Well, I beat the generous goal time I set. After a final week of mediocre training efforts at that. I think part of my was scared of hurting myself before the big race, and part of me was a little pooped. Could be why it’s taken me so many days just to log this.
Sooooo basically I took it easy. Now I am honestly a bit mad at myself. There are no excuses and who knows if not missing/ skipping 8/19 could’ve give me the extra edge to shave my time further.
I did at least enjoy my 8/21 run, at night through downtown Charlotte and near panthers stadium. The humidity wasn’t so bad and I was testing out a sweet new pair of racing kicks from my wonderfully awesome bf.
Friday was a work day even though I was traveling. One of the best parts of my job and company is the flexibility to visit our contractors and preform site visits. After a short drive to Danville Virginia my dad and I made it to Virginia international raceway!
The drive was about 2.5 hours each way and I drove the entire route. Needless to say by Friday evening my right knee was worrying me. Since the big day was tomorrow my training partner and bestie Nikki opted for a night at the ballpark instead of a night on the town which was good fun. We just had to pick up our racing packets and figure out dinner….
And the humidity really sank in. I was sweating like we were in Florida! Def began to get more worried. We decided to leave the game early for a carb loading sesh at Harris teeter.
And a great knee icing opp.
Saturday morning came all too quickly. We woke up at 5:55 am because it sounded like a good number and then I proceeded to drive Nikki insane for the next hour. We had so much to do! I mean, we had to hydrate, fuel, energize. And figure out coordinating race separates. Needless to say we managed.
And by the time we made it to the start line much to my dismay the humidity was at 91%. This literally crushed everything I had planned for. I am very much so used to this, I live and train in the jungles that are Orlando Florida, however I have not run a distance further then 4.2 miles at once because of this reason. Welp, I sucked it up. We took a before race pic and then we were off!
And I felt good. Don’t get me wrong I probably lost 4 pounds of sweat, my Charlie horse from the prior night was kicking in and my knee felt like it was going to pop through my leg… But I felt good. And all I wanted to do was keep the girl in the Europa shirt in sight, so I could pass her at the final quarter mile and that’s exactly what I did.
Nikki stuck with me the whole way, but in the last seconds as I was struggling not to vomit I told her it was ok to leave me. We both crossed within 3 milliseconds of one another and we beat Europa tank top girl. Where ever you are, thanks girl! And after I was done spitting up and keeping the projectile vomit from ruining the day of innocent bystanders some of my greatest friends popped up to support.
Obviously the event was a success. And then I remembered we had a 10am brunch reservation with unlimited mimosas and crab legs.
Who doesn’t love a great brunch? Anyway. Obviously we needed to kill time and wait for official results so, we knew just what to do….
And after seeing that I was under 1:05 in real life I was pretty pleased!!! So before my flight I went to the one place I knew I could celebrate in style.
Yes. Guilty as charged. But pleased. Allowing some mild recovery time the last few days and ran a quick mile last night with some weight training. No plan this week, just doing what feels right and enjoying some downtime.
The temptation to hunt down another 10k before our proof of time is due for Disney in December is so strong! We shall see!
Until next time…
runskyrun 