Ocean Beach New London 11.6 miler - report

At mile 10 of the 11.6 mile race, my big dilemma was, do I run faster and gun for a PR or do I stay smart and stick to the master plan.  My heart was telling me to run faster and my head was saying, "the goal is the streak - stick to the plan".  Fortunately my hips and lower back were on the side of my head.  I am not sure that I could have PR ed if I wanted to anyway.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to do a report for this race or not.  I have now done it 4 times and missed last year because it was on my wedding day.  (I picked the day).  Anyway, this race was special because my surgeon's wife was running.  She works in the practice and knows more about the surgery than he does.  I can't say that I got her into running but I certainly got her jazzed up to run at Disney and that got her started.  I caught up to her about 30 seconds before the race and had a quick chat before she came over to look at my new son.   As she was looking the gun went off and we scurried over to cross the starting line.  She had a partner and was about 100 yards ahead of me at the first mile mark. 

Leading up to this race, I was hesitant because I was fairly under trained.  I had a 6.5 mile long run about 10 days before but with running every day, I felt like I had the strength to finish.  Having run a bunch of 1/2 and a few fulls gave me the confidence that I could fake it when I got tired.  At every mile marker, I would walk a minute.  My last mile repeat day was pretty good with three under 8 minutes.  My goal was to run about a 9 minute pace and the walking would increase it to 9:30 or 10 minutes.  The goal for the race was to finish healthy and continue toward my year long running streak. 

At the first mile I looked down at my watch and saw 8:50 which was a little fast.  It wasn't like looking down and knowing that I had blown the race though.  One of the real nice things this year was the discovery that many of my GI issues were egg related.  When I was offered water at the first stop, I gladly accepted.  As a matter of fact, I took water AND GATORADE at all stops.  Let me tell you how awesome it was to have some energy as the race went on.  I an usually crossing on fumes due to a lack of nutrition and hydration.

For the next few miles, I did my run/walk and would get within 50 yards of Debbie (my surgeon's wife) before falling back again with my walk break.  I went through the 5 mile mark at 46:30 which I was pleasantly surprised with.  The big question in my head was, could I keep it up as I approached my long run distance? 

Between miles 5 and 6 Debbie walked a bit and it looked like she was working something out with her leg.  I passed and kept on my way with a simple greeting.  A few minutes after I passed her, I really started to reflect on my entire weight loss journey.  As a matter of fact I got weepy.  It's right in the middle of the race and here I am with my eyes welling up while I make an occasional crying noise.  Anyway, it kind of came to me that she deserves one of my Goofy medals.  I earned one with hard work and months of dedication but without her there are no marathon medals, no new wife, no new son and no awesome life that I have found thanks to losing the 135 lbs that she was instrumental in.  It is a sad fact but nobody wants to hook up a 375 lb friend. 

After I got through that rough patch, I was entering waters that I had charted before but not in a while.  My hips were getting a bit sore and my groin was getting tight.  There is a hill in mile 8 that always makes me quit running.  Not just in the race but forever.  As the sun is pounding down and I get tired, I have questioned what the hell I am doing.  Not yesterday though.  I did walk a good portion of the hill but did not lose much time to others around me who was running slowly up the hill.  When I got to the top I kind of smiled and began to calculate that I only had about 2.5 to go.  Even with the walking, that mile took 10.57 which really raised my confidence.

There was one problem though.  My hips were really starting to act up.  They felt hot and tight.  The battle became, show myself how mentally tough I am by gunning for a PR or stay smart, keep the walk breaks which were now about every half mile and finish with a nice time without endangering my streak by injuring something.  Seeing the clock tick by was hard knowing that I had a chance to PR.  Luckily my hips really helped the situation.  I could not have gone much faster even if I wanted to.  

This race was really enjoyable partly due to the weather.  It was cool and by the ocean there was a very nice, cool breeze.  During the last mile, I really wanted to run more and faster but I could not have been happier with the entire race.  I knew that I was going to have a respectable finish and that I was going to be healthy tomorrow.  Even though, I had to keep telling myself, "the big picture is running tomorrow", I was able to run a race that I felt very content with.  In the final installment of the Rocky series, he leaves the ring having finally satisfied that deep urge to fight and compete.  That was kind of the feeling that I had as I approached the finish.  There was a girl next to me that I had seen for a lot of the race.  As we approached the line side by side I stepped back as she finished slightly ahead of me.  There was no desire to finish ahead of her, only a feeling of satisfaction for completing a race in a time that I had not deserved.  I did earn it though.

As I exited the chute at the fini****urned left and stopped.  My hips were on fire and my groin was more tight than I thought was possible.  I put my hands on my knees didn't move for a few minutes.  When my wife got there I used her for support as I stumbled over to the clam chowder and water.  Three bowls of chowder, two bottles of water and an hour of stretching later, we left.  I did see Debbie finish but she hightailed it to the parking lot and didn't see her after the race.  It is time to mount the Goofy medal and give it to the Valin's because they truly are the reason that my life is grand.  Like I said, I will keep one but one belongs to them.

I didn't proof read this because I am kind of sick of reading about myself so I hope this is an okay read.  I hope you enjoyed. 

Did I mention that the race is FREE!  This was the 48th running and hopefully, I will enjoy the next 48.

OK Scott.  You made me cry...

Congratulations on all that you've accomplished.  You sound truly happy with your new life, which is more satisfying than any PR.

Cassie