Sat, Sep 08, 2012

Sat, 08 Sep 2012 06:00:00

I know I have not blogged forever and I may only do it when I have a race, nothing else seems very blog worthy. I just feel like a lot came together on this race and I want to remember what I did so I can try to make it happen next time.

I did not do enough long runs for this race (only a 13 and an 18 in the three weeks before), I did not do enough speed work to run fast! I did spend a lot of time running in the mnt.s this summer which I think just gave me enough leg strength to pull this run off. I had some long runs 2 50k's, a 48 miler and a 50, oh and the Grand Traverse but nothing since Aug 1.

I did help at the school fun run on Fri. a.m. and the worked at the Lamb aid station for the Wasatch 100 in the afternoon Fri. so I was feeling very motivated to run!!

I had a pasta dinner but not too much and not too late at night (6). I drank a lot the days before the race but slowed down Fri. afternoon and night. I ate oatmeal and fruit for breakfast and had one bottle of Heed Endurance something?? I decided to carry a h20 bottle this race and was very glad I did. I like to drink when I like to drink. I also ditched the food and gu and just took a swig of EFS every 20-30 min. Way easier when trying to go fast then opening gel packets and then stuffing them somewhere.

What else-I duct taped my blister areas but did not use body glide on my feet-I think I hate that stuff. I had a new playlist on my ipod with some great new, fast songs. Which was key for the end of the race!

Anyway...we took off fast, too fast! I could hardly catch my breath-it is also 8,000 ft. and up hill for the first three miles. I wanted to stay in the front so I knew who was in front and behind me. I was in I think 5th when we hit the single track. I slowly calmed down, got used to the fast pace and spent the next 3 mile trying got pass slower people in front of me. A few of the girls who were in front in the begining started to fall behind and I passed them. I knew the pace was fast but I decided not to wear my Garmin and just run (which I ended up loving!) and i felt o.k. My mile 10 my legs were feeling tired and i was sick of going fast, it is hard! I kept telling myself to run in the front of the pack you have to pay the price, which is a lot of pain! Near mile 10 someone at an aid station told me I was in 3rd and right behind 2nd! I was so excited-I always get 4th or 5th, every race this year and the last few year! I wanted to be in third and I wanted to stay in 3rd but I was not sure I wanted to keep running like this for 16 more miles! It was mentally stressful! I kept looking in front and trying to catch 2nd (who was my friend Emily Sullivan who I did a training run with up here 2 weeks ago and we were the same pace!) I also kept looking behind me and seeing a girl who was close! AHHH! Any way it was a long mental battle to keep pushing when I could have easily slowed down and jogged to end and had fun but not won??? I hit mile 20 and caught up to Emily, we chatted and were both so excited to be where we were. All of a sudden this girl passes us both and runs up the next hill, ahh! We took off after her and chased her the next 5 miles as fast as we could go! It was all down hill, rocky and rutted and dusty and were probably doing 6 mm! My legs felt like they were going to fall off! Emily and i agreed to cross together for 3rd so neither would have to get 4th again. Somehow in the last mile we caught up to the girl (I guess she ate it hard on the downhill and was all dirty and bloody) Sad for her but happy for us. We were all together on the last hill, she walked and we ran! So Emily and I still crossed the line together to tie for 2nd in 3:37:05. I was hoping for 4 hrs.! Last year when I had the stomach ulcer during this race I finished in 5 hrs. 17 min.

It was overall a great race! The race was so hard but the finish was so fun! It felt great to come back a year after a disasterous race and have a great one. I needed to replace that memory. I had the race this year that I was dreaming of last year. It is a great race but I don't know if I'll do it again. Too many other great things going on that weekend like WASATCH!

To keep in balance you must keep moving

Sat, Sep 08, 2012