Ugh .......

I had not been feeling 100% for the few days leading up to the race. The best way to describe it is you know when you burp and get a little bile that comes up?? That's how I felt for about three days ..... My boss and his family had been sick and laid up in bed, and he said what I described sounded sort of like what he had felt earlier in the week. Great, all I need before racing!!

I went about my normal pre-race routine and warm-up and streching, but knew I was not at the level I needed to be for race day. The field was huge for a "local" race, but I was able to start from the front about 6 rows back. The first 1/4 mile was uphill, and since everyone likes to go fast from the gun in shorter races like this (myself included), it got a little crowded and dicey, especially since it was a chip race and everyone had to funnel accross the pads.

By the middle of the hill I was clear of the mess and tried to fall into a rhythm and good pace. My legs felt like they were lead weights and that didn't bode well to me. At the top of the hill we take a hard right onto more of a service road and continue to string out a little. I'm doing okay, but losing a few places. We go around the service road and back onto one of the park loops and there is a small crowd to cheer us on. There is also an officialjust after them giving the first mile split. "6:18" for me. I check my watch and it said 6:19, so I started it on the right time. But I could tell that today was not going to be my day already.

I mentally back it off a bit to make sure I don't blow up, and luckily it id fairly flat for the next mile. I hit the two mile mark and check my watch, "12:40," so I really didn't lose any pace in that mile, but it felt like I was running in water just not getting anywhere. That's when I mentally threw in the towel. There was no way I could "race" the rest of the way. It was now a matter of survival without getting embarassed and passed by everyone.

The next two mile were rolling. I passed 3 at 19:50 or so, running a 7:10 after backing it off isn't TOO bad .... but definitely not my earlier pace. I get to 4 at about 26:58 or so which is still averaging overall below 7. Okay, not too much damage.

Just after the 4 mile mark my boss says "Hey Rick." We chat briefly about how we both feel like dog ass and run together to the finish. Just before we turned to go down the hill we started up to go to the finish I say "I'm just cruising in" and my boss says he will cruise with me. That was a nice feeling because he probably could have left me (he's a 3-hour marathoner). As we approcahed the finish I could hear the pitter patter (okay, heavy clomping) of someong trying to sprint passed us, so I tell my boss someone was coming up and let's go. I take off for about a 100m sprint and beat the guy in, but my boss didn't sprint.

Tired, feeling crappy, 33:23 on my watch. Later got my chip time of 33:19, which is a hair better, but still off the 32:00 I was shooting for. Still, top 100 overall after feeling like dog poop wasn't bad, just not the overall race that I was hoping for.

I jogged back up the hill to cheer and run with a group from the other forum I am on (Hal Higdon's running forum) and chat with them and run them into the finish which was nice.

Not be sick, or whatever it was that was dragging me down.

About a mile jog, vitamin water, snacks.


Some bug or sickness, not sure what it was.


Good race, bad run.