A surprised PR!

Two words about yesterday’s race; rain and RAIN! With some wind and lots of leaves, a true autumn experience. But overall it was a beautiful race. The race took place south of Olympia at Millersylviana State Park. And out and back course with smooth rolling hills. By smooth I mean long gradual inclines and it would come back down in a friendly manner. A nice turnout too, it really put a boost in my mood to see plenty of familiar faces.

Took it real easy for the first few miles, 9:30 to 9:45 a mile pace, got passed by some people. And I had a new issue, my left IT band was hurting. I did the best I could by stretching it in the car, not easy. The pain was on the outer of my knee instead the typical shooting pains on the inner side of the knee due to the cartilage damage. The ITB syndrome was a surprise because I’ve really cut back on my weekly mileage since Portland Marathon and just purchased two new pairs of shoes a week ago to rotate. My hamstrings were on the stiff side as well, which was probably due to my return to spinning(cycling) classes on Thursday morning. I felt so better by the turn around point and that’s where I started working it, kicked up a gear a bit, passed the gal back that went by me before mile five. She asked me how many miles we still had to go as I was going by her. I informed her we were approaching seven miles…I think she was disappointed. Passed two more people before I eased up on a group of six mixed in with 3 full marathon runners and 3 half a$$ers like myself. Two of them were clothed in the Portland finisher’s shirt. I stayed with them for the next mile, they picked up the pace too when I caught them. I enjoyed the conversations and with four miles to go I decided to make my next move and proceeded to go by them. For about half a mile they hung with me(almost at my heels) before the Full folks(two guys & a gal) dropped back...which makes sense since they had to come back out again to finish off their distance. It must have been that gel I gagged down at the turn around point or the Thai food I had for dinning the night before giving me the boost because I never felt so good despite some headwinds and nonstop rain. Now, I’ve NEVER been in a situation where I was sort of leading a pack..mind you not a lead(er) pack, but none the less, still a pack. A bit nerve wracking to be honest! We passed a few more people as a group(a gal & 2 guys) as we approached the 10K turn around point(apprx 3 miles to go). The whole time I flirted with the idea of turning it up another notch and I even tested it twice, but the group stuck with me like glue. All the while the rain turned to a sprinkle, a nice change.

It’s amazing what goes through your mind as you observe other’s breathing, their strides, and how they respond when one makes a move. I could say it’s like reaching a whole new plateau. Things are bit shaky. And I know that we’re a bunch of ‘middle of the packers’ who happened to come together on a course where the conversations had eventually died off, things were getting serious, and we all had on our game faces. After the 10 mile water stop, I made the ultimate decision to shake things a little to see what we were all made up. Dropped the pace down to 7:30ish a mile pace. I regretted the decision at first, the pace was a bit blistering for me and I thought for sure I was gonna be toast before we reached the next mile marker. The gal and one of the guys fell off the pace and so it was just two of us. The concentration on the breathing helped a lot and telling myself to let the downhill do the work, to relax. Before you know it, we reached mile 11 and I had still had plenty left in the tank so I held onto the pace as we face another slight incline before coming back down to some railroad tracks. This is where the person that was keeping me company started to fade but I pressed on. I did the best I could by sucking down some water with one mile to go where the volunteer told me the two females up ahead were in position 2nd and 3rd overall for the half marathon. I could tell the 3rd place gal was really slowing down so I overtook her right after the water station. But the next gal took some work, even my breath became very labor some. It didn’t help when she glanced back with a ½ mile to go and she started pumping her arms and working it. I finally chased her down as we entered the campground and we went stride for stride for about a hundred meters when I finally dug deep but she wasn’t giving up as I could hear her footsteps and breathing right behind me. The reason why I wanted to make up some ground on her was because I’m NO sprinter! No can do! I try but that’s where I get passed a lot when it comes down to a sprint fest. Luckily, I must done good putting some distance between us because she didn’t come back to challenge me at the end. I don’t know my exact finish time because I forgot to stop my watch and I think the race clock at the finish line read 1:50:2#(?), which equals a new PR by a minute or so! Woohoo!

It wasn’t exactly easy stretching in the cold wet weather. I chill so fast that I have to make sure to change into dry clothes right away. I thought I was going to pull a muscle or something from shivering so bad while I was changing my clothes. And I only stuck around for a few minutes chit chatting with some people I haven’t seen in quite a while. Most of them did the 10 miler too, probably smarter too. And I’ve never had chili beans that tasted so good in my life! I savored every bite it as I dished myself a bowl topped with shredded cheese and corn tortilla chips that was provided by the race coordinators. Mmmm!

The birthday party was a success. The house was nice and clean when I returned home from picking up the cake and some bread from a favorite bakery of ours after leaving the race scene. We had someone, only this time, come clean our home so I wouldn’t run around like a chicken with its head cut off. I took a few minutes to relax and unwind before I got to preparing two different kinds of lasagnas; vegetable and meat. Steamed veggies, and a fresh garden salad completed the menu. It was a big hit, some asked for the recipes.

And I just got done with a five mile recovery run…in the rain. Very cleansing.