| It's always a treat to get to hang out blogger/runner friends in real life and oddly, it never seems weird. I guess once you've been through taper madness with a person, there is no greater intimacy! So Salty was in town visiting her sister and the two of them met me in the park for a 4-miler yesterday.. |  |
The first mile went by in 6:35 I think, so that was good. The heart rate monitor watch that I've been using can't do splits and my foggy memory fails me, but I know I felt very strong and consistent all the way through and was very pleased to end up with a 6:28 pace overall.
The biggest disappointment actually was that Salty got a stitch and had to stop for a bit to work that out just before the halfway point. I'd seen that I was catching up to her and was psyched for a moment, thinking that meant that I was picking up the pace without even any effort, but when I saw her grabbing at her side, I realized she must be hurting. She says she thought about just jogging across the park to the finish, but I never had any doubt that she'd either catch up to me after stretching or finish up right behind me.
I felt annoyed on her behalf, but she didn't seem overly fazed by the incident and when you think about it, it's still a pretty amazing thing just to be outdoors on a crisp, sunny winter morning and even with the inconvenience of a physiological hiccup, still be able to recover enough to run a 6:19 final mile.
And besides...there were pancakes and omelets to be consumed as the reward for our efforts!
Salty's sister was pleased with her run too, though it sounded like she pushed herself hard enough to make it feel like she was having an asthma attack at the end. There's something great about that though (as long as you don't actually go hypoxic and keel over) since then you know you didn't leave anything out there on the course and you're allowed to feel morally superior to all those weak mortals who jog though the course chatting away and treating it as a social occasion. Since of course, that's what the post-race diner binge is for.
Comments (7)
I found your blog again (I lost it for months). Hello, and sorry for being such an absent reader!
Posted by Yvonne | February 5, 2008 4:00 PM
Posted on February 5, 2008 16:00
Good job on the four miler...
And thanks for the encouragement....
Posted by Alejandro | February 5, 2008 5:46 PM
Posted on February 5, 2008 17:46
One time, I volunteered to work the finish line at the U of Alabama XC invitational. Before the race started, they handed each of us gloves that went up to our elbows--like we were doing dishes.
I was baffled, until I started trying to get the tags off the female runners as they finished. Hypoxic would've been preferable--at least to my shoes.
Posted by tuscaloosarunner | February 6, 2008 7:45 AM
Posted on February 6, 2008 07:45
A lot of my regular commenters when missing when I shut down the old blog and moved it over here, so no worries Yvonne. Besides, I thought you might just be boycotting all things running while you were dealing with your knee niggles!
And that's funny Joseph...Salty, her sister and I had a very similar conversation as she described her post-race condition...not an uncommon x-c experience!
Posted by chelle | February 6, 2008 12:30 PM
Posted on February 6, 2008 12:30
Salty, her sister and I had a very similar conversation as she described her post-race condition...not an uncommon x-c experience!
One thing I'll quickly add is I had a whole new level of appreciation of those athletes after that race. Those kids are willing to go to the well and really hurt. I know marathons hurt (at least I hear they do anyhwo), but the XC race is just a whole new world of hurt.
Posted by joseph wood | February 7, 2008 10:17 AM
Posted on February 7, 2008 10:17
Haha. Yeah, for some reason chicks seem to have a greater tendency to puke. And to be a little dramatic :)
And yeah, Chelle kicked some butt out there. Yay Chelle! Good luck in the half this weekend! Don't take it out too hard and sub 1:30 is yours and it will be much more fun when you're passing people like crazy over the last couple of miles. Can't wait to hear how it goes!
Posted by Salty | February 7, 2008 10:29 AM
Posted on February 7, 2008 10:29
Fun!
Posted by Josh | February 13, 2008 5:39 AM
Posted on February 13, 2008 05:39