Sunday, June 03, 2007

The race report I wish I never had to write

To make a long story short, I ran a 5K race yesterday. In a Cliff 's note version, I sucked sucked sucked! I contemplated just not writing anything about it and pretend it never happened, but we can't always have good days, right?

Okay, now that's out in the open, here's the long version.

Two weeks before the race, I haven't really ran as much as I wanted to due to some issues with my knees. My knees were not exactly hurting, but kind of sore and wonky. I took it easy the week after by just running in a relaxed fashion. I did not do any speed work to give my knees a break, although I got two 6+ miles run in the week of the race.

The morning of the race, I knew I was outside my comfort zone. It was super HOT and HUMID!!! I have never ran in this type of weather before! I usually run first thing in the morning, usually before most people wake up, so it's still pretty cool. I also felt thirsty all morning! I drank a lot, but not too much that it would make me want to pee during the race. Perhaps I should have drunk more?

So I got to the race, did my thing, lined up, then we were off!

I'm not too familiar with the course since this is the first time I'm doing the race and the organizers never published the course map, but it turned out to be a hilly course. Which is fine under normal circumstances since my normal running routes are typically hilly. However, the heat and humidity really got to me. It felt like the sun was beating on me throughout the race and it was hard to breathe with the humidity. I ended up walking to the two water stations, plus (I'm ashamed to say) other walking breaks.

To top it all off, my shins were burning on and off for the first two miles. I thought to myself Are you kidding me? I haven't had shin splints in months!!!! There were also instances where I felt sick & nauseous.

I have never been so happy to see the finish line! As I neared it, I dug deep and tried to find some strength to finish strong. Surprisingly, I did and I sprinted to the end.

I don't know what my official time is, but my Garmin said it's 30:59. However, the course is not certified and it is actually 3.2 miles. I hit the 3.1 mile marker at around 30:17. Still a disappointment since I wanted to beat my PR of 28:50.

I stayed behind for a little bit to partake in the post-race festivities. Since this race is to raise money for arthritis, they had this drink called "Joint Juice" which I happily tried.

I didn't stay long since I didn't know anybody there. I went home and suffered the worst migraine! My knees were kind of sore and I admit that it was totally my fault. I should have worn my knee straps, but I didn't want to get a tan line of the knee straps on my legs. Yeah, really stupid!

I was so depressed about the race that I pigged out throughout the day! I never realized I could be an emotional eater!

So that was yesterday. Today, I feel a lot better. I iced & elevated my knees last night and today they felt a lot better. Also, no shin splints! I was so pissed at yesterday's performance, I ran 6.25 miles today on the TM, which helped me feel better. I wore my knee straps during the run and so far so good!

So here's the plan...I will continue to do leg exercises to strengthen my knees. In the meantime, I'll be wearing my knee straps during my runs until I build up enough strength in my knees. I will also try to get used to running in the heat - I have 3 more 5Ks planned for this month alone, so there will be plenty of opportunities for that!

Isn't it funny? I've always considered myself a cold weather wimp. Well, it turned out that I'm a hot weather wimp as well! LOL.

As for the eating, well chalk it up to one day of madness. I'm much better now. In fact, I just made my meals for the week. I made some turkey tacos and Rachel Ray's Spaghetti and Meatballs "Stoup" - BFLized of course (or as much as I can).

In retrospect, yesterday's race wasn't a complete disaster. I have to admit, I looked good in my outfit of running skirt & Nike tank top. ;-) Unfortunately, no pictures.

I guess another good thing is that I did not DNF. There were times that I definitely wanted to give up.

So that's it. Live and learn!

Oh, and I'm signed up for my first 1/2 marathon in September. I signed up early this week. No turning back now!

4 comments:

Pamela said...

No worries about the results darlin! be gentle on yourself will ya!
Take it easy on the poor bod hon .. give it a rest if it needs it!

Anonymous said...

You finished! And under duress. One more learning experience under your belt to help you rock that 1/2 marathon!

Congratulations

Irene said...

I look at it this way it's one more for the books and I'm sure you've taken away some valuable lessons from it! Still, your finish is respectable. Nice job!

ThirtyTen said...

Wow, you're my hero for even doing a race! i absolutely cannot stand to run in the heat. Let me rephrase that....I hate to run PERIOD. Way to go pushing through to the end! You deserved a day of pigging out!