September 20, 2009

Me vs. Motor Cop

Alrighty. I'll be honest when I say I was hoping for a PR yesterday. I am just ready for this high-mileage deal to work out for me. Here's the nitty-gritty of it.

It had been a long week and I didn't taper any. I didn't do any speedwork, though, so that counts for something. Friday night was a complete bomb. The game was 2 hours away; it poured rain, and the Eagles did NOT have a good night. I slept only 4.5 hours. When I got up it was pouring. I checked the forcast and it looked to be out of Montgomery by start time. So, off I went.

I had a little trouble staying awake while driving, so I drank a little coffee. I don't do this before running usually, but when making a choice of staying on the road or off, I chose coffee. No worries, though, it ended up being fine.

I got to the race and it was gawd-awful humid, but not too hot (77* w/ 95% humidity). I registered, got my gigantic tee-shirt and did a 2 mile warm-up. I felt pretty limber and ready to go, but I think a mac truck was sitting on my chest (humidity).

The start was WAY too crowded. It started at a shopping center in the middle driving lane, way too narrow for all the runners and walkers. We were off and I was in the top 3 from the gun. It was Marine Man, Blue Shirt Man, and me. Blue Shirt Man asked my goal and I said I wanted to break 40. He said that was his goal, too, and asked if I minded him running by me. No, the more the merrier. Mile 1 6:08.

We had already turned about 4 times in the first mile, and apparently turning was this course's specialty. I tried to be smart about the tangents, one of my normal struggles. Marine Guy and Blue Shirt Man gassed out. That left me and Mr. Motorcop. We were in a neighborhood w/ some rolling hills. Towards the end of the 2nd mile, another motorcop came up and drove w/ other motorcop. He yells to the other guy, "This girl is flying!" LOL. Mile 2 6:24.

I really hope this doesn't sound like a little brat, but it's HARD to lead a race, especially when you are at least 300 ahead. It's a big brain struggle. I had to focus on keeping up the pace. Your brain starts to question what the heck you are doing. Like my brain said, "What in the world are you doing? You are WAY ahead of these people. It is humid and you have 22 miles tomorrow." I just kept trying to think about Hartford and how I wanted to have a solid race beforehand. Mile 3 6:24

I was really failing at this staying fast thing. I knew it, so I tried a different approach. Mr. Motorcop would zoom ahead to block the turns for me, and the rest of the time he drove right next to me. (There were about 50 turns in the race, so that happened frequently.) It was a bit weird b/c usually when you lead a race, the cop drives in front of you. Of course, it's usually a cop CAR, so that might have been the difference. Anyway, I would try to chase Mr. Motorcop, like he was a competitor. This kept my mind occupied, and a little mini-goal for me to go towards. Mile 4 6:33 and no one in sight.

This is where it got a little tricky. The hills became MORE rolling and I was NOT able to focus. I kept wondering why those stupid men weren't catching up, as I had slowed considerably. I even committed the cardinal sin of racing and looked behind me. Yep, I could see Blue Shirt Man, but he was nowhere close. Mile 5 6:29. This sucks.

Mr. Motorcop can obviously tell I am ready for this mess to be over as he is giving me little words of encouragement, like "almost there." He also asked me if I had ever won a race before. He also asked me if I was hungry. I thought that was a little weird, but whatever.

5.75 to the finish was a complete cluster. We entered back in the shopping center and it was SOO crowded from 5K walkers. Seriously, blue shirts walking 5 abreast. The Mr. Motorcop was even ahead of me about to run these people over and they were clueless! Ugh. I honestly had to slow WAYYYYY down and had zero finish kick b/c of them. I was weaving in and out yelling, "EXCUSE ME!" Mile 6 6:38; 0.22 1:16
Final time: 39:52

So, there it is, folks. After the race, I hung out with RWOL forumite Crazy Justin for a bit. He PRed and did a SUPER job! The prize was really cool, but unfortunately, I had to give it back. I won 2 tickets to the Shakespeare Festival there in Montgomery. I've been a few times and it's really neat. Seeing a play there makes a really nice date night, too, but the tickets were for a Friday night. Booo. Oh yeah, here's my mileage for the week. I was hoping to get closer to 100, but for some reason, I miscalculated my miles and thought I was ahead of the game. Oh well, nothing lost this far in the game.

M: 12
T: 12 a.m./ 4 p.m.
W: 12
T: 7.5
F: 12
S: 12.14 (w/u, race, c/d)
S: 21.25
Total: 92.89

16 comments:

  1. Anonymous9/20/2009

    so close to a pr! seems like some mighty tough conditions to race in with the weather and the course itself, so congrats on doing so well and breaking 40!

    wicked annoying about the finish and all the congestion, i'd have been majorly annoyed too

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  2. Cool RR. You're in PR shape for sure. I'm looking forward to seeing just how well you do at Hartford.

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  3. Good job with the win! I totally can relate about leading the race thing, we all just get bored or zone out or something. Anyway great job!

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  4. wow. I really hope to be at your level one day! Kudos on the win! I think the motorcop would have totally gotten on my nerves! I'm glad you were able to use him as "competition"!

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  5. wow, definitely not a fast course or fast conditions. great effort though! sounds like you are in great shape!

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  6. So annoying about the end of that race! I laughed about your thoughts on leading a race; I'm actually glad I'm not fast because I think leading a race would be too hard!

    You are in PR shape--I'm excited to see what happens for you in the rest of the fall!

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  7. There are so many thing to say on this post.

    1. If 77 degrees isn't too bad, what is??? Sheeit, Jack Daniels would says that would cost you (without factoring in ANY humidy) 11 sec per mile. And that ole Doc Daniels, he has a bit of experience behind him.

    2. I loved the MotoCop guy with the questions, that'd be a funny movie scenario.

    3. I can't believe you said Excuse Me at the end, I'd be all elbows and Get Outta My Way!! You're the nicest competitor I've ever heard of.

    4. That you lead races? Coooool.

    Your miles are doing their magic, have no doubt about it. Given a bit of taper, some nice weather and a better course, you're doing to shock yourself. Though none of your readers will be surprised. ;)

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  8. Hi, everyone! Thanks so much for the encouragement!

    GIM: Well, when the highs are in the 90s, 77 seems mild. LOL, crazy, I know. :)

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  9. Congrats on an awesome race despite some pretty un-awesome conditions. I can't even imagine leading a race. Way to go!

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  10. Wow. Your times are absolutely amazing! I love it that the motorcop asked you if you were hungry. Too cute!! ROFL!!

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  11. Anonymous9/21/2009

    Hey LAR,
    First off, sorry to hear about getting stopped by the cops twice...WOW! I would have felt the same way about it, hopefully you will be able to the lights fixed.

    Secondly, you're doing great with the mileage and although the 10k was close to a PR, still pretty dang good. Keep it up!

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  12. I am officially jealous!!! Sub 40?? In my dreams!! Someday... someday... LOL. U ROCK!!

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  13. R -

    You truly amaze me! Like someone else said - that scene with the motorcop is straight from a movie. I can imagine that guy who was Puddy on Seinfeld being the cop. I don't know how you didn't start laughing at that! Congrats on the win!! You should be feeling very confident!

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  14. Great sub-40 under those less than ideal conditions! Can't wait to see what you do at Hartford.

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  15. wow impressive race LAR! I've been out of the loop a bit but glad to see you're still doing so well, not that I would have figured any differently.

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