Race Day Part 4 - The Run
Jul 19, 07:16 PM
After getting off the bike, I was glad to get a chance to walk and run a bit and get my legs moving in a little bit different direction. I mainly was looking forward to walking since pushing up the hills was such a rough time. So I got off the bike and got on my sneakers and walked out of the transition area. It was weird having people packing up and hanging around while I was still technically racing, but I got out of there and tried to keep moving.
I quick-walked down to the lake and headed out on the run course. I passed a lot of people who were finishing up their run so I felt like I wasn’t doing too bad at first. Getting around the lake took a while, it’s just over 1 mile around to the next leg north on the bike path, so I had to walk a few times. Early on I had to walk quite a bit because my body needed to recuperate from the bike. As my heart rate came down and I felt better, I tried running more. It wasn’t really running, since I was going pretty slow, but my general time in training had been around a 12 min mile, so that was my goal.
It seemed like in no time I got to the 5k turnaround. Sweet! That means I’m already halfway to my turnaround! Well, that 2nd half of the first leg out was a lot longer than I expected. It seemed to go on and on and on! Every turn I expected to find the turnaround, and it still was further. I passed a watering station where I figured it was getting close to the end of the leg, but I think the station was around the halfway mark out after the 5k turnaround.
A little bit before the 10k turnaround my left leg started cramping right above my knee. It started off pretty minimal, but then kept getting worse and worse. I stopped and tried to massage it, but it wasn’t doing much. Thankfully, a guy going the other direction saw my plight and gave me some gel that got rid of the pain pretty quick and easy. I put it on and within a minute I could feel the difference, after a couple minutes I was able to run again.
After turning around I started feeling a bit better since I knew I was on the final leg. Of course, that didn’t make the distance any shorter! I checked my watch after 4 mi and I was at 48 min, right on my 12 min mile average! When I got to the feeding station again, they offered me water and Gatorade. I wasn’t sure which to take so I took both. I had been drinking a lot of Gatorade up to that point, probably quite a bit more than water, and I think that’s part of why I ended up cramping during the run. So as I had been going farther, I took more water than Gatorade.
Finally I got to the bridge that we would cross over the Olentangy River which meant that the 5k turnaround would be up just a bit farther! Of course, when I got to where I thought the marker would be, it was gone because they had already gotten all the 5k runners in and were starting to pack up. I got a bit farther, almost to the lake, and I saw my Dad coming the other direction on the path. Apparently they were getting worried that something had happened to me since it had been so long.
I turned to go around the lake and the final bit before finishing and I could hear the announcer on the PA system handing out the awards for the Spring distance. I was a little annoyed because I was still out on the course and they were already giving out awards…of course there was no chance I was going to get any awards because of how far back I was, but I still felt kinda down about it.
I kept up my run/walk alternations until the final turn towards the finish. I checked my watch and looked at the total time. I had hoped to finish in 3.5 hours and I still had a couple minutes to go before I went over. I pushed harder and kept running until finally I got to the finish and crossed the line.
Goal 3: run completed in 1 hour 17 min…actual time: 1hr 14min
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