Well it was a humid one last Sunday at first I didn't think it was going to affect me much. However as the race progressed I felt myself slowly being drained of energy, even moreso than usual. When I stepped into corral 1 I saw one pace group but soonafter another pace leader stepped in saying that he was going to run the race at a variable pace according to the terrain of the course whereas the other guy was just going to run a straight 7:15 pace throughout the entire race. For the first 14-15 miles I was just a little bit behind the pace group but I felt myself petering out quite early due to the humidity and heat. I can run in heat but not so much in humidity, so I slowly began to slow down. I stopped for a bit at around mile 21 because I was overheated. Around when I started to lose the pace group I started reassessing my goals and I just wanted to PR, but that went out the window when I felt these weird chest pains a little after mile 22. I had no idea what was going on so I reluctantly stopped in a medical tent. After a few minutes the doctor said I was having muscle cramps in my chest. He then proceded to poke my chest in all the places it hurt. Lovely. I was stuck in the medical tent for about 10 minutes. I was laid out for a bit, then I stood up and a volunteer gave me a chest massage. Not long after the doctor gave me the go ahead to start running again. He said start off slow and work my way into it. At this point I just wanted to finish the race, so as soon as I was out of sight of the medical tent I took off.

It's really hard to start running again after you've barely moved for 10 minutes. My leg muscles had started to seize up, so I was sort of run-hobbling. I did manage however to run all the last few miles despite the cramping and pain and finish in a little under 3:36. Strangely I wasn't really disappointed in my performance because I felt great after the race. After Cal in December I was a wreck, after RNR I felt like I could go a few more. So I made the rounds in the finishing area and wound up at the TNT tent. I was there for about a half-hour or so stretching and socializing when I went back out to run my girlfriend into the finish. I made it, very slowly, to where the last band was playing waited and cheered. About an hour later my girlfriend showed up with her mentor and I joined them to the last quarter mile to the finish. A little bit after starting up again my entire chest seized up. I don't think I've ever felt a pain quite like that before, but I kept on running trying to keep up with my girlfriend who was speeding up with the finish near. After I ran her in, we again made our way back to the TNT tent where we all relaxed out in the sun.

I felt oddly happy about this run even though I didn't PR or qualify for anything. I'm in really good shape, so I might try and give San Francisco a try. Hills I can handle just not the humidity.

This entry was posted on 6.09.2006 at 14:22. You can skip to the end and leave a response.