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Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Next race: The Wall

Well, I did it. I signed up for another race. I couldn't stand sitting around all winter waiting for the Mardi Gras Marathon, which is a full 2 months after my most recent marathon, the pretty awful Thunder Road in Charlotte. So I signed up for The Wall, a 30k the last weekend in January. Much like last year, I signed up for this race while out of shape and sick, thinking it would be an incentive. I think last year this is the race that nearly killed me. I was extremely injured - like, every part of my body - and got a bad bacterial infection after. This might have been related to running 18+ miles in bitter cold wind in capris and layered cotton T-shirts, since I didn't own any cold weather running clothes last year.
This is a picture of the course last year AFTER THE FINISH. At the start it was darker, colder, and bleaker. And the bridge looked even more like a torture instrument.
Just seeing this picture from last year gives me knee pain.

Now, I've come a long way running since last year. For one thing, I have two working knees as opposed to one knee and one water balloon full of tiny daggers. For another, I bought running tights. Take that, cold weather! I also have a few more long runs under my belt, by which I mean I've done a couple of marathons. I don't really do that well on the long runs if they aren't a race... which is precisely why I'm running The Wall.


This year, I have a few goals for The Wall.
1. Stay with the pack. Last year a large group of runners started early, allowing the state championship competitors to start together. I started late and ended up stranded right in the middle between the fast people and the slow people. Zero wind protection and zero companionship.
2.Start strong. I had only one long run under my belt last year and wasn't sure how to pace myself; combined with the rough head-wind I started out extremely slowly.
3. No Wall at the The Wall. I thought there was course support last year (because the flyer said there was) but there was only water. Or I was so slow there was only water left when I got there. My blood sugar plummeted. This year I'll bring Gu!
4. Beat my time from last year. Hahahahahaha! If I don't beat last year's pathetic time of 2:55 it means I walked it.

What's your next race? Do you use races for long runs? Have you ever had a horrible, terrible running experience and then willingly chose to recreate it? Hee hee.

5 comments:

  1. Hopefully it will be better (or at least warmer) this year!

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  2. This year should be better. It does look very dark and dreary from that picture.

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  3. Sounds like a tough race. I mean "The Wall?" Really? LOL. Hope you get some nicer weather this year, that looks bleak! I'm signed up for tons of races. Time off freaks me out. And my terrible, horrible(st) running experience is the Bolder Boulder. One of the biggest 10K road races in the country. I hate the course, I hate all the people, I've never raced it well, yet I've done it the last three years. I keep promising to skip it this year, yet that weekend is still open my schedule. Sigh.

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  4. Skyline to the Sea in April - a trail marathon through redwoods! Come join us in California.

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