Notes
Coolish but humid 75 degrees - 90% humidity
Fun race, but oh so humid today. Per my usual, I didn't look at my watch throughout. Felt myself sucked in with the crowd and it actually felt pretty decent for the majority of the race. The first couple of miles went by quickly. Mostly 'cuz we were in the heart of the city and running by all the landmarks.
I barely noticed the first 5 miles. The first couple went by so quickly. the mile markers on the course were pretty messed up...either the mile markers would show up way earlier, or waaay later. It kind of played some tricks with the mind, especially if a marker was early, and the next one was much later. Feels like you have forever to go.
The one thing I wasn't a fan of was that the water stations were only once every two miles. Every water station felt like an eternity to get to. I usually take a sip every mile and change...so I'm used to not having a whole lot of water. But again, the faster pace and weather was a huge factor.
Once we turned onto Carnegie by the Wollstein center, the breeze went away and the heat and mugginess really set in. The water stations felt like they couldn't come fast enough. This stretch was a little boring. We ran by the Cleveland Clinic campus, but pretty quiet with not too much crowd support (probably due to the weather).
Miles 5-9 were nice...I took a Gu early around mile 5. Once we turned left onto MLK, things got a little nicer. There were quite a few downhills mixed in with some nice views. We ran by the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Botanical Gardens. Then passed the Natural History Museum. The breeze started to come back in stretches.
Unfortunately by mile 9, I started feeling the cramping. Both calves started to spasm a bit. It wasn't too bad, until I think mile 10 or 11 where I really felt it. I think had I not slowed down to drink water, I would have been ok for a longer stretch. But changing the muscle routine kicked off the tightening. I forced myself to keep run, but every so often, it would tighten up and I would immediately have to slow down. Thankfully I was able to keep running.
The last 2 miles were a tough stretch where I could see the Brown's stadium in the distance, but if felt like it never got closer. The mile markers were still crazy off. On top of that, as we were running past Burke Lakefront, the hangars were numbered with signs on the street. I couldn't tell what was a mile marker and what was a hangar sign.
No kick today...I couldn't muster up any more energy. Couldn't even speed up in the last seconds of the race.
On the way to the finish line, I saw Becky and Tali which was a welcome sight. I wasn't expecting them to be there.
I finished the race, barely. Thankfully Becky was there to get waters for me. I was completely spent and started seeing stars. I'm not sure I would have been able to make it to the water without getting too dizzy. At this point, I thought it was better for me to keep my head between my legs.
So my excuses for this one was primarily the humidity. 90% humidity, 73% dew point temp...definitely not ideal conditions. On top of that, technically this was a training race. I didn't run too much this past week, but there was not taper. I had run pretty hard the last few weeks. Unfortunately, I felt like I hydrated really well before the race...gotta figure out the cramping. Maybe I'll try salt tabs next time.