Bitter sweet.

A PR is a PR.  To me that means that I am a better me than I was when I ran the Kansas City marathon in 2010.

I had a great training cycle but I was nagged by plantar fasciitis and had some severe pain 3 weeks before the race.  I knew I wasn’t going to be in top form but I was still expecting a significant improvement.  Both Steve and I were shooting for a 4:10 and I was fairly confident that it was within reach even with the sore feet.

The health expo was pretty good.  Lots of cool information, massages, other races had information booths, and at least one very famous runner was there too.  Bart Yasso was even nice enough to take a picture with us.

Our hotel was within walking distance of the starting line.  We had an opportunity to drive along the course the night before.  It was very beneficial.  From about mile 8, Steve and I had to split.  Those first 8 miles we ran together, from that point, we had very different races.  Steve posted a report too.

My feet started hurting pretty bad.  I slowed down.  I wasn’t slowing down because I was out of energy.  I was slowing down to try to manage my pain.  I knew that there was a lot of climbing still to go, including the toughest part of the race.  We knew that 14.5 to 16.5 were going to be difficult.  I tried to give myself a fighting chance.

After the hill, I felt like I could still hit my goal.  I was still smiling even though I had lost sight of Steve.  On the way down the hill, I started to get pain in my knees.  At that point, I realized today was not my day.  I was already racing on 1 injury, and there was no reason to leave with an additional injury.  I slowed down and decided that a 4:20 was still easily within reach.  But that wasn’t going to happen either.

My lungs were fine, I felt like I had plenty of energy, but my legs started to cramp up.  In hindsight I’m guessing that while I was trying to compensate for sore feet, that I was stressing other parts more than normal.  My cramps seemed to move all over my legs.  My quads, hamstrings, hips, calves, shins and feet.  I was forced to walk several times.

Still, I knew that I was going to be okay.  I didn’t let the goals slip by and quit.  Instead, I tried to strategize my way to the best possible PR that I could muster.  I took some quality walk time.  I was walking fast enough to still PR, but slow enough to not cramp up.  It almost worked.  The walking actually hurt my feet more than the running, but even a slight jog would force my legs to cramp up.  No worries, I was still going to PR.

I had a few miles of fast walking.  I took in as much nutrition as I could.  I think for my next marathon I will take a gel every 5 miles instead of every hour.  I also did a bunch of basic math.  I had figured out what I would need to do to in order to reach different attainable milestones.

In the end, I finished with a 4:46:21, nowhere near a 4:10, but way ahead of a 5:22.  I was happy.

Last weekend was a great workout.  It was my 20-mile run in preparation for Little Rock 26.2.  This week, the weather was pleasant, a little bit cooler than it has been.  On Tuesday, I started to debate if I should do the trail race.  Coach Ken gave me a call and told me about another one of his athletes creating an ankle issue from the exact same trails.  My teammates, at work, were seemingly all against me doing it as well.  On Friday, when I got the killer tech-shirt and mug from packet pickup (thanks Sharon), I made up my mind.  I’m doing this!  The shirt is perfect!  I couldn’t NOT wear the shirt, and I didn’t want to be the person wearing the shirt without doing the event.

I didn’t get out of the house as fast as I wanted to, but luckily, traffic was non-existent.  When I stopped at the 7-Eleven to get my 5-hour energy, the lady working recognized me as I walked in and asked me “What flavor today?” Like I come in everyday or something, which I don’t.  It felt good to be recognized, then I felt a little weird.  Anyway, when I got to the event.  The bus was waiting for me, and my buddy Matt, from work, had a spot open right next to him.  Seeing a friendly face that early set things in the right direction.

We got to the race starting spot about 40 minutes before the start of the race.  Since it was about 10*F  (-12* C), we were talking about how to stay warm.  I felt like I was dressed properly.  I had 5 layers on top, tri-shorts under my running tights and 2 pair of socks.  There were about 15 other folks from work, that I recognized, at the start.  I met a few coworkers for the first time too.

From the start the race just got better and better.  All the friendly faces. It was super organized.  There were a few dogs out too.  The vibe was just great.  When they started the race, I went out slow, just like I will in Little Rock.

I ran this race with Tyson the last time, but I thought it was too cold for him today.  I was a little nervous about doing it solo since he actually helped me out so much the last time we raced.  Today, I only used my hands twice.  The first time I pulled on a tree that was hanging over the trail, and it alost came down on the person behind me.  The entire valley heard the tree crack.  The second time, I encountered a large rock and had to put my hands out in front of me in order to not crash into it with my knees.  That was the cause of the minor cut I have on my left hand.  I came out of this race in much better shape than I did in 2010.

It was obvious from the start that I remembered every single foot of this trail.  Trail running is pretty much heads down, especially in these conditions.  I could have told you every spot that Tyson pulled me up.  The spot where Tyson stopped me from landing on my butt.  The spot where Tyson didn’t stop me from hitting my butt was recognized too.  I remembered all the aid stations, and I even used the aid stations properly this time.

When I made it to mile 3 without really any discomfort at all, my confidence was high.  I started looking at my watch to see my pace.  At that point I was still pretty much just going with the flow and stuck behind quite a few people.  I decided that I wanted to catch 1 person every mile.  I still didn’t want to race and get hurt.  I was very focused on staying healthy.  However, it is a race, and I enjoy race day.  So, I started to pass a few people and get out of the bunch that I was in.

At the next aid station, I was still feeling super.  I kept going.  I think there were a few people that I had to pass multiple times just because I was taking my time at the aid stations.  At the aid station at mile 5, my 5-hour energy was frozen almost solid.  I got what I could and a slushy cup of gatorade and went on.  I remember walking the hill after that section last time, so I didn’t let myself do it this time.  The only time I was walking today was when I was in a bunch and on a very technical section.

I noticed that in the first 5 miles everyone was pretty much moving forward.  On the second half, it seemed like the people I passed were much more willing to stand aside when they heard me approach.  I was very surprised when I saw people wearing headphones, but I did only see a handful, well, maybe 10 total.  It just seemed like getting a heads up on slippery sections would be worth leaving the music in the car.  I’m not judging, I’m just saying, the people behind that one girl with music on heard me give a heads up and didn’t fall on their face.

I saw a few wipeouts, heard a few wipeouts, and after the race saw some torn up gear, destroyed shoes, and plenty of mud splatter.  I felt like I was pretty clean.  Actually, I was pretty clean.  My shoes didn’t even have mud on them when I got to the car.  My socks were dirty, and so was the bottom of my tights, but other than that, I was good.

I finished with 1:57:40 officially.  That’s over 1.5 hours faster than the last time.  Quite a significant PR for 10 miles.  117 of 296 overall.  I’m happy anytime I can be in the top half!

I can’t say enough how much I really love the events this group puts on.  As much as I loved the race the last time, it was even better this time.

I hope to do this race again, and maybe next time I will try the 50k.

Only the second race of the year that I didn’t PR. I went out hard, really trying to improve, but I just didn’t have it in me. In fact, after the race I puked, sweat, and hung out by the paramedics for 20 minutes. I guess I was sick and didn’t realize it. Read the comments on the activity to see how I was feeling the day of the race.

I would say that 2011 has been a pretty great year. After surgery and having the baby, I was still able to squeak out two more PR before the end of the year. I’m a little battle damaged, but I’ve had a good rest and I’m ready to move on.

Official time: 24:03.5
10th of 50 in my age group!!!