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| Sugarland City hall |
The race docs say to be there by 5:30 or risk not being able to get parked before the start. So naturally I got there at 5 am. Yep that was me, wondering around taking random pictures of the start and finish areas. By 5:30 I was back in my car and set a timer for 6 and fell back to sleep. Normally race morning has me keyed up that just plain relaxing wouldn't happen. When I woke I went out for a quick 1/2 mile warm up.
December is unseasonably warm this year. It was 58 with 93% humidity at start time, which itself was a good 30 minutes before sun up. Things only got worse as the morning went on.
I think I did pretty good for this being the first time I have "raced" at this longer distance. I stuck more or less to my plan. Hydration-wise I brought 1 bottle of ready to drink Tailwind, 1 bottle of Tailwind in concentrated form (2 scoops in a 8 oz bottle) so that I could mix on the course as I go, and 1 bottle of just plain water. The plain water I have found is a must when taking Gu's. And yes I know the theory of using the Tailwind is that you don't necessarily need the Gu's but that is not the case for me. I don't need to Gu nearly as often as I previously did. I use to need them every 4 miles but now I use them every 6. I was able to stick to that for this race.
In total I went thru 4 bottles (32 oz.) of Tailwind (5 if you count me absentmindedly chugging the last 2 oz of premix when I was cleaning out my FuelBelt), not sure how much water but I would bet a good 12 ounces, 2 Gu's and one honey packet.
Now as far as my race plan went, I didn't really have one, only to try and finish under 4 hours. The first mile was a little fast. The second mile I settled down keep pace behind a guy walking the course. By the time the sun came up I was a good
2-2 1/2 miles in when I began noticing GU packets. Just random full GU
packets on the ground. This became a theme that got me thru what was
coming ahead. I think I managed to pick up every other one I came
across. The 3rd mile as it came into the loops I had to remind myself to keep things settled, it is really easy for me to get hyped up and over-exert. By mile 4 I was were I wanted to be, nicely settled in easy going pace 13 m/m while running 3:1. The looped part of the course is marked miles 4-16. 2 miles up and 2
miles back for 3 loops. 3 not so dramatic loops. So the first loop I
spent time looking for GU's, I picked up 2 more and left 2 more.
The
second loop I spent looking for the Gu's I left the first loop, both
stomped on and squirted across the road in perfect run over ketchup
packet fashion. When I came around to my potty break somewhere between miles 6 and 7 the pace announcers had me at a 12:47 pace, perfect. I took my break and then started moving a bit quicker to catch up with my walker. I finally caught him around mile 9 and passed him at the water stop at mile 10 with another loop and a half to go.
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| Finisher shirt and medal |
The 3rd loop, well... the 3rd loop I spent reading road
and business signs. The race is held in First Colony so really I spent
the time dropping the "y" off of colony and seeing what the business
would be named then. The two best I came up with were "First Colon Eye
Care" and "First Colon Self Storage." Stupid and childish but the name of the game was keeping the mind busy at this point.
The hardest part of the race however, had to be once you finish the loops. You still have 2 1/2 miles to go to the finish but it feels like the finish should be right there. As I made my way to the finish the air temp began to heat up which made for miserable running. I spent the final mile or so running 1:1 but maintained a 12m/m pace.
I came across the finish line just as the clock ticked 4:00:01. That meant I made my 4 hours goal. My chip time came in at 3:58:53. I could not have been happier.
Up next:
21 miles of course. Longest run before taper is this coming Saturday. Can't wait!
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