oops...
No, I meant, "NEWS ALERT"!!
Kathy wins 1st in her 18 & Under age segment!!!
I don't know what it is with these young chicks, but they keep on saying, "I didn't really race it." When I spoke with Kathy post-race, she said, "Well, I haven't really done any speed work since the summer, so I'm just trying to race myself back into shape." And yet, she wins.
Me, I have been training hard for the last 18 weeks, a routine that consists of 2 speed work sessions, 1 Lactate Threshold run, 1 long run, 2 cycling sessions, 4 weight training sessions, and a Pilates class to boot, a week! In addition to a diet program, VO2 Max Tests, etc etc...and I barely made it into top 10 in my age segment. I was 6th.
Anyways, here's my Race Report:
The race seemed like a bad April Fool's joke. I was given a BLUE bib in a co-ed race. This has never happened before. I checked my name tag twice. Yep, I'm in Blue. Yep, I'm frightened.
Race day, I go to the Blue Corral, only to see 90% dudes. Short dudes, bald dudes, tall dudes. There're no fat dudes, naturally.
I stick towards the back of the corral, near the red/blue border line because I'm scared. A tall woman in yellow singlet gives me a stare down. I'm now even more scared. I want to apologize for being there. For some reason, she won't stop staring. Another chicky-poo comes in, and she stares...
Maybe it's my outfit. It's 40F or so, I'm in that idiot gear - leg warmers, shorts, T-shirt, and arm warmers. When you combine leg & arm warmers, you look like complete idiot, unless you run 4 minute miles. And it doesn't help that I'm wearing a Canadian jersery...Maybe cuz I'm shorter and fatter than them. I feel BULLIED!!!
The MC comes on and says that the course had some last minute changes and we're now doing 3 loops of the Park. I'm like, "OHHHH YEA, BRING IT ON, Sistah!!" because I'm into abusing myself. I actually check to see if I have enough Gu on me. So it's a little secret that I'm severely disappointed when she says it's an April Fool's joke. LAME.
When the horn goes off I'm sucked into this super fast paced blue corral race. Racing up the Cat Hill, my left shin goes "squish". OOPS. Meh, I got two weeks to Boston, I can do this, I say to myself...more on this later.
First mile whizzes by and my Garmin beeps out a 7:12. Oh-o.
Linkin Park goes thru my head:
Cover up your face
You can't run the race
The pace is too fast
You just won't last
You can't run the race
The pace is too fast
You just won't last
Yep, I'm emo like that.
So I slow down and find my race. As I reach Engineer's Gate, the Maharaja himself cheers me on! Then I see our fearless leader too! And that friendly dude from CPTC! I must really stick out like a sore thumb in the crowd... I get lots of random "Go Canada, EH!!" shouts too.
At 102nd transverse I notice the bald dude with the Jane Fonda headband that elbowed me at mile 2. He's walking. I grin. I live for these moments.
Eventually I'm at that point of the race where you are racing/intimidating/cursing/cheering/annoying a random dude that you just can't seem to shake.
For me, it's almost always a lone FrontRunner queen. There was one in Toronto, there was one in Celebrate Life, and now here is one again. Each time it's a different queen, but it's almost always a FrontRunner. This queen is fast on the flats but tends to slow down on the uphill. I tend to be fast on uphill because I'm all Contador and sh!t, but slower on flats and downhill...
We play "I beat you!", "No, I beat you!" game all the way to the finish. But I beat him, since the finish is a slight uphill. He congratulates me at the finish line. I live for these moments too.
...now afterwards, my left shin is burning. I may have a stress fracture. I can't walk. I hobble over to the medicine tent and get ice. I was supposed to do another 6 miles, but I call my coach and tell him I just can't. He's concerned. I'm concerned.
But you know, after seeing Dathan Ritzenhein fall apart into a sobbing mess on screen for his 8 SECOND loss after an amazing come back and got shut out of an Olympic spot after YEARS of training, waiting one more year for Boston is nothing.
I'm hoping it's just a shin splint, but who knows. Boston will always be there.
Love your posts Miki! We need to get one of your pieces in RW. Heal up!
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