I really am trying to be more consistent with making posts on here but I just haven't had much to write about but I have kicked around some other things to write about so that should help, one day I actually will get regular with posts I promise...
I've kind of been dreading writing this particular race report because I didn't have a good run, but now that I have had a chance to sit back and digest how things went, I know what went wrong and just because I didn't hit the goals I set out to achieve doesn't mean I failed, Just means I need to work that much harder for the next one. We set out for our long drive to Ohio fairly early Friday morning and after a few stops and some weather/traffic related delays finally arrived in Sandusky. Once we got figured out where we were exactly we were able to easily navigate our way to the hotel where packet pick up was. Inside the hotel there were plenty of directions pointing the way and we easily found the packet pick up and within minutes had our shirts and bibs and were back to our car but not before a quick picture with a celebrity...
Celebrity Sighting
We got over to our hotel got settled in and I went for a quick shake out run, especially after driving all day I needed to stretch the legs and it also helped get me a bit acclimated to the Ohio weather. It was a good and after that is was off to bed so we could get a good nights sleep. It was an early wake up call as Sam was running the 5k the next morning. While were on the topic of the 5k let me say again (if you follow me in any other form of social media you already know about this) I am so proud of Sam for her results at the 5k not only did she break 30 mins (which she had been working extremely hard for) but she took first place in her age group. It was so awesome to see how happy she was and it was cool to be on the other side of it for once. After that we went back to the hotel to clean up and grab Grandma and Jack then we headed back to Cedar Point for a day of enjoy the park. We took it easy most of the day and then grabbed dinner at TGI Fridays before heading back to the hotel so we could get a good night sleep as it would be another early wake up call for the half marathon the next day.
Sam on the Podium
So race morning arrived we got up got ready and got over to the park plenty early. I am always of the mind that I would rather arrive early than be rushing to the start right before the gun. I went for a quick warm up jog, used the potty (always a must before a race) and got situated at the start line. I had planned on using the 2:00 hour pacer to help guide me into what I hoped would be a sub 2 finish but I quickly discovered a problem. Whoever was meant to be the 2 hour pacer wasn't there (I overheard that apparently they had gotten injured) this put a dent in my plans but I had my Nike app on my phone that would give me pace updates so I would just need to monitor it myself and hope for the best.
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| Had to Get another shot with Snoopy |
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Ready To Rock
The Course
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As the gun sounded and we headed off I was feeling pretty good I got in a nice groove early and enjoyed the early part of the course a lot. After short loop around the parking lot we were into the park and it was kind of cool to be running in an empty park (except a few employees and us runners) with the coasters towering overhead (some where even running empty) after exiting the park and going back past the start area (with a quick high five from Sam) we headed down the causeway and towards downtown Sandusky. It was along here that I encountered my first problem, My GPS wasn't synching up with the course in fact I was a good quarter mile behind which meant that while I thought I was running about 9:10 miles I was actually running close to 8:50. This meant that I was expending far more energy than I had planned on and I knew that it wasn't good I kept trying to adjust my pace but with out an accurate GPS it was hard. Now a lot of people might think it was boring to only be in the park for the 3 miles but I actually enjoy running in different areas and it was cool to see these parts of Sandusky, as I hit the half way point my body was really feeling the effects of my early pace and I hit the wall HARD. I normally will walk through water stops get my water down then immediately start running again but as I hit the water stop around half way I just couldn't get going and I took my first walk break. This really broke me mentally and its really hard to recover from it when you are out there all by yourself. I knew my hopes of a sub 2 where pretty much out the window with how I was feeling and probably any hopes of a new PR were gone as well. But I still had over 6 miles to go and no matter what I was going to finish. After walking for a bit I got going again although at a much slower pace I kept trying to get over the mental hurdle of hitting the wall but it was tough I would run for a bit but then my head would tell me I needed to walk and like a dope I would listen to it. After that I wound up taking short walk breaks about every mile and mile 10 to 11 where especially rough but it was then that I finally re-energized myself. I had a talk in my head basically telling myself that it was only 2 more miles and if I couldn't run it now I probably shouldn't be running at all. As we headed back down the causeway and toward the finish I wasn't feeling great but I knew I was going to finish and even if it wasn't going to be a new PR I should still make the best of it so I tried to kick hard into the finish, crossed that line and got my awesome new medal. I was exhausted in more ways than one and I grabbed some chocolate milk (my new favorite post race treat) found a hunk of side walk and sat down and tried my best to recover. Sam was very supportive even though I felt like I had failed she kept telling me that I still crossed the finish and that was something to be proud of.
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Not my best post run shot but still proud
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It took me awhile to get over how I felt post race. Even with the hiccup with my pace I should have been able to over come that had I trained properly. I knew where I had went wrong in training (not enough long runs) and I knew that I could overcome this result. It was a learning experience for sure and sometimes a result like this can do more for you than a positive one. I am really rearing to get back out there and improve on this race but I'll have to wait till August for that. In the meantime I get to run the worlds largest 10k with 60,000 of my closest friends....Peachtree Here I Come....
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| My Bling |
