My Caesar Rodney

Choosing the title for this entry was tough because there were so many options... my positive splits, my collapsing legs, my blown start. I figured this was more specific so if down the road I need to use a more generic title, it is still available.

So I met up with some folks at Lloyd hall that needed rides down the race. The trip down was uneventful, and we got to the race about an hour early for registration and a bit of warm up. As I said yesterday, I didn't really have any clue how fast i was going to be able to run, but after talking with a bunch of people i was going to try to pace with Steve G. and Mony... cuz they were about the same pace. The race gun sounded like a freakin cannon and I must have jumped 2 feet in the air. and we were off...

i felt good for the first mile... up until i got to the first mile marker and I saw that I did it in 7 minutes. not a good sign for things to come... cuz I knew for a fact I couldn't run 13 miles at 7 minutes per mile. The first 3 miles went by at the same pace and for some reason I couldn't get myself to slow down. I think it was mostly pride because I wanted to stick with the group of PRs, who were way out of my league. After the hills started I think I banged out a couple miles at 7:45 pace... which I was fine with. After the hills leveled out at mile 8 I got back down to 7:30 miles and I woudl ahve been happy to continue that pace. Around mile 10, my left calf tightened up and continued getting worse and worse. Mile 11 came and my right calf responded by tightening up as well. So here i was with only two miles left, two gimp calves, and absolutely no energy. Thankfully I had some gatorade left that i was carrying with me and it tasted like sweet ambrosia. I don't think it gave me any more energy but it certainly tasted pretty sweet. From miles 9-13.1 people were passing me left and right. I knew I had a PR locked up and I just wanted to finish. Running the ugly mudder, i think it made me a little soft because it gave me the option to stop on the uphills. This thought ran through my head on the final .25 mile hill. But i figured if I was going to give it my all, stopping and walking wouldn't be that. I somehow made it up the final hill, across the finish line, and to the pizza.

My final time was 1:37:37 which is a PR by 19 minutes. I am extremely happy about the time I ran, but I wish I had ran a better race. Now at least I know where my limits are and need to work on my pacing a lot! I look forward to my next race just to even out my splits!! The posting has been pretty trite, but I am tired like a beaver... tonights sleep is well deserved!!