Today was day three of the Texas Quad. Today’s race was called “The Tortoise.” I wondered if that was how fast I would be. I averaged nine minutes per mile on day one and ten minutes per mile on day two. After hitting the wall in yesterday’s race, I fully expected to average eleven minutes per mile today. That turned out to be overly pessimistic.
The temperature at the start
was 47 degrees, which was similar to Thursday.
One big difference is that today’s forecast included rain. We had a dry start, but everyone expected the
rain to start after about two hours. I
kept a rain poncho in my drop bag.
Before the race, I looked
around to see if there were any new arrivals today. There were a couple of young guys who looked
fast, but they were doing the half marathon.
I was only aware of one person showing up today for the marathon. That was my friend Heather, who I knew was capable
of breaking four hours. As it turns out,
there were a couple of other new arrivals who I didn’t know.
As we started running, my friend
Justin took the lead. He won by a wide
margin yesterday, and I expected him to win today too. Heather started out running with Justin before
eventually dropping back. For the first
two laps, those two were way ahead of everyone else.
My legs felt better today than
they did yesterday. The ice bath I took
yesterday apparently worked wonders. Not
seeing any other fast runners, I started fast enough to get ahead of everyone except
Justin and Heather. I felt like I was working
harder in my first lap than I did in my previous two races, but I had to see if
it was possible to place in the top three again.
After about a mile, I noticed some
discomfort on the outside of my left knee.
That was something new. I
wondered if I was starting too fast without giving my muscles time to warm up. After a while, Greg came alongside of me and
asked me how I was feeling. I told him
about the left knee, and he said he noticed my stride was off balance. I didn’t know what was causing that or how to
correct it. I kept running and hoped it
would get better as I got warmed up.
I felt like I was starting at a
really fast pace. When I reached the
turnaround, I checked my watch. I was
disappointed to see that it my pace was no faster than yesterday. It only felt faster because I was working
harder. After the turn, Greg slowed
down, and I was all by myself in third place for the rest of that lap.
I’m usually pretty good at remembering
everything that happened during a race.
After today’s race, my memory was a little fuzzy. I mostly remember what happened, but I’m less
sure about when things happened. I’m
taking my best guess, but my recollection of some events may be off by a lap.
I usually just drink Gatorade
during a race. This morning, I was
having trouble waking up, so I started out drinking Dr. Pepper. Because of the carbonation, it took me longer
to drink it. That forced me to pause for
a longer time as I went through the aid station. At the end of my first lap, as I was drinking
my Gatorade, two runners passed me. One
was David. I knew he was doing the
marathon, but I didn’t know how fast he usually runs. As I started my next lap, I made a point of
trying to catch up to him. The other
runner was pushing someone in a wheelchair.
I didn’t know which race he was doing.
I eventually caught up to David
and passed him. When I got close enough
to the other runner to see his race bib, I saw he was doing the half
marathon. I didn’t have to worry about
him.
The wind was blowing through the
river valley from east to west. In the
first half of each lap, it was at our backs.
In my third lap, I started to get warm with the wind at my back. I knew I would feel colder when I came back
into the wind, but I was warm enough that it made me tire faster. I reluctantly took off my gloves and stuffed
them into my fanny pack. I immediately
felt better.
By the middle of my third lap,
David was no longer the next runner behind me.
There was a woman in a white shirt wearing #37. I didn’t know who she was. She wasn’t here Thursday or Friday, but she
was right behind me as I made the turn.
Renee was only a short distance behind her. I was in third place, but there were three
runners who were only a short distance behind me. Already, my pace felt tiring. It’s not a good sign where you’re getting tired
in the third lap of an eight-lap race, but I was determined to try to place in
the top three if I could.
I looked for Heather in the
distance. She was a long way ahead of
me, but she was easy to spot, because she was wearing a bright pink skirt. I tried to focus on gaining ground on
Heather. I didn’t actually expect to
catch her, but it helped me speed up enough to get some separation from the
three runners behind me.
As I started my fourth lap,
Heather didn’t seem to be as far ahead of me.
She was slowing down enough that I could gain ground. I caught up to Heather and ran with her for a
couple minutes. Then I moved ahead of
her.
I wasn’t the only one to pass Heather. As I came back from the turn, I saw that #37
and Renee were the next two runners behind me, followed by Heather, David and
Greg.
When I finished my fourth lap,
I drank some Dr. Pepper and saw that there was only a little bit left in the
bottle. I took a few extra seconds to
finish the bottle before crossing the line to begin my next lap. That was enough time for #37 to move ahead of
me.
Already I could tell that I
would eventually need to make a bathroom stop.
I ignored that and started my next lap, intent on catching up to
#37. As I started the second half of the
race, I was on pace to break 4:22, which is something I couldn’t quite do
yesterday.
By now, the sun was out, making
it feel warmer. As I saw more and more
blue sky, I was optimistic that it wouldn’t rain before I finished the
race. The downside was that I got hot
every time I had the wind at my back.
When the wind was in my face, it was tiring, but it also kept me from
getting hot. The wind was a mixed
blessing, to be sure.
I caught up to #37 and passed
her, moving into second place again. When
I reached the turnaround, I assumed she would be the next runner behind
me. She wasn’t. Renee had passed her. Now she was my closest competition. I asked Renee if she was going to win
again. She said, “I’ll try.”
I saw Greg going by in the
other direction, and I asked him if my stride still looked unbalanced. He looked back to watch me as I ran away, and
yelled that I looked OK now.
For the rest of that lap, I
tried to accelerate and gain as much separation as I could. As I finished the lap, I paused and looked
back. I couldn’t see anyone coming, so I
made my bathroom stop.
When I emerged from the
port-o-potty, I looked to see if anyone passed me. I saw some runners going through the
start/finish line, but nobody I was worried about. I overheard the volunteers talking. One said, “She was registered for the half
marathon, but she’s doing the full.” I
didn’t know who they were talking about.
I had been ignoring all the runners wearing half marathon bibs. Was it possible I had another competitor whom
I had previously been ignoring?
It quickly occurred to me that
it wouldn’t take long to find out. I was
starting my sixth lap. Any runner doing
the half marathon who was going at my pace would already be done. I just had to look to see if any runners I
didn’t recognize were going fast enough to be on the same lap as me. If so, I’d see them by the time I reached the
turnaround.
By the time I reached the
turnaround, I was certain that I was still in second place. Then I made the turn and saw Renee right
behind me. I ran the rest of that lap
with Renee.
At the end of the lap, I
stopped to drink some Gatorade. I wasn’t
sure if I was drinking enough, so I took my time. Renee passed me and got way ahead of me.
For the first half of my next
lap, I tried to catch up to Renee, but I didn’t seem to be getting any closer
to her. Finally, after making the turn,
I started gaining ground. I’m not sure
why it was easier to gain ground now, but it may have had something to do with
running into the wind. By the end of
that lap, I caught up to her.
I only had enough Gatorade left
in my bottle for one small swallow.
Ordinarily, I would’ve opened another bottle, but I didn’t want to lose
any time. I drank what I had and hurried
to catch up to Renee, who had move ahead of me while I stopped to drink.
I hadn’t looked at my time
since the halfway mark. I wanted to
check my time at the end of seven laps, so see if I could break 4:22. In my haste to start the last lap, I forgot
to look.
This time, I wasn’t as far
behind Renee. Within a few minutes, I
was able to catch her. Then I moved
ahead of her. For most of the last lap,
I was running just ahead of Renee.
About a mile into my last lap,
it occurred to me that this was where my quads started to ache yesterday. Today, they didn’t bother me. I was fighting to hold my pace, but I didn’t
have any significant aches or pains. It occurred
to me that my left knee didn’t bother me as much as it did earlier. I only felt it when I was fighting to
accelerate. I also didn’t notice much
soreness in the tendon that has bothered me since September. I really noticed it on Thursday. Today, I hardly felt it at all. That’s the opposite of what I expected.
For most of the last three
laps, I asked myself why I was working so hard to keep up with Renee. To place in the top three, I just needed to
beat Heather. She was more than a mile
behind us by now. I think it was a
psychological thing. Competing with
Renee kept my head in the game. It was
easier than being all by myself on the trail with nobody to push me.
There’s a hill at the end of
each lap that I now refer to as “Mount Trinity.” It seems bigger each lap. At the end of my last lap, I raced up Mount
Trinity and sprinted toward the line. I
finished in 4:21:11. That’s about a
minute faster than yesterday. It was my
third straight second place finish. More
significantly, I extended my streak of top three finishes to 23 races.
I was really pouring it on in
the last mile, so I didn’t realize that Renee was keeping pace with me. She finished just a few seconds after I
did. She was the first place female for
the second straight day.
Tomorrow will be
interesting. Justin won’t he here. Nor will Heather. I don’t know if #37 will be here, but she
faded badly in the second half of today’s race, and she won’t have fresh legs
tomorrow. It’s entirely possible that
there will be a bunch of fast runners showing up tomorrow with fresh legs. It’s also possible that I’ll be racing Renee
for first place overall. She has extra
motivation to run fast tomorrow, because she needs to hurry to the airport to
catch an afternoon flight.
I was able to finish before it
started raining, but I still got cold once I was no longer running. By the time I reached my hotel, my hands were
turning white. The ice bath I took
yesterday really helped, but I didn’t dare take one today. Instead, I took a hot bath, stretched, and
worked on my muscles with the massage stick.
I may do that again later in the day.
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