Well, South Carolina is done. We drove, almost 8 hours to Kiawah Island, near Charleston... Valerie, Keeley, Noble, Levi and I. We had a nice drive. Traffic was not so bad. We skirted around Orlando by taking the toll road 417. We stopped somewhere in GA at a Cracker Barrel and had a nice lunch for a bit over an hour. It was carb day, so we all had some form of the dumplins. Boy are they good. We arrived at the Convention Center on the Island and I picked up my shirt and bib in no time flat. (It is an XL. I have to use it as a bed shirt. It is HUGE on me). Then drove to the Airbnb. It was off the island and because of all of the rivers and water, it was about 40 minutes away. Not so bad that day, but this morning we had to get up super early to drive back over to the race. The place was nice. Three bedrooms, one with bunk beds for the boys and a master bedroom for us and a room for Keeley. It was cute and clean and well kept. Perfect for what we needed.
I only wish it were closer, but all of the places on the island were all taken or they were $450 or more per night. This one was under $200. At 5:30am it only took us 35 min to get to the race parking lot. Not too bad.
I have decided that my stories about my problems running are probably getting boring, so I thought I would give a critique or review of each of the races (from my perspective of course) just in case any of you might be considering running that race. Maybe my experiences will give you some insight into that race and help you make a decision about whether or not to sign up for that one. Who knows, it might be helpful to someone. Something like that, and I'm certain it exists so take this for what it is worth, would be helpful for me as I try to schedule all of these races. For instance, I sure wish I knew it was going to be 33 F for this race. Who knew SC could get so cold. So, my next three posts will be about the last three races (the only three races I have run so far).
1. Cocoa Beach, FL "I Dream of Jeannie."
2. Tulsa, OK "Route 66."
3. Kiawah Island, SC "Kiawah Island Golf Resort."
I will give details about each of these races (from my perspective) for your viewing pleasure.
Valerie and the kids had a nice breakfast at "The Market" after the start of the race. Pretty inexpensive and they say the food was very good. Eggs, hot chocolate, hash browns, and some other stuff... I quit listening since I did not get to enjoy any of it. They were happy.
I was able to see them at mile 9. I stopped and gave hugs and kisses before forging on. It was a welcomed break. I almost wish they were at several spots along the way to give me an excuse to stop... er... take a break.
We also had a nice drive back from SC. The return trip only took 6:30 hours. We needed to get back to get Noble to the Christmas program at the church, so we were in a little bit of a time crunch. I did not even get to shower after the race, then sat in the car for 6:30 hours. I WAS STINKY. But we made it with plenty of time and had several fun laughs and talks and games just like the trip over. These are good memories that we can talk about for a long time.
Those were the positives.
The negatives were, primarily the cold. It was 33 F... from the start to the finish. I knew it was gonna be cold. The forecast suggested 38 for the low and 52 for the high, so I figured it would be chilly at the start, I would warm up and then it would be in the fifties... not too bad. Well, it was 33 degree and 33 degrees. And it was a frigid 33 degrees. You know how sometimes 32 is nice and comfortable and other times 40 is super cold, bone chilling? That's how it was with this one. I had a cheap, zip-up jacket and an over jacket. I shed the over jacket before the start and wore the zip-up jacket until mile 5 or so. I was happy to have it if for nothing other than pockets to keep my hands from freezing off. Yes, I ran with my hands in my pockets. After mile 3 I started struggling. My nose was all congested and I could not breathe through it, so I was mouth breathing. No big deal except it was so cold my lungs started to hurt. My breathing became very labored, so I slowed considerably. At mile 5 I shed my jacket, thinking I was over heating. I watched the 1:45 pacer pass me. I could not keep up with her at that point. That hurt a little. I quickly discovered that my laboring was not due to overheating as I was now freezing. My thumbs were numb and my nose was cold and had that one drop of sweat/snot/spit on it that would not come off. My ears were stinging. I had to walk. After just a short time, I caught my wind and felt good again. The 1:50 pacer passed me. That hurt a little more. I walked a little more. My split times rapidly moved from 7min something to 8 minutes something to 9 minute miles. Somewhere in there the 2:00 hour pacer passed me. That was down right painful. I never caught her. I was 25 minutes behind my goal. Ugh....
I know it is not likely (well, now impossible) to PR every race, but 25 minutes off my average race time? That is tough to swallow. It was a tough race (for me). My chest still hurts and I am struggling to take a deep breath and it is almost 12 hours after I finished. I am not injured or anything. I do not have asthma or COPD or anything... at least then I would have some legitimate excuse... I was simply not prepared to race in those conditions. My cardio is not sufficient... yet. I did not train well enough. Probably didn't eat properly -- although I was hydrated, but probably too many iced teas. I bet they are full of caffeine and I can imagine that did not help. Live, learn, move on. There was a dentist who lectured quite a bit before passing that was somewhat famous for reminding his dentist audience what to say when they had a difficult patient/procedure or some other difficulty. He would remind them the best thing to say after something like that was, "NEXT!"
Tempe, AZ -- NEXT!
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