Tuesday, May 31, 2011

5 Months for what.....


Sorry for the delay in this post. Things have been crazy in other areas of life after the race. I would like to thank my family and friends for all the support over the last couple of months – wow time flies!

My wife and I dropped the little ones off at the place that watches them before school. Then we came back home packed up the last of the stuff and headed out to pick up Beth. From there we headed down to VA. After arriving near our hotel we made a quick stop at Wal-Mart for some last minute supplies and a bite to eat. We checked in at the hotel and relaxed a little before heading over to the race meeting. It was about a 20 min. drive from the hotel to the race headquarters. Once arriving at the race headquarters I picked up my race number and shirt. We talked to a lot of friends that were helping or running the race and then went for supper. When I got back to the room I went through all my stuff I would need for the race and went to bed.

Waking up around 2:30 a.m. it really felt early for the 4 a.m. race start. I had some coffee, banana and banana bread on the way to the race. Once arriving there we had to check in to let them know we were there and starting the race. I talked to a couple of people and in no time we lined up and we were off running.

Right from the start of the race if felt very warm. I was sweating going up the first road hill. My plan from the start was to take a gel every 23 min., 2 electrolytes per hour, and drinking a bottle of Cytomax every hour. It seemed to work for most of the race and I will stick with that plan next time but maybe try a different electrolyte and maybe go to every 20 min. with the gels. My crew had all my stuff ready for me every time I came into the aid stations. The day seemed to be going by really fast. Everything was feeling good up until around mile 56 or 57. The aid station before I changed my socks and shoes which I normally don't do. My feet were wet and I could feel some blisters and I thought it would be a good idea to change. I ate some food and got some ice in a bandanna to put around my neck. It was a long climb right from the aid station to the top of the mountain. Right before I got to the top I took my bandanna off and started to eat the ice. I just wanted something cold and my warm bottles were not cutting it. After making it to the top of the mountain I felt some cramps in my right leg. I tried running slow and that wasn't working. Walking felt a little better. I tried sitting down a couple times and I would cramp worse when I did that. Keep moving forward is what I kept telling myself. It wasn't working really well. I just wanted to sit down which I did after a while and the cramps were not as bad. It felt like the cramps were going to come back so I decided to walk and I wound up walking that whole section - over 9 miles. Coming into aid station I felt like I had no energy. I sat there trying to eat and drink and nothing was looking good. My pacer - Stephan was waiting for me and ready to go. I really didn't think I was going back out but I managed with the help of my crew and pacer. I started power hiking at a fast pace but at this point I really had no interest in running. I know that sounds really weird to some and I am still trying to figure it out but I couldn't even start to run. I could hike but the drive to run was lost on that day. Stephan and I had some good conversation in those 5+ miles and I am glad I got to end the day with him. When getting to the 68.7 mile aid station I sat down for awhile got some food in me and I pulled the plug on my running that day. My crew, pacer and all my friends at that aid station tried everything in the book to get me to go out but I knew I was finished - DNF(did not finish).

"5 Months for what....." I picked this title for this blog post to remind myself what I accomplished in the last 5 months. It was not all about the one race but the effort that I put into 5 months of training. I learned a lot about how consistent training paid off for my other races. Sometimes you have good days and not so good days but the not so good days are still good because you are running. And one last thing that I will always think of before I start any of my races: If I never take a chance I will never know how fast I can go!

So what is next? I am going to keep training like I was and find some another event. I am going to keep posting in this blog off and on because I had a great time sharing my adventures with everyone. So until next post…..

Picture by Miriam Wilcox

Picture by Teresa Sukiennicki


Picture by Aaron Schwartzbard

Picture by Aaron Schwartzbard

Picture by Aaron Schwartzbard