3/27/10

Saturday’s Training – Am: Monument Avenue 10km. 3^rd, 29.16. Pm: 69 mins easy

Mileage – 23 miles

This morning’s race was weird. Really weird. I’ll tell you about that in a minute. I woke up at 5.30am this morning as the race started at 8.30am. I surprisingly fell right asleep last night and slept well. I fumbled around for a bit when I woke up and got the coffee going so I could at least have my eyes half open. I picked up the bagel that I had grabbed yesterday to find that it was rock solid so that was out of the window. I always have a back up of Power Bars and drinks so it wasn’t too much of a problem but I decided to go downstairs to the café to see if the lady would be there yet. I was talking to her yesterday and she said she would try and be there for 6am. To my surprise she had done it and she gave me a fresh bagel and jam. She looked tired and no one else was about so I felt a little bad for her. I lazed about in my room for a little while and before I knew it, it was approaching 7am (when we were to meet in the lobby). I went down and waited in a now, long line for coffee. I got a double espresso and knocked that back in one gulp. I thought we were all going to be walking to the start and I would warm up from there but one of the volunteers took my bag to the start for me so I could stay inside for as long as possible as it was pretty cold. I went for a 5 minute jog so that I could do some stretching before I headed out for my warm up. I was surprisingly loose so that’s always good before a race. I went back to my room to get my sunglasses as the sun was rising and it would be in our face on the last half of the course. I warmed up for 20 mins and then started my drills and strides. I took a minute to go and sit on some steps and get my head in the right place for the race. I went through how I was going to run the race and then I was ready to go. I put my Mizuno Flagship racing flats on (which were really good. It was the first time I would be using them on the road and I’m looking forward to using them again. I don’t know if I would use them for anything much further than 15km because of how minimal they are (4.4 oz) but they didn’t give me any calf problems at all which is always a good sign! They really grip the road well and have just the right amount of cushioning without weighing the shoe down) and my vest, checked my number and headed to the start. Just before the start I had to run back to my bag to get some arm warmers as the wind had a real cold bite.

The gun went and tried to tuck in as we were heading into the wind for the first half. It didn’t feel fast which was great but I found myself at the front of the group just before we hit the mile which was fine because the aim of the race was to get the competitive juices flowing again. Alene Reta* was way out front and there was no catching him. He was picking the pace up every step and we were just maintaining our speed. By the turn around it was just me and an Ethiopian left and he just sat in which I didn’t mind but he kept kicking my feet so I had to turn around and push him to the side so he would stop it. It didn’t! There are some slight rises in the course and I felt great running up them so I knew my strength is where it needs to be this close to the marathon. Unfortunately I just couldn’t shake off the Ethiopian and when it came down to a sprint, he just edged me out. I felt like we were running fast the whole way (my turnover was good and I felt strong so I figured it had to be a PB). I looked up and saw what I thought was 28.16 which would have been great but it turned out it was a good minute slower! Darn! What was good though was that I wasn’t out of breath and my muscles weren’t sore or fatigued. It was one of those days that you wish the race just continued because you can hold your pace all day. It was baffling though that I wasn’t able to run faster if I was feeling that good. I went through 10km quicker in my last half marathon before I was in good shape. The point of doing this race was to get my competitive side revved up again and I accomplished that so I was fine about the result.

Now was the worst part. I had to stand around in the cold for 30mins to wait for the prize giving. It was horrible as they wouldn’t let us leave to go warm down. As soon as we were done, I went by the hotel to dump my stuff and get a warm down in. The flowers I got I gave to the lady in the coffee shop as she had gotten up so early to give me my coffee and bagel. I wanted to go for 30 mins but I had to be in the lobby for 10.30am as there would be only one shuttle out to the airport (My flight wasn’t until 2.55pm so there would be a long wait!). I felt strange on my warm down, as if I was drunk. I don’t know if I hadn’t drunk enough or if the caffeine was doing something funny to my body but it didn’t feel good. As soon as I stopped running I was fine but it was a really weird feeling. Anyway, I got showered and changed quickly and then stuffed everything into my bag so I could get going. I met Evelyn Lagat (Bernard’s sister) in the lobby and we headed out to the airport. I was hungry at this point but unfortunately there was nothing I wanted to eat so I snacked on all my bars and trail mix and decided to wait until I got to the airport in DC to grab something more substantial. I talked to Julie for a while and then called Greg and he just reassured me that it was a good thing that my muscles were fine and I was in no aerobic trouble during the race. Usually a few hours after a race I get pretty tight but my legs were fine but I still got my rope out and did some stretching, got the tennis ball and rolled around on my glutes and then rolled my calves out on my metal water bottle. I can’t carry my massage stick when I just take hand luggage so the water bottle is great for doing the same job.

The flight to DC was painless but I got really hungry a I was trying to find a place to eat and the when I found a Tex Mex place the line was really long. I got my burrito and wolfed it down and it really hit the spot. As soon as I got on the next flight (to Phoenix) I passed out (I had been given an exit row seat) and woke myself up by catching a glob of saliva that was about to fall onto my shirt. I tend to drool when I nap and have to constantly move my pillow about just to find a dry spot. I pulled out my computer and watched Transformers 2 and Ghost in a Shell: Innocence. This helped pass the flight by and we actually landed about 30 mins earlier than scheduled. Julie’s parents came and picked me up and as soon as I got back to the house, I got changed and went out for a 10 mile run. I didn’t feel great but I didn’t expect to after travelling all day and it was actually 11pm my time (8pm in Phoenix). When I got back, Lorie made me a nice dinner of salad and a BBQ chicken sandwich and then I went straight to bed as I would have to get up early to get my run in before church at 9am. Needless to say that as soon as I saw the pillow, I fell asleep.

*Alene Reta – Alene is a convicted drug cheat that changes his name as he races around the country so that he can compete in races (some races don’t allow people to compete that have a drug conviction to their name). I don’t understand why race directors invite him to their races. He is going to make it fast but at what cost? He races almost every weekend and runs fast but you will never see him at a race that has drug testing. There have been a few threads about him on the Letsrun.com forum about him and it seems like most people are in agreement about him. The New York Road Runners apparently won’t allow him in any of their races. Sorry for the rant but I just feel that people like Alene shouldn’t be allow to ruin the sport that I love.