Weight I have lost

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Possum Trot 10K - After 32 of them, you think they would have this down...

So the big day was here.
A and I did this race in 2009, when it was in May (read cooler).  It is the same course as the Chattahoochee Challenge that I have done in 2010 and 2011 (February).  So, what could go wrong? Nothing besides I didn't feel trained for it, I didn't want to do it and I had no passion about it.

Friday night, A, D and I all got emails telling us they were closing the Nature Center at 615am, and we would have to park a mile away. No big deal. Been there done that 3times.  So A picked us up at 615 and off we went to Roswell. We get to the road we need to turn on to turn onto the road we need to park at 645. It is closed. D asks the cop where we are supposed to go (remember none of us are familiar with Roswell, except for how to get to this one place).  He tells us to "Go up there, and points to some trees."  D says, "Thanks, Asshole," as A turns and goes north.  Luckily, I have my phone and we get a map and find where "up there" is, and manage to get to where we want to park. We grab the last space where we wanted to park thanks to D's awesome navigation skills and the fact A's Subaru takes curbs like a champ.

We hike it over to the Nature Center- .8 miles away, and get our numbers.  A uses the Spot-A-Pot, and I grab some water (why does a Nature Center use plastic cups and have no recycling?).  I'm sweating like a whore in church.  It is 72 degrees, 94% humiditiy.  After we get all situated, we walk to the starting line, .46 miles away.  After a few minutes we were off.

I don't think I could run slower.  I felt like I was running through sludge.  D and A are nowhere around me after about .1 mile.  What the hell was I thinking to run this race?  I didn't train like I said I would.  Why am I singing "Smoke on the Water" (thanks, D!) while ABBA is playing?  I get to a small decline and of course 9 minutes has passed so I walk.  I turn the corner, and Garmin says 1 minute is up at 12:02.  The Mile Timer says 12:30 (it is chipped time). 

I'm ran to the water station and got 2 little cups, and poured one on me and drank the other.  At the same time the winner came back the other way.  No one was near him for about another minute.  I focused on keeping my form up.  I got to Mile 2 at 12:29.  Mile Timer was at 2.04 miles according to Garmin.  I didn't see D, but I saw A pass me (out and back).  I waved, but she was very focused. She was also further along than I thought she would be.  I saw this power builder also.  He was about 5 people behind her.  I turned at Roswell RD  and thought evil things about the non-helpful cop, and wondered if he was the one who didn't know what a 5K was.  Then I started back.  I still was focusing on my form. The last people were closer to me than I thought they would be.  I was a little bummed about that.  I thought I was going a little faster to not be so close to the back. Right before I got to Mile 3, I saw the power builder.  He was not looking good.  He was still ahead of me.  Mile 3 was 12:29 as well. 

At the next water stop, I did the water on the head and the water in my mouth.  I was still focusing on my form.  People were passing me, but such is life. Right before the turn, was Mile 4 and that was 13:13.  My fastest 4 miles yet.  So I started on Mile 5.  There was one hill in this section. Body Builder had now decided I wasn't going to pass him. But he was still hurting.  I was trying to figure out if the woman next to me had something in her music to tell her when to walk, because she had no watch.  I tried to pay attention to picking up my legs, but I was getting hot(ter). When I did my 1 minute walk, I felt dizzy.  It went away when I ran.  We got to the finish (we had more to go), BB went and got water.  That is when I FINALLY passed him.  I was kind of happy to pass him, because I wasn't really sure what to do if he dropped dead in front of me (I know, nice...). I saw D and waved.  My Garmin went off after I passed the Center.  64 minutes for 5 miles.  But the 5 Mile Timer was at 5.15 miles when I got to it. 

I knew I had 2 more hills (one hill but up down turn around up down).  I was lucky enough to hit a walking part when I got to the it, so I walked up the hill.  By the time I got to the top, it was time to run again.  I started.  Then down and around, and up.  I kept slowing down going up, that I decided to walk and save some energy. When I got to the top, I started running again.  Where the hell was the finish?  I ran all the way to 6 (14 something minutes) and decided I was done.  It was techinically time to walk, so I did.  For 30 seconds.  Then I decided to be done.  And ran the rest of the way in.

Of course there was no photographer there. This pissed me off (D later said he went to the bathroom, and then went to take pics of the winners...I guess they don't realize the slow people actually BUY the pics!).  Anyway, I was pissed off.  I decided to get in below 82 minutes.  I kicked it up. But there was nothing to kick. My legs wouldn't go.  I gave it as much muster as I could, but nothing.  I crossed at 82:08.  And like every other race on this course, 6.31 miles according to Garmin.

D ran and got me 2 cups of water.  I downed them, and went and got some more.  We went and got our T-shirts.  Luckily they didn't run out, although they ran out of environmentally friendly shopping bags (again).  I got a banana and some more water, and we found A. And we walked the .8 miles back to the car.

When we got home, I looked up the times.  We all got PRs!

So I am trying to be happy about the new PR.  I know in better weather, it would have been faster, so that in 94% humidity, I should be ecstatic.  I'm blaming my non-excitement on the humidity. I really hate this weather.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I hate running in the summer, too uncomfortable, I'm sure that's the reason you aren't elated about the PR.

But you should be!!

Christina said...

Congrats on the PR! Hate running in heat and humidity. Yikes!

Anne said...

I love your re-caps! I wish I could think about all these things when I'm running, instead of running. My legs felt heavy the entire race too. Yes, damn humidity. You did great though!

Becca said...

Oh wow! That's crazy you felt so sludgy and got a PR. I am a total wuss with running in heat and humidity, so you and D are pretty much badasses all around.