Not a great race

There will be other races. Sunday was not a good one. I wasn't in the shape I thought I was in, and it was not ideal weather.

Getting to the race, bathrooms, and corral was fine (although RnR placed the port-a-potties right against the Mardi Gras viewing stands, which are basically bleachers, so there was no place to line up! Fail!). I squeezed into corral one, said hi to people I knew, tried to re-think my game plan. Saturday, I was convinced I had a 1:30:xx in me. In fact, I thought it might even be 1:30:30 or below. But the weather Sunday was worse than originally thought: in fact, Deena Kastor didn't start after seeing the forecast. Nevertheless, I really thought I could do 1:30:something, even if it was :59. But I overestimated my fitness.

Now, I don't know what's up with my Garmin, and hopefully it was just the very overcast weather, but it went nuts Sunday. It beeped a mile at 2/3rds of a mile! And then the pace went blank, and didn't return for miles. I ended the race with 13.42 on my Garmin and I KNOW I am not that bad at tangents. Sadly, this might be the beginning of the end for ol' Garmy.

The first few miles I think were fast: I am estimating 6:50 - 6:55 (my Garmin helpfully has miles one and two sub-6, lol!). There are mile markers and time on course, which is the only reason I have some idea. I didn't slow down because I thought I could run that pace.
I was hot. It was damp, humid, sticky, and gross. It was in the 70's early. But things were going ok until we got to the French Quarter. It was so humid that the roads had turned into an oil slick! You could see the oil sheen on the roads and I slid around like a crazy person. I know this was a problem for a lot of people: so many runners mentioned it to me after the race.

I took a gel during the race and it might have been a bad idea. It was a Roctane, and my stomach cramped right away. I've had that problem in the past with Roctane. That was when I started to slow down.

At one point in the race, we turned a corner and SPLAT! ran right into a wall of cold, wet air. The fog rolled off the river and we rolled into the fog! It was quite dense, and visibility wasn't great. Such strange weather! So humid!
I saw David and threw him my sunglasses - yeah, didn't need those - and finally finished the race. The last few miles felt hard for me, but I was actually slowing down. In my delusional Garmin-less state I thought I was speeding up....

Me throwing sunglasses and Gu at David

If I can believe my Garmin (I can't), I had a few miles right at 7:00 and two over 7: one when my stomach cramped right after the gel, and the other was mile 12. That is because I did a jello shot at mile 12. What?! I figured why not? I was already way off pace. (I did a bloody mary during Louisiana two weeks ago!). The Louisiana Running Company guys were out there and were pressuring me, so I took one - OMG it was so strong. Perhaps I need to stop blaming my Gu for my stomach cramps and start blaming green jello shots!

Is it me or is my foot turn-in a little better?  :) Yay for hip strengthening! 

I finished in 1:31:31, not even close to what I wanted, but it's a good lesson. I wasn't in condition to run faster. Yes, it was a tough day out there, but fit runners can overcome. There were some signs today that told me I was not as prepared as I should be: my feet hurt, and my stomach cramped. Cramping usually means I'm working too hard and losing too many electrolytes. So, I know what to do. Keep working, and keep stretching and rolling and strengthening so I can keep working!