Zoomy's "not living up to her name" 25k (Read 965 times)

Ugh. That both sucked and blew. I still PR'd, but missed my conservative goal time by over 6 minutes. A month ago I ran a blissfully awesome 15 mile training run at a pace less than 15 seconds slower. My goal for this race had been 2:30, which should have been easily attainable, given my training and HM times last Fall (in the 9:30 range) and my 15k PR on a brutally hilly, snowy/icy course back in March at roughly the same pace--today should have been a breeze, relative to that tough race. But days after my speedy, comfortable 15 miler on 4/9 I got hit hard by a respiratory bug that has not fully released its grasp a month after the fact--my rough runs in the past month have far outweighed my good ones, ever since. Add to that peak allergy season and it made for a pretty miserable experience. Last year I hit my inhaler once, at the 11 miler mark. This year I needed it 3x over the course of the race and wasn't able to talk much at all (Eryn kept me entertained for the first 10 miles or so, but once she lost me I was really regretting not having my iPod--by that point in the race everyone was really quiet and I was sorely in need of ANYTHING to keep me motivated). I also found that any time I dropped below the 10 minute/mile pace that my stomach rebelled (I'm suspicious that I may have eaten too much, too late last evening, as I was still feeling kind of full when I went to bed around 8:30pm). Typically I regain my appetite very fast after any race effort, but it's been over 5 hours since I crossed the finish and I'm still fairly queasy. Mother's Day buffet tomorrow isn't even something I am looking forward to at the moment--which is totally unlike me (as anyone in the weight loss group can attest). And I don't even want a celebratory beer (I got my free nasty Michelob Ultra, but gave half of it to DH's aunt)!!! More telling evidence of my bad race was seeing the times of people I have typically beaten in the past year by ~3-5 minutes at similar distances. All were 2-7 minutes ahead of me...so hopefully it was just me having a bad day. I must say I'm not looking forward to marathon training, much less running the damned thing at the moment. I can't even claim any real injury for my pokeyness...legs and feet felt great, well-rested, and rarin' to go, but the rest of me was unwilling to go any harder. Eryn and I were pretty bummed to only manage to find one of the RA crew (Mary/hopeful4ever...who happens to be neighbors with one of the local gals I have run with/against at several prior races in the area--small world!) pre-race. I kept my eyes open for Rick/rvelich and his wife, Tammy, during the entire second half of the race and was thrilled to pieces to see them less than a half mile from the finish...I really needed that. By that point I knew my goal time was gone and decided it was worth wasting a little of the gas left in the tank to mug for the camera blowing kisses (I did pick up the pace a little more after seeing that HTFU sign, thank you so much, you guys...it was just what I needed to go hard for the last few hundred yards uphill!). By that point any competitive drive I had was gone and I was just so relieved to be so close to being able to have that race behind me. Next year we definitely need to have pre and post-race meeting spots better hammered-out, as well as exchange of cell #s. I am still really sad that I didn't get to meet Rick and Tammy in person, or Cory/corland, or marathonmanleto/Joe, mulks/Tony... Not actually meeting these folks face-to-face only added insult to injury--a do-over on the day would be great.

I'm sorry you didn't have the race you hoped for. Sometimes, the bad days just come, well, at bad times. Do give weight to the fact that you PR'd. I'd chalk it up to allergies and a slow recovery from your cold. And perhaps I'd wonder, but I haven't looked at your log, if you may have been overtraining/pushing it too much considering that bug. There'll be another race.

And perhaps I'd wonder, but I haven't looked at your log, if you may have been overtraining/pushing it too much considering that bug.

That is entirely possible. I ran very little for a week when I was the sickest, but I am still feeling it in my lungs. I've had to use my inhaler a lot more in the past month than usual and done a lot more coughing during and after runs, even easy ones. Usually I don't have too much trouble like that except for after my longest runs and speed work.

Way to suck it up.

Yeah, I did HTFU some...I must say that every time I saw a walker after mile 13 I was completely jealous, though. Walking looked good. And I still posted mostly negative splits (yay, Garmin!)...or at least mostly even splits.

From your consistent running (and posting on RA and your blog) it is apparent that you are a life-long runner. We'll all have awesome running days and not-so-great running days - but we need to remember that a bad running day is still better than a day without running!

T'is true...and at 10:36 this AM I had already run 15.5 miles (closer to 16 by my Garmin), which most other folks can't claim at any time of the day... Thanks for giving me some perspective, Mike. (BTW, Go Blue!)

If you take into account all the health issues you have been dealing with I say you did great . . . and you PR'd! Sometimes we are too hard on ourselves but the bottom line is that you did it and you did better than last year! Congrats . . . and now you can have (and deserve) a relaxing Mother's Day!

Zoomer. Live, learn, notate, move on and be thankful for the following. Your PR. There's always more races You are a star in all of our eyes anyway You can run You didn't break your ankle I am at this very moment suffering from an allergy migraine, common for me at this time of year. Been figting it all week. I am miserable. Hopefully it subside for tomorrow Half Marathon! As always though, you rock, and congrats n a PR!

Kirsten--Cory and I were anxiously awaiting your arrival before the race inside Devos place as agreed. Wimp. What kind of swamp troll are you? Also, met Rick last night at the expo. It was great to actually put faces to swampers. Missed you, though. Think about the Marshall run 5k Labor day weekend in Newaygo.