Sunday, July 31, 2011

Race Report: What the...???

On the agenda for this edition:
1. What just happened?
2. How do I feel about this?
3. This whole "I'm on the edge" song really really really makes me unhappy.
4. Carl Kinney wants to be in my blog.
5. Oh, so you're running Leadville?

1. So. Yeah. What? I really have no clue what to say about this race. It was the E-Race Loneliness 10k benefitting Bessie's Hope and I'm friends with a lady involved with the charity. She asked for my help in getting more people to attend their race and for suggestions on how to make it better. I had some ideas and it looks like attendence was up this year and they had a lot of sponsors and donations. Good! But. Several things that I didn't even think of went a little awry... The conformation sheet that I got said the race started at 7:00. I got there at 6:30 and not a whole lot was going on. Tables weren't really set up. There was no start line. They didn't have the bibs. There were no other runners. I asked just to make sure of the start time and a lady confirmed 7:00. 7:10 rolled around and a few more runners trickled in. I saw a friend and asked him what time he thought the race started. He said 8:00. Hmmm. 8:00? Why did my sheet say 7??

Not a huge deal. So I woke up an hour earlier. So I needed to go warm up again. No biggie. What kind of WAS a big deal? When the lead bikes made a wrong turn within the first quarter mile. And then another wrong turn two miles later. The second wrong turn resulted in pretty much everyone out front scattering in different directions. I ended up turning up a hill, meeting up with a few guys ahead of me, stopping, joining the small chorus of "what the f's", jogging through the grass and maybe or maybe not getting on the right course. The course was twice around a 5k loop. But since we didn't go the right way the first time (and at this point I had absolutely no idea where the lead bikes were) we didn't know which way to go the second time. People were all over the place going in every direction and after the second mile I was having a really hard time staying motivated to reach my time goal. So I more or less jogged in the last few miles. Including the chaos, wrong turns, complete stops and a 10k course that could have been anywhere between 5 and 7 miles, I managed to snag the win in 38:24. But let's be honest, I ran faster than that at run club.

2. Well. I'm irritated with myself for not pushing for my 37:12 goal. I think it would be very attainable at this point and I'm bummed I lost that motivation (but you can see how that happened, right??). After that little rant one might think that I'm annoyed about the race but I'm actually totally not. Despite all the logistical mishaps (oh, and after the race the lead bike ladies were like "I guess we should've gone through the course once before the race"... hi okay? Yeah I think that would be a good idea), or maybe because of them, it turned out to be really fun. The race staff was SO super friendly and funny so no way can I be upset. I also feel pretty happy that Runner's Roost dominated that! My teammate Marc LeBlanc took the men's win even after going so far off course he ended up way behind me at one point and had to play catch up.

3. Has anyone heard this song where some woman is wailing "I'M ON THE EDGE! OF GLORY!"? What is that? It sounds like a Meatloaf-Lady Gaga-Tina Turner collaboration where something went horribly wrong but someone in the music industry with awful taste decided he or she liked it enough for it to be a radio single. I want to cry when I hear it.

4. Carl Kinney wants to be in my blog. So much so that he tried to push me into the Boulder Creek during our run on Thursday to get involved in a gossip-worthy bodily assault. Couldn't he have just asked? I mean... I don't want to be in physical danger or anything. Especially while in Boulder. You know how I feel about that. Ha ha :) Okay Carl here ya go. And a big congrats on an awesome race at the Freeman Myer Corporate 5k Challenge!

5. I have a kind of ridiculous amount of friends running Leadville this year. And while I think it's awesome that you all are going after a huge and amazing adventure, I'm just gonna go ahead and say you're all batshit crazy. Do you know how far 100 miles is? IT'S ONE HUNDRED MILES. Um, have... fun? Or something? Ahhhhh you guys! Crazypants people. But good luck. You're getting close and I hope you're all ready and healthy and please don't fall.

4 comments:

  1. I hate when they mess up race courses. It sucks to run farther than you thought you were going to because your pace is different for a longer race. or vise versa.
    100 miles is crazy far, not sure how people do that. Although I used to say that about people who ran marathons and now I do.

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  2. Go pace or watch LT100 this year and you too will drink the Kool-Aid.

    I thought it was the dumbest thing in the world till I hauled a buddy through miles 75-90 in the dead of the night last fall. Now, I can't wait to give it a shot. Words can't describe it.

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  3. That sounds like a crazy race Heather!! My last race I was in before injury was kinda like that. The getting turned the wrong direction part that is. I was in fifth place the entire way until I got turned the wrong way due to poor course signage. Despite that I was able to still pick off some people for 7th place and a 30 second PR. Nice work on the race despite the craziness woman!!! Nice mental toughness despite that late race mental check-out.

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  4. Wow Back to the Races
    I checked the BessiesHope.com Website and also saw the official flyer - both said 7am check-in 8am race starts. The website is probably the best place to get all the information these days.
    It's such a worthy cause!
    I think they really could use your expert help to make the NEXT RUN, A RUN TO WIN!!

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