I thought I would / should start keeping this maybe a bit more up to date if for no other reason than to keep me sane?
So after my failure at Run Rabbit Run because my lack of willpower! I could have and should have finished that. The more I think about it the more I realize I should have finished.
Rio Del Lago 2016 Edition
My training going into this had been lackluster at best, I think the highest milage I got in between RRR and RDL was 26 mile week? I would have to go look it up. This new job blah blah blah excuse excuse excuse... I have excuses but they all mean nothing (David and Megan Roche on Time Management. If I really want to make this a hobby worth pursuing then I need to put in the time my friends (John's Blog for example) do!
So a few weeks before race day I notice that Amy is looking for pacers I thought her hubby would pace her, but with their son maybe they couldn't get time away. After she found a few volunteers, she messaged me and said John was all mine. I had already turned down David to pace me because I didn't want to waste anybody's time.
I told John thanks and I would take his help but I turned very schizophrenic about this as the race day got closer and my training waned. I told him about 2 weeks before not to bother it would be a waste of his time. He said he was going to go and he would have his running shoes if I needed...
This is a fairly flat not super technical course.
Let's fast forward to race morning - I am actually feeling ok I knew this was going to just be a slow sufferfest, so I was resigned to that.
The start of RDL is 18 / 19 miles of flatish bike trail. I went slow and tried to stay slow. I did finish that section a bit faster than I should have in retrospect and that might have been my downfall. I hadn't been training with any longer runs and my body was going to rebel.
I go through Beal's point (the start / finish) and head out to finally hit some trails, fireroad at first then some single track and the dreaded "meat grinder". I was still feeling ok, but something was off. At about mile 30+ I text John and tell him I need him. He said ok of course! I will get back to him later, but let me just give you the short version - without him I would never have finished, period and end of story!
Went through the meat grinder and some other parts - got scared to death by a photographer.
At about mile 40 with about 5 more miles to get to Overlook and see John I tell him I am quitting and that I just want a beer.
I also hear from my sister and tell her the same thing. She said to wait and just give it to the next aid station - in my mind I said no :)
I am tired and I haven't pee'd in the past 40 miles while taking in a lot of fluid and some salt. I think my body just didn't know what was going on since I have been a lazy f#$.
Of course I am f'ing tired but the pee'ing problem was going to be bad later.
Long story long I get to the next mini aid station before a 2 mile climb (easy climb though). I am still pissed off tired and not feeling great.
I get into Overlook and I don't see John, the aid station worker gets my drop bag with head lamp and heavier jacket. I get some food and start packing my stuff as an automatic response. I finally try to look for john then pull out my phone and text him.
We finally find each other and then I start heading out. He asked me if I was serious about the beer and I told him yes so he runs back and gets it when I start telling him my woes before it dawns on me I didn't quit and we made it out of the aid station.
He won't let me drink the whole beer, I am sad and still not pee'ing. I was moving ok up to No Hands Bridge, this is when John said something flipped I stopped moving as well (could have been the big f'ing hill that we had to climb out :) )
We travel along and at one point I stop to try and pee and my right calf cramps up so bad it is a knot, John tries to massage it out and move my foot! I was yelling so bad that someone came back to see if John was trying to kill me :) (I think he was). From this point on I am moving slower and slower (20+ minute miles), I am not going to finish :( I am getting a bit dizzy on the trail and John is keeping me on the trail. People are passing me left and right. One happens to be a DR, so John does a quick consult around my headache, lack of urination, cramping, and dizziness. To me I am finished at the next aid station. Especially since it is 8+ miles to the next aid station after this.
We finally get into that aid station, John talks to the medic, I don't remember much, just eating a lot of broth and grilled cheese. I took some of Melanie's pain medication that I had with me, since the medic said it couldn't hurt. We just left the aid station. All this time I feel extremely bad for John since this isn't a pacer duty he is used to, he is very fast and his friends are very fast. :(
After about 5 to 10 minutes out of that aid station, I started running (that might be a bit much but to me I felt like I was flying). I was actually moving through the course and we made up a lot of time over the next 3 or 4 hours.
It all came crashing down around Overlook, I was still moving but pain medication was wearing off. I continued to move ok and we were able to get through the last few aid stations. John kept me moving I passed someone twice my age I think as my last big push ;)
Above is the race analysis you can kind of see what I had described.
I finished. I was happy and sad but this was the race I deserved. Actually a lot more than I deserved. I wouldn't have finished if John wasn't taking care of me for over half that race!
Amy got third place woman! And finished 6+ hours ahead of me :) She is amazing, this is coming off of a long term injury! She is awesome!
I now have my Western States Qualifier. 3 years now so that should be 15% chance or so maybe a little lower.
That is it, just a free flow of words, I am not going to go back to edit grammar and make it more interesting.
*Addition - I can't stress enough how helpful John was - especially when I remember that I had originally waved him off pacing me. I know he had his shoes in his car, but I don't think he was completely ready to pull an all nighter with me.
This was to qualify for WS100, but now I feel I have to go back and do it again because I know if I actually train for this I can do it sub-24 I have to believe that.
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