30k Race (3.26.11) - Just a Short Run

I ran a 30k race. It was my first run longer than 15 miles. It was actually my first continuous run longer than 13.1 miles.

I finished in 3:19:14. It was cold. I felt awful. One interesting fact is that my pace was exactly the same for the first 15 miles of this race as it was for the 15 miles that I ran last time (10:21); this  is totally crazy in my mind.  Last time I was talking during 10 of that 15 and last time I stopped after each 5. This leads me to believe that I improve if I do it more, which is why I need more longer runs and more runs in general.

The official results show just how close to the end I was, because only hardcore runners would be insane enough to run a 30k.

The race was my normal North Park run but in the opposite direction for the last 15 miles. The first 3.6 miles were new terrain and were the hilliest part. It was good to get the hill over with first.  Christina asked if the hill was worse than the Race for Grace hill. I compared Garmin elevation data and it is not. (Elevation gain for Race for Grace was 224 ft and the elevation gain for Just a Short Run was 111 ft.)  To me the hill at the beginning barely felt like anything. I thought it was because I was running at a slower pace since I was running more than 15 more miles than the 5k the previous week.

I walked a few times even though in my previous 15 mile run I did not walk at all. My first walk break was at 12.1.  I walked twice before that but only for about 4 steps while I took a water cup and drank a few sips of water. 

My 10k split was 1:00:46 and I was hoping for it to be around 1 hour so I was close.  If I had endurance I could finish in 3:03. The 10k mark was where I started constantly doing math in my head for goal times and estimated times for certain miles.

My half marathon split was roughly 2:14 which isn't bad considering I have not been training like I was last year for the half.

What else makes my times seem impressive is 4.3 miles into it my orthotic started cutting into my foot. My foot has hurt before (a, b, c, d) from my orthotic so I knew the pain and knew the result. But I never ran so long with the pain so I didn't know what the final result would be. Well my sock had some blood/puss on it. I would have quit if it was a normal run but since it was a race and a ton of people knew I was doing the race, I didn't want to quit or I'd have to tell them about quitting later and I didn't want that.  Maybe I should take a page out of Callie's book and just not tell anyone when I'm going to run a race.

The entire time I was running, I was running if running with foot pain every step was hardcore or was insane. The more I ran, the more I thought it was insane.

Some other random notes

• I looked at my watch at 10.1 miles and then ran for what felt like forever. I looked down again and it was 10.23. That was probably the worst part mentally. I felt like I'd never get done.
• They did drawings after the race and instead of pulling names, they just started throwing the gifts (cheap things the store didn't sell). I hated this because the guy to my right caught 3 things and the lady a little to my right also got 3 things. I was fed up with the unfairness. The guy announcing/throwing would always just through them to the exact same spot and I felt like after you caught one, you could quit trying to catch more. 
• All 30k finishers got a medal but I don't know if all finishers of the other distances got a medal.
• I met someone before the race, who ran a 50k last weekend, is 68 yrs old, and used to live in Leadville, Colorado. (He finished in under 3 hours.)
• Shirtless guy was there. He ran the Race for Grace and also ran 2 legs of the Laurel Highlands Ultra last June.
• I talked to some random girl and ran with her for maybe 5 minutes.
• I ran into and then ran with 3 different coworkers at different points of the race.
• Running with people were points that I ran faster.
• I took walk breaks and after them it was hard to get started again because it was so cold.
• I debated stopping and taking my orthotic out of my shoe but knew a shoe without an ortotic is also awful for me. 
• After one of my walk breaks, my knee started hurting. The same knee that was hurting during the Great Race and the race on September 11.
• I ate gummies during the race. I had 2 packs in my little belt but I ate 1. I ate 5 gummies after an hour and I ate 5 more after 62 minutes (12 miles).  The pack says to eat 5-10 for every hour of running (I think).
• Added: On the race route some of the puddles had frozen but they threw salt on them.  At the water stations, they had people handing out water and someone throwing down salt. All the extra water from our cups would have turned into an ice rink.
• Added: Christina and I carpooled. We parked at the ice skating rink parking lot and rode a shuttle to the start (shuttle = school bus with the tape over the school district name).

Shortly after I finished running

After I got home, my knee still hurt so I figured why not try out this biofreeze stuff they gave me for free.

As I finished the 30k, a heavier guy finished the half. I was really really impressed.  After awards, another heavier guy finished the 30k. I'm very impressed by stuff like that. I took a picture of the 30k finisher with my phone. You look at him and would never think he runs races let along 30k. I guess stereotypes get to me.