Not to Make Excuses...

As you know, I had a race on Tuesday, May 20, to gauge the progress of my training. I will get to that in a moment. First I want to document my stats for the week leading up to the training.

Monday: 2 x 1200, 1 x 800, 1 x 400, 1 x 200, 6 x 100 strides (total of ~7 miles including warm up and warm down)
Tuesday: 6 miles
Wednesday: 4 x 200, 4 lactate sessions, 4 x 200, 4 x 100 strides (total of about 6 miles including warm up and warm down
Thursday: 7 miles including hills (learned on that run that my employee was most likely handing in her resignation)
Friday: 3 miles easy, stretch run
Saturday: Should have run 11 miles, but did not run at all
Sunday: Should have run 6 miles, but did not run at all

Then on Monday, I should have had an easy, stretch run since I did not do any leg strengthening distance over the weekend, but I did not. So, I let three days go by with nothing. Enter Tuesday. Let me preface this by saying that I have been absolutely swamped and I do not like to make excuses. Can you see where this is going already?

I ended up working late on Tuesday. That is fine, and admittedly, I already knew at the beginning of the day that I would end up working past 5-5:30. I just needed to be gone by 6:15 so that I could show up at the 7:00 race ready and warming up by 6:45. Naturally, I did not leave work until 6:30 - did I mention that it takes 20 minutes to get to the 7:00 race? To add to the stress of the evening, I decided to change in the car as I drove. During the drive, because I had no true red lights without another car pulling up right next to mine, I was brave enough to only change my shirt.

Knowing that I was already behind schedule when I approached the race site, I pulled in front of the bar where registration was occurring and temporarily parked in the most convenient parking space. I ran in and was told to go to the far back of the building to register. As I snaked my way through the traditionally tight New England hallways, I came upon a woman working the registration table. I have registered for many races and on that night, I was expecting it to be just as fluid and efficient as before. Instead, she preceded to explain all of the process to me. Apparently, I was racing in a series and needed to know the impact to the races that followed. So, after the short conversation that took me to 6:55 (for those with time deficiencies, the race was at 7:00), I ran out to my car to move it to an appropriate parking space - oh, I forgot to tell you something special about that "convenient parking space" (or was I avoiding it?)... I parked in a handicap space. Yes, you guessed it, I was getting a ticket when I ran out to the car. The officer was nice, but lectured me (and rightly so). I did not get the $300 ticket. Thank, the Lord.

I moved the car. I pulled around to the back of the bar which was supposed to be close to the race start. At this point, I would say the time was 6:58. Several runners were performing their warm-ups past the car and I still needed to change into my shorts. At the first sign of freedom from the would-be voyeurs, I quickly pulled on my running underwear and shorts (yes, you heard correctly - I was bu**-naked in the car). I jumped out of the car to run down the street, around the corner, around the next corner, and down the street to the starting line. I was running hard to get there so it is very difficult to call it a warm-up. Also, it was probably a little less than a 1/4 mile. I got to the back of the crowd and started to pin my number on. I was in the middle of the second pin, when the gun blew and I had not stretched. So, I started to trot, finishing the second pin and doing the third. I always use four pins and it was not until after I almost tripped to decide not to try the fourth pin.

I realized at this point that everyone was out in front of me and I needed to make up time. So, I ran hard estimating that I traversed the first mile in just under 6:00. Remember that I did not have the proper warm-up. I would also like to emphasize that I had to estimate distance. There were no mile markers. After running hard for the first mile, I could feel myself starting to slow down. I felt like I had been running for close to 3 miles, though I knew that could not be right when I asked another runner "how much further?" His reply, "just 1/2 mile". Great I thought, so I pushed harder. Well, it turns out that the 1/2 mile so generously declared, was at least 3/4 mile. As I approached the finish line, my legs would not go faster and I came across in a "blistering" 20:21.

Well, I have another race this weekend, Friday night. I am hoping that it is a better gauge of my efforts. Though just incase it does not go well, I should say up front that work kept me from running at all since last Tuesday's race until this morning.

I tried so desparately not to convey any excuses. I should tell you, though, that on Tuesday, I forgot to wear shoes.