You may not have read my last blog entitled Diet, Pickle Juice, Carb-Loading and Altitude, but within that blog, I detailed a few things that pertain to my last race in New Mexico and the weeks leading up to it.
I was really kind of hoping that I would have a good race. I was aware of the altitude and thought that I might feel the effects of 7000 ft, but hoped that the weight loss would make enough of a difference that I could overcome the altitude. Also, I really believed that it would not be a major issue considering the race was primarily downhill. I mean, seriously... 10.6 of the 13.1 miles were downhill. Would you not think this would make one run faster than normal?
I'll address the weight aspect here, in the beginning, then I will move into the race specifics... for those of you who don't care about the race. You can simply read this short part and then move on to FaceSnap or Snap 'o' gram or twittle dee or something.
I mentioned in the previous blog that Valerie and I made a concerted effort to conform to an eating plan and for me to actively, consciously lose some weight. As of yesterday, Sept 22, 2018 it has been 39 days since making a change in our dietary intake. We have now done the Prolon diet ( a 5-day fast-mimicking diet) twice and the longevity or wellness diet for 3 weeks. In that 39 days, I have gone from 214 pounds to 181 pounds. I am wearing a size 31 waisted pant, and that is only because I don't own anything smaller. I had to cinch up my size 31 jeans with my belt this morning to go to church.
As far as running goes, my last three days of running have all been sub-eight min. mile average runs. I have run 3ish miles each of the last three days and averaged about 7:40 per mile. One of those miles was 7:08. I mention that only to say that I feel good. I appear to be getting faster and do not seem to be having any ill-effects of too much weight-loss, too quickly. I intended to run home from church today, but when I went to change into my running clothes, I realized that I had forgotten my shorts. I do not mind running without my shirt, but it may be a bit much to run without my pants. (I am aware that a few of you actually run races this way, but do not expect to see that from me at any point). So, I won't run until later today... after lunch but before dinner. The next race is next weekend in Ocean City, NJ and I am hoping to have a good race with some nice weather and a fairly flat course.
Half Marathon #26. I went out by myself. I flew out early in the am on Friday from home. It was still dark out. There is a two hour time difference from EST to MST, so it was still fairly early when I got to Albuquerque. I rented a car in Albuquerque and drove to Santa Fe. On the way I decided to stop for something to eat. Fortunately I saw a restaurant on the side of the road and immediately thought "FLAP JACKS!!" I had been on a calorie restricted diet for several weeks at this point, so I had difficulty deciding what to order at the iHop. I seriously wanted to order the entire left side of the menu. I exercised a small amount of restraint and simply ordered eggs, bacon, hash-browns, and a stack of pancakes. It was so good, and I was pretending that it was all good for me. Then I got back on the road to Santa Fe.
Santa Fe seemed to consist of some mountains, some desert and some casinos. I did not see much else. When I booked the trip, there were not a lot of options around the runner pick-up area to bus the runners to the start, so I decided to stay at a Homewood Suites which was adjacent to the host hotel, which was affiliated with a casino. When I arrived at the hotel, it was still a bit early and my room was not ready, but I scoped out the exercise area in the hotel and noticed a treadmill. I was looking for a bathroom to change into my running clothes, thinking I could get my mile in on the treadmill while I waited, when they texted me and told me my room was ready now. It was literally less than 5 minutes after they told me it was not ready. I am assuming they were cleaning at the time he inquired?? Anyway, it was a nice apartment-style suite that I was not expecting. There were two rooms, two bathrooms, a living room and a kitchen. This was all $167 per night. Crazy. I did not need all that room, but it was nice any way. So, I checked in and went to the expo. The expo was down the road about two miles, and I am not certain what I was expecting, but it was a bit different than many of the expos that I have attended. 
There was a bib pick-up area and a T-shirt pick-up area and another tent and table set up to sell "running gear". Not pictured, there were a few tables set up to sell local arts and jewelry. I picked up my bib and shirt and went back to the hotel.I had my first "taste" of how the race would be by heading out on the property to get my mile in. It was a brutal mile. I had difficulty maintaining an 8:45 pace even for one mile. Maybe I was tired, maybe I was malnourished, maybe it was altitude, maybe I had eaten a bunch of iHop garbage, maybe my training was lacking, maybe it was a combination of things. Maybe I just wanted something to whine about on my blog. Either way, it was rough. I did not sweat, but it was still tough. At this point, I decided to go and get something for dinner and breakfast the next morning, race morning. I got some pickle juice of course, some pasta and some pancakes. No idea how that 7up cake got in my cart, but I did not want to embarrass myself by returning it, so I bought it too. It would also be rude not to eat it, so I ate the entire thing between the car ride back to the hotel, that evening, race morning and after the race. Just so no one found me rude. (I have a problem.)
Race morning I awoke at 3:00 or was it 3:30 am? Either way, I got up early. With the time difference, it was my normal wake-up time, so it was no big deal. I did not even use an alarm. I ate my Aunt Jemima pancakes and continued to hydrate. Lots of water.
Since I was next door to the host hotel, I was able to walk to the bus pick-up area. It was still dark again. I walked over, boarded a bus and ended up sitting next to a young man from Nashville who was running his first half-marathon. He had never run more than 6 miles, but decided he wanted to run a half. Seems like I have heard that story before.
The buses drove us to the starting area and dropped us off. It was about an hour prior to the race start. The race was scheduled to start at 7:30am. There was a mariachi band playing, but pretty much nothing else going on other than race day registration. I waited nervously trying to get and stay limber without exerting myself. The race start was a free-for-all start. There were no corrals, there were no pace markers, nothing. Just line up... wherever and GO. I made a conscious effort to place myself behind the fast runners and in the "slower start" section, but this was an impossibility. There were slow runners in the front and middle, side and back. There were fast starters scattered everywhere. It was mayhem. Before I nearly passed out, I was stepping on people and passing people and getting cut-off and cutting people off. I don't know if I exerted more energy because I was trying to avoid people or because it was uphill or because it was 7000 feet elevation. It was a difficult first mile, which BTW was run at a 10:37 pace. This included the stop and walk at about the half mile mark. Mile two was not better, but was "run" at a 10:45 pace. From there I went 8:04, 8:42, 8:49, until I settled into about a 9:05-9:10 average. Any faster than that I began to get winded and dizzy again. I did not stop after mile two, but was going pretty slow overall.
I made a little jump in this picture to give the impression that I was flying. This is all I could muster.The race was on a frontage road on either side of the highway and had very little in the way of scenery. Desert and mountains in the background and casinos. There were plenty of water stations and support, but very little in the way of entertainment. I noticed a few dancers and a couple two-man bands, but that was about all on the course. I do not remember if I mentioned it in the last blog post, but somehow I lost 3 miles along the way. It was all captured by my Garmin, but I lost track of them myself. When I finally decided to actually pay attention to which mile I was on, I was expecting to see mile 6 or 7, maybe 8, when it was actually mile 11. There were no mile markers on the course. No other way to tell how far you had gone. Oh well, I finished.
At the finish there was bananas and water and a fruit popsicle. The bananas had seen better days. The water was warm, but wet. The fruit popsicles were melting. Beyond the runners finish area was a series of arts and jewelry for sale again. I did not purchase any. I was tired, so I went back to my room to eat the remainder of my 7-up cake.
After a short rest and cake, I packed up and went to the airport to return home late Sunday evening.... more like early Monday morning, only to be at work seeing patients at 7:00am.
Hey... New Mexico is done. I am not certain that I would run this one again, but there is a distinct possibility that my difficulties were more due to factors that had nothing to do with the race.
As I mentioned, the next race is Sept 30 in Ocean City, NJ. It is the 50 states half marathon club annual meet up. Valerie will be accompanying me on this one and I am feeling very well at 181 pounds, so we will just have to see how much it affects me positively or negatively. Stay tuned.
That's awesome! Way to go! ��
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