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Comments: I felt great starting out. For the first 4 miles I was enjoying myself and my biggest concern was getting my Yurbuds to stay in place. I was passed by the Allender bros and DH as they honked and waved. I raised the baton in solidarity. I was running as far as I could get to the edge of the shoulder, running against traffic so I could keep an eye on the cars. DH and DS2 checked on me at about 1.5 miles. I took a swig of Osmo and continued on my way. I'd decided not to carry my water bottle and to have them check on me every couple miles so I could get a drink. Was this part of the eventual melt-down? Perhaps. At about 4 miles I could see the car parked about a quarter mile away and decided when I got there I would change from my tech tshirt to my tech tank. The temp was rising and the breeze was faltering. Right about that time I felt the side stitch coming on. By the time I got to the car it was bad enough to make me want to walk. I stopped for a drink and to change my shirt. Told DH about the side cramp and carried on. There were people waiting for me at the next transfer point. As the pain got worse I concentrated on my breathing but it didn't help. I pushed my fingers in to my side and carried on, albeit slower than I would have liked. I passed some interesting sites and wish I'd been more "in the moment" instead of being in the pain cave. Just as Strava told me I'd run 6 miles I came upon DH again. I stopped for a drink and told him "2 more, lets finish this". He looked at me oddly which made me wonder if Strava was giving me false hope. He told me later that he thought at that point I still had about 4 to go but Strava was, indeed, correct. With each passing half mile I knew I would make it and at one point the 2012 Olympic theme song came on my ipod. That was a nice boost. Of course in a cruel twist there was a fairly steep hill for the last quarter mile or so. I could see the sign for where I knew they were all waiting but I couldn't will my feet to climb any more. I told myself I was almost there and that I just had to get up the hill. They were waiting. It was hot. My vision was tunnelling. I was almost there! Finally I got the feet moving again and climed the hill. Those last 400 meters seemed to go on forever. What would you do differently?: My training the last few weeks took a hit because of surgery. So some combination of that, the heat, not enough nutrition or water, and bad sleep for a couple nights made for a brutal last 4 miles. I really didn't think this run would be this difficult.  Post race
Warm down: As soon as I got to everyone (they were all cheering and ringing the cowbell) I sat down. After a few seconds I stood up for picutres to that Beth (stage 95) could be on her way. After the pix I sat back down in the dirt, enjoyed my chocolate milk and chatted for a bit. Then DH, DS2 and I went out for a green chili cheeseburger. I was about useless for the remainder of the day and still feel "blah" the next day. What limited your ability to perform faster: Lack of sleep, unanticipated drop in training, unsure planning of nutrition, not enough drinking, heat blah blah blah Event comments: This is a cross country relay to raise money for and support the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings. As the baton continues across the country for several more weeks I am honored to have been part of carrying the baton across New Mexico. I get overwhelmed when I think about how many people will carry Miles in his journey from Santa Monica, CA to Boston, Mass. This is well done and I love the sense of community with all of the stage runners on FB. Profile Album Last updated: 2014-01-19 12:00 AM
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75F / 24C
Sunny
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Soooo on Saturday DH, DS2 and I went to the Southwest Chocolate and Coffee festival. Of course we indulged in lots and lots of coffee and chocolate. Which made for a rough night of sleep. They say the most important sleep is two nights before the race. Contributing factor? Who knows.
Sunday morning I had to be up early and as I got in the car I sneezed and felt something pop in my neck. After that it hurt to turn my head :( I spent the day working the affected trigger point which got the pain to bearable and DH worked on my shoulders some in the evening. By Monday morning I'd all but forgotten about the pain and hoped it wouldn't rear it's ugly head. Fortunately, it didn't because I had enough to deal with.
Monday morning I woke and looked at the live tracking to see where the baton was in it's trek across New Mexico. It looked ahead of schedule and I proceeded to make breakfast and get going. Shortly after I got up I received a call from Bill, the runner two stages ahead of us, saying that the baton was about 2 hours ahead of schedule. We had about an hour and a half drive to our starting spot so we put a bit of urgency in our prep and got ready to go.
I had a bowl of oatmeal and a glass of milk and got my things packed up. We stopped at Sbux (of course) on the way where I got (of course) a singleventinonfatchai.
After driving about an hour or so we stopped at a gas station before we drove beyond the last town and any modern conveniences. We hit the restroom and got some chocolate milk for "after". I thought about getting some food. I'd only brought a couple of stinger waffles. Starting an 8 mile run at about 1:00PM makes the nutrition planning difficult. I didn't buy any additional food and hoped my choice was the correct one.
Then we drove down and found our starting spot, then drove to where DS2 would hand off to me, then drove to where we would hand off to the next stage. After scouting our route we drove back along the race course until we spotted Mary carrying the baton. We cheered for her then went on to where we talked with Bill, the stage runner before Mary, and Danny and Kate, the race organizers.
After a while we headed over to our beginning spot where we waited for Mary. When Mary arrived we took some pictures of the baton transfer then DS2 geared up for his part of our stage and took off. We talked a bit with the others then headed to check on DS2 about half-way through his mileage. After checking on DS2, DH and I headed to where I would take over. I slathered on my sunscreen and got all my gear ready. About that time we were joined by the Allender brothers. They are sort of an icon on this relay so it was nice to chat with them. Soon after, DS2 showed up and it was my turn to run with the baton, "MIles".
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