I raced this race last year
as part of my training for an early December marathon. I actually ran 4 miles before the race and 4
miles after the race, so my time wasn’t that fast. Last year the weather was perfect, 40-50
degrees, sunny, and no wind.
This year, I have started a
pre-Ironman training program and my longest run since February has been 7
miles. I was hoping for a PR just because
the course is flat and I was well rested, but I wasn’t going to be heartbroken it
didn’t happen. The weather was terrible;
it was hot, humid, and windy so I ditched my PR aspirations around mile 6. I didn’t take my own fluids and all I had was
a gel. There was a lack of water
stations between mile 3 and 7. I drank
water/powerade at every station, I even drank 2 cups at mile 7, but the last 2
miles my feet and calves started to cramp.
I couldn’t get up on my toes to accelerate so I finished with a kinda
shuffle run. I stayed in the finishing
area about 5 mins because my left foot was cramping. I drank water, chocolate milk, and some
Coca-Cola and I didn’t catch anymore cramps for the rest of the day.
I did run my second best time
ever! I ran a 1:51:05, that’s an average
of 8:28 min/mile. I placed 1st
in my age group out of 36 runners age 30-34.
I placed 53rd overall out or 440 runners. I’m very pleased with my performance, and I’ve
learned more about nutrition and fluid consumption in hot and humid
conditions. This knowledge will come in
handy during IM training.
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