I posted on facebook last night that I had a
race today, wasn't prepared for it, and my race buddy wouldn't be there. Well that wasn't the half of it.
I did not sleep well. Poly was on me then I moved her when I had to turn over and then she hogged the bed so
I had an elbow in my back.
I hit snooze for a full hour this morning instead of getting up and getting ready.
I did not get any of my clothes or gear out last night.
The race was for 10 miles (or 15 or 20). I would have liked to do 15 but
wasn't prepared. I was going to do it if Christina was there but she had to miss her run and all her workouts this week because her daughter is in the hospital. :(
Getting ready to leave,
I couldn't find my special gloves to be able to work the iPhone while wearing gloves.
I get there and there is
no parking. It is very difficult. I wish there were two of us (which there would have been) so one of us could jump out and get both race packets and then put them in the car and park for real and then warm up and everything.
I found a spot to park. It was actually closer than 90% of the other options and only about a half mile away. Then I walk to register and realize
I forgot my Garmin watch. This wouldn't have been all bad and I could use my iphone for splits like I used to, but as I mentioned, I couldn't find the correct gloves before leaving the house.
So I'm walking up the road to the Rose Barn to register. I then cross the little bridge. Next then I know there appears to be about a half inch of water covering the grass from the snow melting. I figure there was no other way to get to registration from where I was so I decided I could step lightly and not be that bad off. Boy was I wrong. It was all mud and water and over 3 inches deep. My entire shoe was covered. Then I couldn't figure out where to step next to put my other foot down. I want to know how everyone else did this. There were steps from the road to take but tons of people were parked in the parking lot right there.
My entire foot was soaked and numb. This was not good. My other foot was only half soaked. I wished I had my regular camera at this point to take a picture of my foot in mud/water or to take a picture of the thing that definitely made me not run the race.
So I even went in to still register but with each step my foot got more and more numb and it was only 24 degrees out so I knew it would be bad news for my feet if I tried to do a 2.5 hour run.
So I decided against running and went home. (Not before getting Christina's race packet by just saying her name and them giving it to me.) Leaving the Rose Barn I wouldn't go the same way I came and if I went to the 2nd road up to the building, there was no mud. If only I knew that earlier and walked the extra 100 yards to the other access point.
I got home and took pictures of my shoes and feet. The picture of the shoes doesn't do it justice but now all the white cloth parts of my shoe are mud colored and before they were just slightly off-white.
So I'm sitting here typing this with the heating pad on my feet warming it up. As soon as they are good and warm and I'm done typing this, I will go out for a run. It won't be the same. Also I drove around my loop here and the roads are fine but if I have to jump off the road due to traffic, the edges have a lot of ice.
Aw, man, that sucks! I'm sorry to hear it went so badly.
ReplyDeleteIf only I could get myself to run a long run on my own then I wouldn't feel so bad.
ReplyDeleteUgh. Sounds pretty awful. Boy would you hate running here (usually colder than that but not as wet). You would really hate the marathon that I used to do every March (the snow-up-to-your-knees-for-seventeen-miles one).
ReplyDeleteI wonder if there are waterproof shoes that would be good for your feet. Look at all these ones - had no idea there were so many: http://tinyurl.com/474c72g
If I anticipated the water, I would have been alright but the conditions were pretty good that day but chilly but I felt like since my feet got soaked and others did not I was at an unfair disadvantage. If we all run in awful conditions, then I suck it up and do it.
ReplyDeleteBut I should get a waterproof shoe because I run in too many races where it is raining. Also I want a waterproof shell for running in the rain but I haven't ordered one yet.
I've been coveting this one off and on, but it might be heavier than you're looking for: http://tinyurl.com/48a9zkj
ReplyDeleteIt's lighter than what I currently wear when it's raining, which is my old North Face snow jacket shell from 2002 or 3, but I don't wish that thing on anybody. #heavy #threadbare #stilllooksdirtyaftergoingthroughthewash
Is this the other one you were peeping? http://tinyurl.com/4p3n4g9
I was peeping this http://www.runningwarehouse.com/descpageWRA-PIWFSJ.html but now the site isn't loading right. I was peeping another one too that Alex showed me about.
ReplyDeleteI think I saved that page from before but couldn't get it to load right, either. #ohwell
ReplyDeleteIt is warm today so I need to do a long run but why do I quit early if I don't have a running buddy. Yesterday I wanted to do 12 (training plan says to do 12) and I quit at 4.3 (there will be a separate post about that once I get to typing it) I have spent the past 2 hours finally updating my BodyMedia Fit graphs. So far the only one done and posted is steps. http://colleen.akwire.net/weight/ But check it out. I need to take more steps. Last time I did the step graphs I realized I was low and tried to increase and then I checked a month later and I was slowly improving... Then I didn't analyze my data anymore and I fell off the wagon.
ReplyDeleteI am so fascinated by your data fascination. Like how not keeping up with it makes you fall off the wagon. I think trying to keep track of it would give me a wagonfall.
ReplyDeleteExample: I eventually quit piano lessons due mostly to my teacher making me fill out a log of how long I'd practiced, and hating her for it so much. (Also I never practiced and got yelled at for that. I think most kids would've fudged the log, but for me: Catholic guilt.)
I think a main reason I didn't run the race yesterday was due to watch forgetting. I need the proof.
ReplyDeleteGraphs are mostly updated: http://colleen.akwire.net/weight/
You really have to be in the right mindset to do a race that gets up into the over-two-hours-long range. Not that you can't change your mind about how hard you feel like trying, multiple times throughout the course of the race, but the odds are not very good when you start off badly.
ReplyDeleteI have definitely wasted some hours out of my life on races I've hated (being in a bad mood at the start of the Collegiate Peaks 50 and LT 100 last year definitely contributed to me not finishing; also I hated the snow marathon for the entire second half, and spent it mostly cursing and swearing).
In any case, I'm sure the next one you choose to do will be fine.
yup the last race I hated doing and did it anyway, I sucked and also got injured because of the hate I run weird. You have to be in the mood to run.
ReplyDeleteHow disappointing! But it sounds like you made the right decision. I can't imagine running that far with soaking wet shoes in the freezing cold. You probably would have ended up with a blister or gotten sick, which would have derailed your training big time. Sometimes making a sacrifice in the moment is better in the long run (pun intended!).
ReplyDelete