Little River 10 miler (a little late)

I am not in shape and wasn't ready to run this race.  But I figured I suffered through 14 miles and much blood and blisters to get through Run at the Rock, might as well do this. Plus I was racing for FS Series and there were only 4 of us, so I had to run and finish. SO I tried to get up for this race, here is the extent of my motivation when the alarm clock went off.

So after crawling out of my slumber, I tripped down the stairs and downed what mountain dew I had left in the fridge. (Which just happened to be a 2 litter minus one glass). After that and a PB&J Bagel, I was ready to go, or Dave had showed up to pick me up, one of the two. Once we got there, I decided I needed a good warm up, so I cranked the seat heater up as high as it would go and sat in the car. After I was good and warmed up, it was time for the cool down, so I walked from the car to pickup my number. Cool down was a success. After 20 more minutes of debating, Dave and I went for a run in the woods to preview the first part of the race. For some reason my head still wasn't in the race and I was not exactly sure what I needed to wear. So I put my racing shoes and gloves on and started walking to the line, then I remembered I needed to take my long pants off, put on my long sleeve shirt and race singlet, and head band. Ok now I am really ready. Off to the line, Ugghhh, I guess a number would be good for identification purposes when I pass out in the woods, back to the car. Ok now I am ready.... blister spot on heel hurts. Guess I need to find vaseline and band aid pretty quick. So I ran around asking all the race officials. Everyone seem to think everyone else had the first aid kit. Mental note, don't get injured here, no one has a first aid kit. Finally I found a band aid and made it to the starting line with 2 minutes to spare. Now for the strategy. Start slow? Fast? Medium? What about my limit, I know I am going to crash around 45-50 minutes. That is the extent of my endurance right now. So the gun goes off and I just start talking to Jason. We converse about how serious everyone else is, having fun because it is supposed to be fun, who is dumber a guy that starts out to fast or the dumb ass that knows a guy is starting to fast and follows him anyway (names and race omitted to protect identities. Although I will say in said race, I may have been the guy that started too fast). Next thing I know other than David Roche (super fast shirtless douchebag (ok, he is a nice guy I am just kidding), Jason and I are leading the rest of the pack. Not sure how that happened but I will roll with it. About 18 minutes in, Jason left me to go chase down a high school kid. I opted to stay back and try not to really bonk the last 3 miles. The next few miles are basically, turn right, turn left, right, left, yada yada, Still holding 4th place though so I am feeling good. I look down at my watch and I see what I already knew, danger zone. 44 minutes. On one of the switchbacks, I was trying to see if I could see Dave and shout some support at him, and forgot a little detail like lifting my feet. So I took a face first slide. BUT, I tucked my head and rolled and in one graceful move, I was back on my feet without losing my position. At this point I feel like this guy.

But shortly after that I guess the other guys knew I was toast and one after the other I got the dreaded "on your left". And I dropped back to somewhere in the 7-9 range. Now all I can think about is getting to the finish, lift my feet and OUCH my heel hurts. It feels like the vaseline and band aid are not helping. Pre race I had decided that at 50 minutes, I would be in a 10 minute all out surge and hold on. That plan was out the window, the new plan was now. 1. Don't pass out 2. Don't walk. 3. Find a happy place, find a happy place. I finally cross the trail meaning I have about 3-4 minutes left. Yet I decide there is no reason to push it. Some guy goes by me and I wish him luck. When I pop out the woods and make the turn for home, there is one guy in front of me. Knowing that I have less than 60 seconds left, I put in a mini surge to over take him. To my surprise I cross the line in 1:12:28, which is actually a PR for this course for me. That means 3 straight years I have managed to not be in shape in January. You would think I would do something about that? But I had fun and got some exercise so it is all good. And team FS Series won the team competition so my efforts were not in vain! Oh yeah. After the race I felt like this guy.  But maybe that was because of all the people pointing at me and laughing? Hmmmmm