That was tough. We arrived the night before with our whole family and friends to camp at the lake and drove the course. Right away I realized this was not a regular 'ol road race. About 2/3 of the race is on gravel, rocks, and dirt. And the hills, oh my. Up, down, up, down. Steep little monsters. Tons of them.
Areas of rather treacherous footing. After driving the course I realized I would not be getting the time I wanted, but I would at least race for place. So....fast forward to the morning of the race.
Woke up, had my 1/2 cup of coffee and a little gatorade, ate a banana, and off to the start. Taped my foot although the PF is mostly gone. Felt okay, jogged around a bit to warm up. The officials wished us luck, said a prayer, and we were off. This wasn't a big race at all--115 runners altogether including the relay runners.
1. 6:57 mostly flat on gravel but not too rocky. Feel good and comfortable
2. 7:17 still not too bad drink a little water at the aid station at the very end because wow it seems hot
3. 7:19 Stomach is a little queasy after that water but I'm pretty much okay
4. 7:36 Get onto some pavement in the town of Marion but a lot of uphill. The queasy is turning into nausea so I just dump some water over my head to keep cool at the aid station because I can't drink anything
5. 7:30 I am nauseated. not good.
6. 8:11 headwind. rocky gravel. hills. footing is not so good. so nauseated.
7. 7:49 on a deeply rutted road, if that is what you want to call it. trying to pick a smooth ride and keep my ankles out of the ruts. See my sweet husband cheering for me! I grab a cup at the aid station thinking it is water and dump it over my head to keep cool and sure enough it is warm, sticky, orange gatorade running down my hair and face. Nice. I catch a taste of it and almost start heaving. My husband has a lovely picture of me dumping the gatorade over my head.
8. 7:40 Starting to get back to the lake. I am hot and thirsty but too sick to my stomach to drink
9. 8:07 Hills hills hills. steep little monsters, 12% grade per my garmin data. up down up down up down I am crawling slower and slower up these things
10. 7:48 Struggling. Survival mode. Don't care about anything but finishing. I don't dare look at my watch because I'm afraid to know how slow I am going.
11. 7:53 Struggling. Nausea. up down up down
12. 8:23 My legs just die. done. We go down into these rocky alcoves in the lake and back up. Big rocks and the footing is treacherous. My foot is killing me. I get passed by 2nd place here and she takes the lead. I don't even put up a fight. She keeps looking behind her and I want to wave her on and tell her not to worry I am not going to catch her. up down up down
13. only. 81 per my garmin it measures this course as a bit short. time is 6:15, 7:42 pace. I try to look good crossing the finish line and promptly walk over to my husband, lean on him, and retch. Ugh.
Recovered a bit and went and talked to the girl who won. She was really sweet. Her feet were stinging from the rocks, she had worn racing flats not realizing what the terrain was going to be like. She beat me by 36 seconds. Third place was 10 minutes behind me.
Honestly I am pretty disappointed in myself with this race. I wish I knew why I was so nauseated. Not hydrating for the entire race was probably not helpful but I couldn't drink. And boy, do I need to learn to run hills. I stink at hills. Today my foot is much better but my quads are a mess. Stairs are rough on me today. On the upside, the flat, certified 1/2 marathon in Wichita next month on pavement is going to feel like a walk in the park compaired to this thing and boy do I plan to FLY and redeem myself. All the volunteers at the race were great and they had lots of aid stations for me to dump water over myself. I got a bottle filled with skittles and a pacifier for my age division award :). It is a race to benefit the mothers of young children so a cause I am all about! I like the blue shirt and the breakfast afterward was great. I couldn't eat much but my husband ate it! Had a blast camping all weekend with the family and friends. We tubed and boated on the water, grilled, ate smores, and sat around the campfire and talked. The kids had a BLAST!
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