Bay to Bay came at the end of two hard training weeks. I was tired and a little burned out from the build. My head really wasn’t in the game. There was no intense race preparation. No pace goals. No meals planned to avoid GI distress. St. Patrick’s Day fell the night before the race so I went to bed late. I barely woke up an hour before Shawn arrived. My coach scheduled a 2.5 hour ride after the race which meant there was exactly enough time to make coffee and gather my riding supplies. Breakfast? What breakfast? Two cups of coffee were all I had. Shawn and I discussed our lack of motivation or any real plan during the drive over. She had run 12 miles the day before so finishing was her main objective. My plan was to run hard and walk the water stops. My pace would be whatever it would be. I wanted to average around 9-9:10 but, regardless of pace, the goal was to maintain high effort.
Mile 1- 8:36. Wow, 8:35 is my Boston Qualifying pace. Cool. Can’t imagine running this for another 25 miles but maybe one day. The first water stop didn’t show up until almost mile 2. I could have used water earlier.
Mile 2- 8:42 Still strong despite the slight climb as we leave the beach areas. I was able to find a few pace bunnies at this point. This is a smaller race. There was plenty of room on the road.
Mile 3- 8:55 Uh oh, that’s a big drop in pace. I might not be able to hold on.
Mile 4- 8:56 Eeek! At this point I caught a girl in pink shorts running with a guy who was obviously her pacer. She did not want me to pass her. She kept looking back to see where I was. Honestly, there was no competition here. They were running at a very challenging pace. I just wanted them as pace bunnies but they slowed down and I kept running.
Mile 5- 8:58 Who the hell ordered this headwind? Pink shorts passed me back when I walked through the water stop. Normally I’m competitive and would push myself to pull ahead but there was nothing more to give. No amount of challenge could change that. Maybe I could find a spot behind them that would give me a break from the wind. No such luck. There was a lot of chatter between them and slowly I pulled ahead, more from their slowing than my effort. At this point I attempted to calculate my overall pace but failed miserably.
Mile 6- 9:00 It feels like I’m dragging a cinder block behind me while running in molasses. Breakfast starts to heckle me, shouting curses for skipping such a simple meal. Maybe you could have brought a Gu, supergenious! Pink shorts and her pacer accelerated, purposely cutting me off as we were rounding a corner. They almost pushed me into the curb. Was that really necessary? Finish ahead of me. Have a great day but don’t trip me on your way to world domination, OK? My overall pace remains a mystery. It had steadily slowed with exposure to the headwind. Rather than push harder, I focused on relaxing my legs while increasing my turnover.
Mile 7- 8:44 Perfect! The idea of maintaining this effort for another half mile freaked me out so I babbled my mantra to myself as a distraction. I am fast, fluid, and relaxed. I am fast, fluid, and relaxed.
Mile 7.46- 3:58 I am fast, fluid, and relaxed and it feels like someone painted superglue on the road. It should not be this hard to pick my feet up. The head wind whipped across the open bay as we ran out onto the pier. Just don't slow down.
Finally I crossed the finish line, looking down to make sure I didn’t trip on the timing mat. My legs were that tired. I walked down the pier to cheer in the runners until Shawn’s arrival. The wind made it feel chilly but the wait was not long. Shawn finished strong. We immediately headed upstairs to the post-race party. We saw people feeding their entire family ahead of us only to have the food run out by the time we reached the table. No good stuff for us, just stale bagels and donuts. After a quick bite, we walked the half mile down the pier to the shuttle buses back to the start. Then it was a quick walk to Shawn’s car which doubled as my changing room while I prepped for my ride. Boy, were my legs stiff. The idea of the long ride home was not pleasant. But that was the plan. If Shawn had not agreed to pick me up and transport the bike, I would have had to take the bus back, drive my car back to the house, then prepare for a 2 hour ride with my husband lounging around eating breakfast. All after a PR effort run. My willpower is not that strong. Many thanks to Shawn for helping me finish up the day. In the end I only rode an hour back to my house but that’s all I had.
Official Chip Time 1:05:52
This week is a recovery week. It’s nice to sleep in.
