Nickerson 4 Miler Recap

Drama, drama! 

I got very little sleep last night, but that's ok! I did better than I thought I would today at the Nickerson Beach 4 Miler. It was 29 degrees when I left the house in fog, but 42 degrees with a stiff east wind by the time the gun went off. I started both gadgets about 10 seconds or so after the gun, I was waiting to step over a mat at the start line which I must have missed, or it wasn't there. I never remember what the correct method of timing myself against the race clock is.

Anyway, brr. It was cold, we started with a headwind, and finished with one. I had missed the start of a confrontation between a woman driving an SUV and a cop, it looked like she was trying to cut the line of runners. Before I even knew there was a problem, a guy behind me was saying, 'oh my god'.. 'oh shit'.. 'really?'. He had headphones on, so I just thought he was on the phone. It wasn't until I got closer (he was 2 times my height) that I realized and HEARD what was happening. She was all up in that cop's face. Oh yes, and screaming obscenities as well. We had to squeeze a bit between her pulled over vehicle, but I could not wait to get out of there fast enough. Very uncomfortable to hear all that.

Then, on the way back, a cop was standing next to a woman who said, "I just can't believe that I fell!".. she was wiping her nose, almost as if she had fallen on it, but she seemed coherent and ok. As I passed her I saw the emergency vehicle headed toward her. I can understand how she might have fallen. There was a lot of sand on the roads, especially in the residential area we ran. I did a lot of hopping back and forth - there were some puddles from melting snow, also.

I tried my new breathing technique, and I would say I was successful about 30% of the time.   I seemed to have spent quite a lot of time running by myself this race. I felt there was a pack of people in front of me, and of course, whatever was left behind me. I was unaware of keeping pace with anyone, or having anyone tailing close to me. It struck me as strange, I don't know why. This race seemed to go very fast, I guess because I was concentrating so hard on my breathing. I had to walk about 30 seconds again as we got back onto beach property, (against that headwind) and I have to say the last stretch right before the turn to finish was a killer for me. It took us closest to the water, and into the headwind again! 

I hope I can start to train with tempo and tempo intervals. I think that's what I'm going to need to keep me running well for the 5 miler I have coming up next. I was feeling sick to my stomach at about 3.75 - I think I had too much to eat before I went out. I had added banana to my peanut butter sandwich. Yes, sandwich. I doubled the amount this morning. Don't they say never to try anything different before a race? Barf.

I also see that I did not keep up with my 180 cadence. That was probably because I was counting so much to get my breathing right with my foot fall. Ugh. Had I kept it at 180, (which I usually do) I might have taken another walk break, but I could have come in faster. Run and learn.

Now, for some pretty pictures. 

We did not run here..

Looking back at the finish line

On the car ride home

35:12 time

8:48 pace

6/23 age group

104 /292 overall

Magellan Data

Runmeter Data