe with 800m to go,
but he then started his final sprint to the finish, and all I could do
was recall my 800m effort at the X-Terra race last month and wish for a
better day. The last 800m was humbling, I was staggering like a drunk,
and slowing to what felt like 10:00 pace. I was barely hanging on as 1,
2, 3, 4, 5 runners passed me in a span of 10 seconds. During the final 100m
one of the race volunteers observed my pathetic pace and said, "come
on, you can go faster than that!" I tried to smile and instead went
slower, going into the chute in 1:00. Considering that I ran this same course in January in 59:00 in muddy slop, I feel kind of good that I almost equaled that performance with heat exhaustion. And
so my last short race of the season is a memorable one for the wrong
reasons, but that is why running is an exciting sport, I never know how
I will perform on any given day. Next up is the Farmdale 33
miler in 3 weeks. I will run slow and easy leading up to the race,
hoping to recover my confidence in my running fitness and ability. #317
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