Rock 'n' Roll USA Half Marathon - Washington, D.C.
March 17, 2012
Finishing Time:01:57:29 <----**** THE UGLY!!!***
March 17, 2012
Finishing Time:01:57:29 <----**** THE UGLY!!!***
Details: 4797 Erin Gentzel
Age: 36 | Gender: F
Splits: 5 Km 25:18 10 Km 52:02 10 Mi 1:27:12Pace 8:58 <---------------**** THE UGLY!!!***
As you can tell by my above "hints" I was not thrilled with my race... it was.... UGLY.
Lets start from the beginning...
Excuses: (The bad and the ugly)
- I think I was dehydrated...cramping started at mile 6 (hotel room was hot-woke up covered in sweat - turned the AC up but I think the damage was done, between that and the slightly warmer temperature of the morning I must have lost more fluids then i thought) ... I stopped sweating sometime during mile 5 and didn't sweat again the rest of the race. Why didn't I notice that it was strange that I didn't have to go to the bathroom all morning?!?! I was able to get re-hydrated and get myself back in the race mentally (ha!) and physically but was in pain most of the race. ROOKIE MISTAKE!
- Mentally I lost the race in mile 5, I was feeling dizzy and tried to slow down to start to feel better but never felt better, felt worse. The Doubt Demons rules my thoughts and no matter how hard I tried (did I really try) I couldn't get them out of my mind. I really wanted to borrow someone's cell phone and call Dave to come pick me up. BUT I said to myself, "NO - You will take whatever SHITTY time you get and face the world with it. Life isn't always roses so there is no quitting today missy." (Sorry for cursing.) I walked a lot - and I never walk, never... I tried to rejuvenate myself and ate a Gu "Cliff Shot" at mile 8 and started to feel a little better but was scared to eat more - the caffeine in those things sends me straight to the Porta Potties. (sorry - Too Much Information)
- I was in Corral 4 and saw a pace group sign that said 1:45. So I thought I would try to stay with them as long as I could. (BIG MISTAKE - HAVE I MENTIONED I AM A MORON) I felt great for a long time until suddenly I didn't feel good. Not feeling good just "happened" to correspond with a 2 mile upward incline... Hmm, wonder if the hill had anything to do with it?!?!
- Another problem - PEOPLE KEPT PASSING ME!!! As I said, I was in Corral 4. Each corral had 1,000 people in it so that meant there was 20,000 people behind me. Many of the people behind me were faster then me - rightfully so - I can't run a 6:30 mile pace and had I been standing next to them at the start I would have wished them good luck and never thought about them again as they took off. The problem - they weren't next to me - they were behind me - many, many, many, many fast people were behind me and PASSED me the whole race - it was DEMORALIZING. I am a mental case on a good day and everyone passing me the whole race was enough to send me into a full on temper tantrum!?! If tears were possible they would have been running down my face in disappointment.
- ANGRY RUNNER GIRL was there in full force. I had on an "Oscar the Grouch" tee-shirt in honor of St. Patrick's Day and to help remind me to not take myself too seriously. Well that strategy didn't work. I ended up being angry at people all day as they shouted, "Go Oscar" or the really smart ones who said, "Go Cookie Monster!" I wanted to rip my shirt off and yell to them that I was having a bad day and didn't deserve anyone cheering for me.
1 8:14 Here is where I was "super smart"
2 8:01 and tried to run with
3 8:09 the 1:45 pace group.
4 7:48 WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?
5 8:42 Started to slow down...
6 8:33 Needed rest, need water
7 9:36 WOW - has it only been 7 miles?!
8 9:06 Ok, I can fix this...
9 9:21 No I can't Are You Serious.
10 8:49 Gu kicked in - ok I can finish
11 9:35 I can finish under 2 hours if I don't go over 10 min
12 10:30 DAMN!
13 9:02 still possible to get under 2hours- just stinking finish you wimp!
0.22 2:09.1 FINALLY THAT FINISH LINE!
The start - I am all smiles!! Silly outfit - check. Intelligent race strategy - nope!
Where is the moron?? Look for the green giraffe with sparkly Leprechaun Hats on her head...
(Now for the borrowed pictures... hopefully they will "slip" past the copyright people - I have like 13 readers - cut me some slack!) Below is TOO MANY PEOPLE. I have determined that big races are intimidating. I need a friend - anyone want to be my friend and run with me?!?!
Below is me - smiling - must be from the first 4 miles because after that I can only imagine frowns and frustration would be on my face. It is also deceiving - where are the people squishing me and "in my space" in the picture. Every turn of the race caused the herd of us to squish each other - for seemingly intelligent adults - we sure don't know how to make a turn without pushing. Heck even the straights got me in trouble. I tried to stay to the right - slower runners keep right - didn't work - people passed me on the outside all day.
There is the frowny face I knew would be there... I did run many steps with my eyes closed, I don't think it is a photographic trick - I kept thinking if I closed my eyes more of the race would be over... Conversation with another runner: "What was that monument we just passed?" Me: "Huh, What monument?"
SMILE? What are you half smiling about? Oh yeah, I am finished and just got my medal. I guess I can be happy!! It was a PR (personal record) by just over 5 minutes so I guess it isn't that horrible...
Since that race I have run a few times and received good advice from many friends. My college roommate who can run a super speedy 1:20 half marathon any time she wants reminded me that if I trained to the best of my ability with no time or life constraints then I could run faster - and reminded me about running for fun, just like we talked about in college!Some adult running goals that I think are reasonable given my time/life constraints of running only 3 or 4 days a week as well as the amount of effort I am willing to put in:
- break 21 minutes for a 5k (3.1 miles)
- break 45 minutes for a 10k (6.2 miles)
- break a 1:45 half marathon
- break a 4 hour marathon.
I have 2 half marathons coming up:
April 29: Athleta Iron Girl Columbia Half Marathon
May 5: Frederick Running Festival Half Marathon
I know signing up for two six days apart was crazy but you get a special medal for completing both and I figured what the heck!! LOL
I signed up for these BEFORE this last race debacle and had I been able to get a refund I think I might have asked for one... I think. The funny thing about running is that sometimes you finish one race and immediately start thinking of what you can do better next time, sometimes you finish and feel amazing accomplishments, sometimes you finish and want to quit. In the end - I will take the bad and the ugly because the good is totally worth it!
3 comments:
I think you are amazing! The important thing is that you didn't quit. But even if you did, that would be okay too. You listened to your body. That voice is there for a reason. And I know Math is not my best subject, but I believe you placed in the top 15% in your division. Not bad at all for your second race!
Girl, you are hardcore! And I had no idea you were so competitive. You are inspiring me to run, but I wish I could be as serious about it as you are. My main (only) motivation would be the amount of calories I could consume without guilt. I mean I'd like to say it was about being strong in my 40s, being healthy and competitive, but really, I am just jealous of how much you can eat with all this running. I'm impressed. I hope you're forgiving yourself for those rookie mistakes and logging some miles this weekend.
Do you like the DailyMile widget thing? Trying to find some technology to accompany my log.
Thank you both!! I am still plugging away at running, did a nice 12 miler over the weekend and an amazing 9.5 mile tempo run. @ErinO, I love the daily mile widget ad website!! I get let's of motivation from other runners of all abilities on there and it is a great place to log the miles! @Heather, never looked at my finish in terms of how many people I did beat, only looked at how many beat me. Thanks for the silver lining!!