Mer Lessons: A little Late, but full of glory!

I know its been a couple weeks, but I have a good excuse – after last weekend’s race in San Diego, I got home super late and simply did not have time all week to write this blog. So, you’ll have a couple of weeks of material to sort through as you read.

Skipping all of the pre-race workouts (and trust me there were a few runs and rides in there somewhere), Anne, Loretta, Amy and I agree to meet on Saturday (June 1) at 6:15am at Loretta’s house in Maricopa. For those of you who don’t know the topography of Arizona – Maricopa is en route to San Diego, so it only made sense for us to descend on Loretta’s home as our take-off spot.

Anne agree to allow us to take her car (its newer, roomier and has limited miles). I only agreed to this if Anne allowed me to drive, though. See, Anne drives a little like a grandma and, seriously, I just don’t think any of us wanted to “see” if we could make San Diego by sunset – so we agreed I would drive.

After leaving Maricopa on schedule, we proceeded to stop every 90 minutes so Loretta could pee. I think we all seriously considered removing any liquid beverage on her possession after the 2^nd request for a bathroom break. I actually wondered at one point whether Loretta was more like my brother than I thought and she simply loved checking out restrooms as we made our way across Arizona and into California. Turns out, she actually did have to pee – so that theory was shot. For all future trips we will be bringing 3-year-old-Sean’s porta-potty with us on the off chance there’s no appropriate rest stop. (I love you, Loretta! – bathroom stops and all.)

We landed in San Diego in record time and were able to check into our hotel early. After a filling lunch, the four of us made our way to the Expo to gather our bibs and race gear. Well, I guess 1:30pm the day before the race is a downright awful time to attend an expo because the four of us were miserable as we made our way through crowded vendor after crowded vendor. It was disappointing to say the least. Anne and I picked a fight with the Snuggbuds sales person, as we detailed our issues with their product. That turned out to be an expo-downer for all of us. Suffice it to say, Snuggbuds are the worst headphones for athletes. They come apart, the sound quality fails after a month of use and the sales team is obnoxious if you attempt to ask them about their faulty product. They should seriously fire whoever worked the San Diego Marathon expo – because our prior experiences with sales-guy-Steve were FAR better.

Outside the Expo: Loretta, Anne, Amy and Me

Snuggbuds aside, the four of us enjoyed each other’s company and decided to head back to the hotel for some rest before dinner. I won’t even go into dinner, save to say that it was one of the more interesting steak places I have ever been to. There was a trashy bachelorette party taking place at the table next to ours – which made for another fairly obnoxious outing. But after a quick table change – we managed to have a delightful experience and delicious food.

The next morning, the four of us agree to meet at 4:30am in the hotel lobby. The weather app on my phone said it was 61 degrees and cloudy. I stashed a sweatshirt in Loretta’s bag since she intended to check a bag at the race start – which turned out to be the best decision I had made the entire trip.

The four of us were anxious. Anne and Loretta had been pulling great times on their training runs, so they were really hoping for Personal Records in San Diego. I was merely hoping for another sub-2 and Amy was really hoping to finish without injury.

We meandered around the start for about an hour before we all headed to our respective corrals to listen for the National Anthem and the start of the race.

When the siren sounded, they released us one corral at a time. I was in corral 5 – so 4 minutes after the 1^st horn blew we were off in anticipation of a strong finish. You always go into races full of optimism and enthusiasm – sometimes it works, sometimes it fails, but you get after it each and every time.

At the 1 mile marker my watch read 8:46. I was on fire. I felt good and was excited for about another 3/10^ths of a mile when my right side developed a bit of a side stitch. Figuring it would go away if I slowed slightly, I ran through the pain. By the 2^nd mile marker, I had lost my pace substantially and saw 9:18 across the face of my watch. I knew I needed to bring things back down to a 9 minute mile to save my sub-2 pace, but by mile 3 the pain had only worsened. I ran with a side stitch for another 5 miles before finally deciding to take a mixture of Gatorade and Water to see if it might fix things. Strangely, it did, but the pain had left an ache I can only liken to arthritis. It was a throbbing ache – no longer a sharp pain in my side. As if, perhaps, the pain left a bruise from all of the heavy breathing. So, I simply took what my body would give me and I finished with a 2:08.

Some of you probably remember last year’s San Diego half where I had the flu and vomited my way to the finish line in 2:21 – at least this year there was no vomit. But, I have yet to feel good about a San Diego running race. I am not going to get mad about a 2:08, but it leaves me wanting to immediately sign up for next year’s race – seeking vindication, yet again.

As I made my way through the finisher’s chute, I checked my phone and could see the Anne had already passed the 10^th mile marker. I was excited. I knew if she kept it up she would finish in 2:24-2:25. Once again, though, while making my way through the chute, I began to shiver uncontrollably. I asked someone for one of the race’s mylar blankets, but was told that it was only for runners seeking medical attention. In AZ when its 80 degrees at the finish line, they are handed out like candy – in San Diego when its 60 degrees, cloudy and 90% humidity (so we’re all soaked to the bone), they’re only for the “truly” injured.

So, as my lips turned purple, I waited for everyone to finish the race. And, they did – one by one. Loretta finished and found me in the back of the chute shivering. She was excited – she finished in 2:20 – a Personal Record for her!

Then we both waited in anticipation for Anne. And, sure enough, about 10 minutes later we saw her smiling face make its way through the crowd of people – she’d done it. 2:25 on the race clock! Another Personal Record for Anne. I threatened her by telling her that if she didn’t hit 2:30, I would omit her from my blog, this week. Looks like she made it.

Now there were 3 of us shivering like mad wishing for a freakin’ mylar blanket. Loretta scurried off to get her bag while Anne and I waited, huddled together in an effort to warm each other up.

The highlight of the finish, though, was the headlining band – the Psychedelic Furs. Amy sent us a text letting us know she was dying on the course and would meet us back at the hotel, while Anne, Loretta and I went to the stadium for the concert. What a blast! They sang all my favorites and the camera man threw Anne and me up on the jumbo-tron at one point, as we sang and danced in our seats.

Click on it -- Richard Butler is RIGHT between our heads! And in case you don't remember who they are... see below.

The trip was a HUGE success – albeit cold. Anne and Loretta had amazing times; the Furs played an awesome post-race show and the 4 of us had a fantastic time. I don’t know that I have laughed that much in 48 hours -- ever.

I didn’t manage to put my blog together for that race because of our late arrival home, but I had some really nice workouts, this week, even though my body was in recovery mode.

Tuesday, I had a nice 4.5 mile run through my neighborhood.

Wednesday, I managed to push out some nice numbers on my bike on my tough hill route before work.

The headband marking is particularly apparent in this shot.

Thursday, we did our painfully hard trail run/hike up Telegraph Pass, down Kwanis Trail and back – that is NO easy feat. Not to mention, the temps this week in the Phoenix area hit over 110 several days in a row, so the mornings were far warmer than they had been.

Then, Friday, Matt had been interested in doing something he called “Tour de Ahwatukee”. This “Tour” would take us up and over the 5 hardest hills in the Foothills. I was up for it – I mean, why not?!

Hill #1 – Matt took handedly.

Hill #2 – I was on his tail, but again, Matt won.

Hill #3 – (our least favorite) I left Matt in the dust – enough so that I felt like he might not make the next two.

BUT….

Hill #4 – I thought I had it. We had passed a group of riders as if they were standing still in the first section of the hill. And, at one point I even said something crappy to Matt like “Um, you comin, or what?!” I lived to regret that, as he caught me near the top of the hill and maintained to the finish. I was soooo annoyed. It was mine… sigh.

Hill #5 – is the one we always compete for the most. It’s the longest of all of them. Often we feel/hear the other breathing down our necks if we take the lead, and that’s precisely what happened on Friday. I took the lead early and didn’t want to give it up. About 2/3s of the way up the hill, I turned back and could see Matt fighting to take over. I cranked harder in the steepest section and it paid off. I took hill #5 – and we bumped fists as we descended the long course down.

Naturally, Matt reminded me that he’d taken 3 of 5 hills, but with a smile, he also admitted that I took the two most difficult. I sang, “We are the champions” en route back to the Park ‘n Ride and we both felt really good about that ride. I hope he agrees to do it again, one of these mornings.

Saturday was an easy swim day. I have to maintain the ability to punch out 1500 meters for the Triathlon in September – and so I hit the pool and did exactly that. I’ll have to start my Masters Swim classes again, soon – as my times are not what they can and should be.

But, this morning was another great trail run through Pass Mountain. My weather app said “85 degrees” when I left the house, so I filled my Camelbak and accepted that my times would be slower. By 5:15am I was on the trail and enjoying the beauty of the Superstition Mountains. This particular trail is situated between so many beautiful mountains and hills. The sun hits sections in all the right ways – and it is a sight to be seen. I took a shot nearly at the top (about 1/3 of a mile to go from the summit) because it was simply stunning out. I knew my times would be rough – as I needed more water breaks than usual and my heart-rate was much higher than when its only 50 degrees out.