I’d be happy to sit in this chair or, better yet, in bed all day but I am afraid that it might make it worse. The soreness and fatigue is moving in for the kill, as I sit here trying write my race report.
I began preparing for this adventure last night with the baking of a fresh batch of M&J’s energy bars for race morning. I loaded my Camelbak with some 32 oz. of watered down Cytomax, my Epi-pen, and 2 GU packets. Then I went to bed. It was later than I had planned as DD’s flight was a little late coming in and the airport was a madhouse. I had another fitfull night’s sleep, waking a few times to check the clock or check on little YaYa (who broke his arm yesterday at school).
I was greeted to a cool morning, perfect for running. The turnout of runners was good but a much smaller crowd than you find for road races. The 25K (my event) was liked to the 5K of most races; another group of runners were already on the trail for the 50K and 50M event.
We all gathered back from the chalk line that marked the start. It seemed that no one wanted to be at the front of the pack. We began our run when the race clock was at exactly 60 minutes. A short downhill was quickly followed by a LONG and grueling uphill. I walked as I had planned and did not feel the least bit guilty for doing so. My heart pounded as I plodded. Some walkers passed me and others were passed by me. I was happy when the trail flattened out for a tiny bit before it began rolling up and down (mostly UP).
The downhill portions were equally as steep. It seemed a waste of all that uphill effort only to run downhill again. There was more up to follow. I kept reminding myself to relax on the descents and did my best to keep my wits about me. I did not want to be overwhelmed by the tendancy to feel out of control. Instead of my knees and hips absorbing the trauma from the trail, I used my imaginary brakes to slow me down. It worked.
Before long we were turning down onto the single-track part of the race. I remembered this part from having run the race in 2005. It is lovely. We ran in single file. Ms. Chatty-Cathy was right on my heals. Her non-stop talking was draining.
After a while, I just wanted to get away from her. I took advantage of the offers to pass and was soon running all by myself in the middle of nowhere.