Sunday was what I consider to be the second biggest race in central New York.
Technically by participants, it is probably the biggest, but Mountain Goat has my heart for number one, but this is a close second. The day started out with one of my earliest wake ups ever, 3:50. My alarm was set for four, but I saw it was 3:50 and decided that I was not going to fall back asleep in those ten minutes anyways, because my mind immediately started to race, pun intended. I was riding the Lake Effect bus, and a friend offered to give me a ride to the bus, but she was also going to pick up someone else across town, so I had to be ready to go at 4:30. I was so amped for the race though that I did not even feel that tired, I was just ready to go.
The race has a unique feeling due to taking the bus there. It feels like high school, when
you are going to a game or a race with your teammates.
It also makes it easier to time out the meals, so I could just eat my prerace peanut butter and honey sandwich and not worry about having to drive a car at the same time.
By the time we got to the starting area, it was about an hour before the race started, and at
that point there was still enough room to walk around, but over the course of the next thirty
minutes, people slowly started to flock into the road and it becomes impossible to move in a
straight line anywhere. This is a little annoying for warmups, but it is totally awesome from a
runner stand point. It is always so cool to see thousands of people show up to the same place to do the same hard thing. So Ryan and I scooted through the crowd at 7:30 and ran by the exit ramp for a little over a mile before heading to the starting area. Sadly, this year the white bib warm up area was way more crowded than usual, and this was due to the race putting up more fences, so there was no room to do strides and not collide with the others milling about. (Not a big deal, but I was expecting something different from years past, so it was a little bothersome.)
After a great fly over, I lined up on the front lines of the crew behind the elites next to
Jared and Ryan. I do not run fast enough to quite be in that spot, but I was off to the far side, and I like to go out really fast before easing into a race pace, so I do not think I was too troublesome for the people in line behind me. The gun went off and the herd of people stampeded off for 9.3 miles of trials and tribulations and fun.
I had no idea what to expect from the race this year. I felt like I had finally started to train
up to my normal ability, but that was only for a couple of weeks, so I thought maybe I could run last year’s time, but I also would not have been surprised if I was not even close. I started off well though with a 5:36, which oddly enough according to my watch was my average pace for the whole race, but it was not the most comfortable first mile, which gave me pause about how the rest of the race was going to go.
The first real challenge is the golf course, which hits around the 5k mark. A little after
mile one, Chip passed me, but I noticed on the small hill before the golf course that he was in pain when it came to hills, so I passed him on the bigger hill, but I fully thought that we would go back and forth as the race progressed, but sadly this did not happen, this was our last interaction until the end. So I trudged to the top of the hill at a pace that felt comfortable, and then it was time to fly.
For some reason on this day, it just felt like I was never getting the speed I needed to on
the downhills, my body just felt like it was topping out too early, part of the problem could have been the ankle brace and insoles. I blame it on those, because vaporflies are made to be the exact way they are, and their insoles do not come out, so I was stacked up a little higher than normal, so it did not feel totally stable when I was running downhill. It was like going down those rocky hills in New Hampshire, but at a pace that was over 10 minutes per mile faster. By the end of the race my ankles had blisters that they normally do not have, and I know it was due to my feet being in the wrong position for the vaporflies, but I was mentally prepared for this problem from the warm up, but I went for it anyway.
Also coming out of the golf course, there was a guy in front of me, and I thought there
was enough room to pass him on the left and not bother him, but it felt like he saw me out of the corner of his eye and cut into my line a little, so when I passed him, we bumped slightly. He said something about how I had to whole road, and he was a little rude about it, which made me mad, but after panting a couple of breaths, I just said sorry and moved on with my life trying not to dwell on a tiny issue. The mile out of the golf course was a 5:02, and the mile up the golf course hill was a 5:58. A huge swing, and I hoped that it meant a change in fortune for the race.
This was also about the point in the race when I realized that it was hot. It felt a little
warm at the start, but now the shade slowly dissipates as the race goes on. I was already grabbing water at every station and taking a swig then dumping the rest on my head, which was helpful, but the water was pretty spread out at the start. Also I dropped the first two ice cups without being able to dump them in my shirt, and that was unfortunate. Eventually I got it figured out, and I was dumping ice in the front of my shirt in the back of my shirt, and I even tried to get it in my headband. After watching western states a couple of weeks ago, I knew how important it was to stay cool, even though this was only 9 miles, and they were running 100, but it really helped. Every time I got water or ice and someone around me did not, there was an immediate surge in pace that they did not get. I still am surprised how hot 74 degrees felt considering the hot weather I had been training in, but it undoubtedly affected me, no matter how hard I tried to convince myself it could be worse. I had run in much worse, but I still felt hot.
This brings us to the 10k point. I just kept telling myself that all I had to do was get up
this last hill, then I was home free, and around this point, there was a guy close to my height
wearing a black and yellow Garden State Track Club singlet, and he stayed ahead of me just barely like the whole hill, but he seemed so concerned about me, it was weird. We summited the hill, and I kept trying to surge, and even on the downhill it was not fully happening like I wanted it to. I could not catch him. Then about halfway down the hill a girl caught up to me, and although I was probably a foot taller than her, I caught her stride, and we worked down the hill right next to each other and slowly caught the Garden State guy, who had to of looked back at least five times. (This was not the first time I had been saved on a downhill by a girl flying past me, the same thing happened at Pikes Peak on the decent, and in both cases I am so grateful for the burst of energy they gave me, despite both of them ultimately beating me, they helped so much more than hurt.)
The three of us got to the bottom of the hill at the same time, and I took the turn fast, and
I shot out ahead of them, but there was still like 2k left, which was way too far. So after about a quarter mile, the girl reeled me in and passed me. I tried to stick with her, but the gap was growing. I was burnt. I had not felt that burnt in a while, which I guess is where the incomplete high-level training came and got me. Normally I have a good spring still at the end, but I was holding on for dear life. After the girl, no one else passed me until literally the last second, and I did gain some ground on her on the last big downhill to the finishing chute but could not catch her. Some dude flew past me with like 20 meters left. It honestly scared me; he came by that fast.
I was exhausted. I could tell too, because normally I like to smile throughout the race, but
it was hard to muster it most of the time. I was focused, and it felt so much harder to run race pace than usual, but I guess that is a good sign. I was 58 seconds slower than last year, but I do not feel like I could have done much better, and my legs are sore enough today that I am proud of my effort. I did make sure to give high fives to the people around me, after getting into the more open area, and I gave all the volunteers a big smile and told them thank you when they handed me the elixirs of life like popsicles, chocolate milk, pickle juice and water. I even found the guy, who I had bumped into by the golf course, who I ended up beating, and I apologized again for accidently bumping him. I told him I thought there was enough room. He ended up being nice too, and he said that his race was not going as planned at that moment, so he was more upset about that. I get it.
It was nice to go to the massage tent and chiropractor tent right after the race. Funnily
enough the chiropractor tent gave me a better massage than the massage tent. One of my friends said that the chiropractor helped him with his Achilles tendonitis, so I figured I would give it a try to see if they could pull my foot and make my posterior tibial tendon feel better. Does it feel a little better? I think so, but that could just be the mind. Then two of my friends got married at a sculpture park right by the after party, and then the party began. I love being able to go through the party, because it feels like everywhere you turn there are some running friends. Maybe it is someone local, or it could be someone from Rochester or some other racing team, either way it is great to catch up with so many people and hear their story for how the day went. Running is the best!
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