Pike's Peek 10K race recap: Welcome back sweet prince!

...I guess I have to start somewhere. Let's go to December 21st of 2012. I was riding in the car back to Charlotte. I had the flu. I was in the car for almost 10 hours. It was not fun. There was a thought of checking into the hospital that day. The next day I was loaded up on flu medication. I watched the Panthers play the Raiders. It was a pretty bad game. But on the medicine it was A GREAT GAME.

I tried to run on Christmas and got about a quarter mile into the run and realized I made a big mistake. A half mile into the run I stopped to cough for about three minutes. I tell everyone that it was 5 minutes, but it was three. But five minutes sound so EPIC.

It took me until the beginning of the year to get over the flu. I then did a run with Matt on the first Saturday of January. It was around mile 9 or 10 when he said something like, "this is probably where getting over the flu is going to make your legs heavy". I really wanted to tell him I've felt like crap since mile 3. He went off to do his workout at mile 11 and a couple miles later for probably the first time in my running life, I had to stop and walk during the run. After that my IT Band flared up and it took me about three weeks to run again.  After that it was another month to where I was close to being back.

In that time my running was been a big pile of disappointment. I did an 8k on a hilly course. Myself and a bunch of other runners took a wrong turn and made it almost a 10k. The pace was 5:50. I then ran an 10k two weeks later. And it was another fail. The wind hampered me for the first half and I finished in 35:22. A couple weeks later I ran the St. Patrick's Day 8k and couldn't get over the feeling that my legs were heavy and ran a 27:14. Then I ran the Van Metre 5 miler and ran 27:30. Another disappointing race. It seemed that the story of my running life for the last year or so was one of disappointment. It started with the Vermont City Marathon, where I thought I was in good shape and then all holy hell of flukes made it a bust.

The marathon took my legs out of me, and the summer was a bust. I picked things up in September. But after that kinda lost the fire and didn't end the year well. I was frustrated that I had all this good training, miles, and workouts, but nothing really showing it. Whether it was a course with half of it into a 20 mph plus wind, or just something flukey.

And then it leads us to this week. Two Friday's ago (not this Friday because that was last Friday, but the Friday before that) I was feeling a bit under the weather at the beginning of school. My voice felt off and I had a general sense of being off. I found out that one of my students was home, due to flu like symptoms. Well that explained it. I tried to get a run in the next day. Ran the first mile in 7:21, it felt like I had been strained and I went back home. I took some medicine and felt better the rest of the weekend.

Then last week I did a workout on Tuesday. I had the day off from school and it was just a total frustrating feeling that I was working way to hard and feeling labored and the first two miles of a tempo were at 5:39. Chalk it up to my illness or whatever. On Thursday I was planning on doing three miles at 10k pace with 2 minutes rest. I did the first one in 5:16 and then the second one in 5:20. I do the repeats around the zoo in Rock Creek. On the second one there was a Girls on the run group that took up the trail. I wasn't really in the mood to say anything and they were meandering. So I kinda just went my own path. Nearly ran over two girls and messed up my stride. Oh well. I started the third one and immediately a huge gust of wind hit and I was running uphill. After the uphill I was a quarter mile in and running 5:43 pace. F THAT. I pulled the plug and was done. I really wasn't sure what to expect on Sunday.

I was in the porta-john before the race and I heard a sound that I never really have heard before at a race. It was the sound of a dog barking. There were dogs out there sniffing for bombs. Why give jobs to dogs, when people could sniff them out? THANKS A LOT OBAMA! I didn't really worry that much about that or really cross my mind about anything vile. I just went about my business. It's just the way things are going to be.

I then did my warm up and I wasn't feeling that great. My legs didn't feel that great. I then did two half ass strides before the start. Apparently the field was stacked (and looking at the results it was). We went off and I settled in to a nice pace. I knew I was going fast and adjusted accordingly. One thing that I will not understand is why do the elite African women go out like 15 year HS boys? They go out so hard and then get dropped so soon. You shouldn't sound like your laboring after a mile into the race.

Now onto the course. You run about 300 Meters and then turn left. That's the only turn in the course. The course is mostly flat. But there are some hills. Nothing major, but enough to give your legs a work. They appear at the end of the course. And of course there was the wind. It wouldn't be a race in this area without some sort of wind. Nothing to bad, but enough for you to know that it was there.

My splits were:
5:14
5:13
5:17
5:18
5:25
5:23
1:00

To be honest I really didn't have a plan going into the race. I was just going with what I knew I had and hoping that I could hang on. I started to feel it on mile five. Mile six was all about getting to the finish.

I was really aware of making sure that I was running straight, shoulders up, breathing controlled, and opening up my stride. That was an effort that lasted through the entire race. And here is the thing, during the race with what I was hitting at each mile, the momentum carried on. The whole effect just snowballed into something bigger. I got to the third mile marker and it was 15:44 and I knew that I was going to be close to a 5k PR (I checked it and it was in the 16:17 neighborhood).  I knew that there was a good chance of running a 10k in the 32s.

Now I was hoping for a run in the 33:30s range. That's kinda what I figured. I thought best case was low 33s. But now here I was running and the idea of running that time was real. I was dreading now running a 33:03 or something like that and being disappointed. The fourth mile was just a hair over 21 minutes and then I realized damn I am moving. That was a 4 mile PR and I feel good. Mile 5 was where I started to hurt. I fought through it and when I got to the 5 mile marker, the guy calling out the splits was off so I wasn't sure where I was. He called out 25:59, but that didn't sound right. It was probably 26:27. I was calculating what I needed to run to get under 32 minutes. I was in a battle with two guys. One with headphones and another guy. We were all trading spots. At mile 6 all I saw was the first number and it was 31 and damn it was go time. I wasn't going to risk it. Of course the two guys passed me, but as I was finishing I knew that it was going to be under 33 and I was going to have room to spare. The final time was 32:54, my watch had 32:53.

After the race I was all smiles. Can't say that has happened at all in races that I've run or even coached. I even gave some half hearted fist pump. The time that I ran, honestly, I didn't think I could run now and probably not even at the end of the year. But I took advantage of the situation and that's all that I could say. One of my goals was to not give up in races or workouts, fight through them when it gets tough, and I got that today.

I ended up finishing 42nd overall, just to give you and idea of how tough it was the winner ran an average pace of 4:34. Two elite women beat me. But looking at my average pace of 5:18, that's close to my 5k PR pace. It's still one of those things that I still can't believe.

The race starts at the Shady Grove metro station and ends at the White Flint station. I decided to just job back to my car. At times it did not seem like a great idea. But it was nice to do a solitary run and just have thoughts to myself. Nothing really went through my head.

Part 2 tomorrow

What goes up

...I was thinking this same thought while I was doing a workout on Tuesday. "Man I am feeling really good". I was running 6 x800 and was hitting them around 2:33. I was taking about two minutes of rest and was feeling it. It was a good feeling. Then later that night I found out I could run the half marathon on Saturday and was ready to go run it and go for a fast time. Then later that night, I woke up at 1:30 and felt awful.

I hadn't felt this bad since I had the flu in December. I thought maybe I could pass through this and be in the clear by 5 and then go out for my run. That didn't happen. I felt worse as the minutes passed. I ended up sleeping in the bathroom for a couple minutes. The cold tiles on the floor made me put towels down and sleep on them. Finally I went back to bed. I stayed in bed, but felt awful. I then knew it was about to hit. I went back in the bathroom and then dry heaved or wet heaved. Oh if this is it I will be somewhat displeased. And then full release. A tannish mixture with spaghetti noodles evacuating rather violently. I was feeling the effects of food poison. I had to believe it was the food that I had that evening. A chicken and pasta pre-made Harris Teeter meal. And with that I was done.

I made it to work and felt better (but a slightly exaggerated term) as the day went on. I got home around 4:30 and was debating whether to run, and realized that it would be an awful idea and went to bed to take a two hour nap. The next day I waited to the afternoon to run. I went out about a half mile and realized that this wouldn't be a good idea.

It wasn't until Friday that I ran 8 miles where I was feeling better. I'm still not feeling 100%, but at least I don't have that pit in my stomach feel anymore.

Still rising

...I'm sitting in my apartment with not much left to do. Other than review what I am going to be teaching tomorrow, I've basically finished all the work that I had on my to do list.* I'm at the point where I have ran twenty two days in a row. I've done three workouts this week and was able to raise my mileage to almost 54 miles.

*There is also the fact that I can't find my umbrella. Like seriously where did it go? I have no idea!

There has been some slight pain in my left IT band, but nothing that has caused me any concerns. Or anything that would prompt me to take a day off. In fact it really comes and goes. There are some lingering pains when I sit down for to long. Or there are some pains after I wake up. I've felt that this week has been a return back to the schedule that I was keeping until the middle of December. Then I got sick and didn't run for a week. Then I was in Charlotte for two weeks. Then I ran for about three days in DC and then I got hurt, and it was a long comeback to just run two miles.

Now I am back to maybe what I would say is 80%. There was a feeling in the middle of January, where I threw up my hands (figuratively) and declared that the 2013 race season was over. I did the 8k (or closer 10k) race and felt like things were getting back to respectability. With the two track workouts I did, I think the feeling of being in shape is slowing on the way up.

The workout I did on Tuesday was 8 x 400 and 10 x 200. I averaged 77 for the 400s and 37 for the 200s. I totally felt wiped out from this workout. I haven't had that feeling in a loooong time. But it was a good feeling. The workout I did on Thursday was 10 x 400 and 12 x 400. I got off to a rocky start with two 82's to start off the 400s, that is why the average was 78 and for the 200s it was 37. Take out the slow times when I was getting my legs under me, I average 77. Then on Saturday I did a nice steady state run on Beach Drive, which going out is a deceptive uphill. Add the wind and it wasn't that pleasant going out 4.5 and then on the way back it wasn't so bad. I averaged 6:34 for 9 miles and ran under an hour, which is something that I wanted to do. I'm pleased that the effort is starting to pay off.

Next week I'll toe the line for the George Washington Birthday Classic 10k. My goal is a rather humble one of running under 35 minutes and a top 15 finish. The upcoming week is rather unusual. I get to go to New Jersey on Thursday to observe a school in Newark. The fun part is that I get to board a train at 4am to get to Newark!

On the professional front, I basically have an unofficial contract renewed at my school. It wont formally be offered until late March, but after going over my mid year evaluation it will soon be a formality. I had the meeting for my mid year on Friday after school. I was in the mind to do some sort of celebrating, but that ain't me. It never really was me and I really don't have it in me to be something or someone that I am not. I just go about my business and do the things that please me. Whether that's playing video games, reading, or doing some work. I do the things that satisfy myself.  I ended up working for most of Saturday and Sunday morning.

Maybe I'll blog more often. Maybe I'll get more spam comments.

Facial Hair debate

Another day, another day off. It's kinda strange not doing anything and just lounging around the apartment all day. The good thing is that the weather has been really nice so I have that going for me. One thing that I am debating on what to do right now is what to do with my facial hair? I have a cross between the Dr. Richard Kimball beard and the beard that Ben Affleck had at the end of The Town. I'm figuring that I'm going to shave it completely but what about the poor man version of Ethan Hawke from Training Day? Or do I gowith the Blue Ridge Redux 'stache? It's tough to say, I kinda want to look respectable and I want to not be subject to ridicule so I have to keep it in perspective.

Ah today for dinner, a nice lovely dish of shrimp and lobster ravioli with garlic butter sauce oh! what a meal. The sauce had that nice tinge of butter and had a kick of garlic that really makes the sauce rich. For the ravioli oh I how I love that pasta. You plop it in boiling water and wait for it to rise up and viola! it's done. Was it great? You bet!

Now for the fluid in the lung front. Today is the first day where I feel somewhat normal. I still am coughing and hacking up some phlegm, but at least I can breath well and can run up a hill without feeling that I'm going to suffer a massive heart attack. Starting this Sunday I'll hopefully start to get my legs churning again and mixing some magic in the speed. Marathon training starts on the twenty first and I'm looking ready to go. I have two tune up races on the schedule and I'm looking forward to coming back to Charlotte and actually racing well. I'll have to see what happens but it should be better.

Tonight I'll be watching the Redskins game on TV. Yesterday I was subjected to the Ravens game. All the stereotypes of how redneck the Ravens fans are were on display. Avenge Sevenfold played the intro music to the game, purple camo graphics, oh this is what I have to look forward to on one side. On the other side it's COOCH PUT ME IN! (as witnessed by the photo down below). It's lonely being a Panthers fan here.

Sharon Lakes Memories

Oh today wasn't so bad. I feel a little bit better, but that's not that reassuring. I still have some congestion in my chest. I have to sleep on my right side to keep the pressure off my chest. At times I have a wicked cough that produces mucus that looks like carmel. Other than that I feel great!

Today was great day of not doing anything that productive. I ran at McMullen for the first time in six weeks. One thing I noticed, other than the damage that the storms had done to it, was how high some of the vegetation was near the Johnston Road exit. I strangely felt like Will Smith in I am legend, but there weren't any vampires. One negative of being sick and running in this humidity is how much I sweat when I am running. I am completely drenched when I go out for a run. At the turn around point I was able to run into some fellow CRC-ers and ran an easy comfy pace back.

Later in the day I made my way back to Sharon Lakes. I hadn't been there in over two years. It was somewhat strange seeing it in the day time, since I only went over there at night. There are many memories of that place: the B-Mac worm, New Year's Eve 2008, and all the great times. It seems that in a way those times seem fresh and other times they seem so far away. It really is strange to think that just going back to a place can bring back all those memories. I guess it's from another time, but it felt good.

Other than the medicine's I'm pumping into my system I hope to be feeling better by the end of the week, but I'm making sure I hydrate and get my sleep, so it's off to bed for me!