After running the sixth race of the Appalachian Series on Wednesday, I returned to run the seventh race of the series today. Today’s course was the same as yesterday’s course. It straddles the Virginia/West Virginia border, so runners can count it for West Virginia one day and count it for Virginia the next day.
I ran yesterday’s race
because I needed one more marathon in West Virginia. I ran today’s race because I was already
here. After traveling this far, why not
do an extra race before going home?
Yesterday, I arrived
early and made a last-minute decision to take the 6:30 early start instead of
the 7:30 regular start. Now that I know
that most runners take the early start, I decided to do the same thing again. I already had my race packet, so I didn’t
need to allow as much time to get ready for the race.
Today’s weather was
colder. When I arrived in the start
area, it was 39 degrees, but the temperature was still dropping. It was forecast to reach a low of 36 before
starting to rise again.
I wore my warmest
tights. Those are the cheetah
tights. I also wore the cheetah shirt
and hat. I didn’t think to bring arm
warmers, so I wore a long sleeve polypro shirt under my T-shirt. I risked being overdressed, but I could
always take walking breaks if I was too hot.
I wore extra layers
before the race, but I took them off before they started the pre-race
announcements. In retrospect, I should’ve
kept my jacket on until we started running.
Pre-race announcements
took much longer than I thought. There
were several runners reaching big milestones today, and we took the time to
recognize each one of them. Then the
whole group sang “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” which has been somewhat of a
theme song for our two days in Bluefield.
The irony is that we
weren’t actually in West Virginia during pre-race announcements, or for much of
the race. Our starting line was in West
Virginia, but once we entered Virginia, we never went back to West Virginia.
By the time pre-race announcements
were over, I was freezing. I was wearing
gloves, but my hands were particularly cold.
I felt like I was dressed adequately for running in this weather, but I
wasn’t dressed warm enough for standing around for so long.
For the second straight
day, I started the race with Tim. Tim
started at a surprisingly fast pace, and I had to work to keep up with
him. I asked him why he was running so
fast and he said he needed to run fast to get warm.
When we reached the first
hill, we took a walking break.
Yesterday, we didn’t walk any of the hills until the second lap. On average, our pace for the first lap was
about the same as yesterday. That’s
where the similarity ended.
Our course was inside a
valley. The wind was blowing through the
valley. The way the course is laid out, we
were usually running through the valley.
We rarely ran across the valley for very long. As a result, we were usually had either a
headwind or a tailwind.
After the first lap, Tim made
a bathroom stop. Ordinarily, I would’ve walked
until he caught up to me, but we had a headwind at the beginning of the
lap. It wasn’t a strong wind, but it was
cold, and if I walked this part of the course, I would get too cold. I kept running until I reached the hilly part
of the course. Then I walked the hills
until Tim caught up to me. It didn’t
take long.
Tim was motivated to run faster
today. It was the last day of the
series, and he was planning to start driving home right after the race. The sooner he finished, the sooner he could
get on the road.
Yesterday, we slowed to a
more relaxed pace in the second lap, and we also starting walking up all of the
hills. Today, we didn’t slow down, and
we only walked a few of the hills. I
would’ve been content to go at a slower pace, but Tim was motivated, and I was
trying to keep up with him.
After the last hill, there’s a
long flat section that leads us back to the start/finish area. Tim accelerated through this section. I was starting to find the pace to be tiring,
so I allowed myself to drift behind him.
I was hoping Tim would make
another bathroom stop. That would give
me time to catch up. Tim drinks a lot of
coffee before the race, so he usually makes a few bathroom stops early in the
race. Today he didn’t.
When Tim didn’t stop after the
second lap, I realized I would need to put in extra effort to catch up to
him. I managed to catch up to him before
we reached the hills again, but I was working much harder than yesterday. By the end of our third lap, I noticed that
we were already about three minutes faster than yesterday.
By now, I was finally starting
to warm up, but only when we had the wind at our backs. As soon as we turned around and headed into
the wind, I would get cold again. That
pattern persisted throughout the race.
Early in the race, it was
cloudy. During our fifth lap, I saw the
sun for the first time. I was hoping it
would feel warmer now. Unfortunately,
the wind got stronger. The colder breeze
easily cancelled out the warmth of the sun.
The last day of a series is hot
dog day. It’s a tradition to have hot dogs
at the aid station. They usually have
some type of hot food other days as well.
Yesterday, I didn’t eat any hot food during the race, but today I had a
hot dog after the fifth lap. Tim also stopped
to eat a hot dog, so I didn’t have to worry about falling behind again.
When we finished our sixth lap,
we were half done with the marathon. My
time for the first half was 10 minutes faster than yesterday. I expected Tim to go even faster in the
second half. I didn’t know how much
faster I could run.
I had to refill my bottle after
that lap, so I fell behind. I had to
work hard again to catch up to Tim, but I was able to do it.
For a few laps, I had wanted to
make a bathroom stop, but then I would fall even farther behind. I had doubts about whether I could catch up
to Tim again if I got too far behind.
During our seventh lap, Tim mentioned that he was going to make a
bathroom stop at the end of the lap. I
thought this was my chance to make a bathroom stop without losing time. It didn’t work out that way.
Tim was done in the bathroom quickly. I took much longer. By the time I started my next lap, Tim had a
sizable lead. I decided to pick up my
pace and see if I could catch him. That
was a mistake.
In the early part of the lap,
which is through a parking lot, I accelerated.
I wasn’t sure if I was gaining any ground. It looked like I would have to run all the
hills to catch up to him.
When I got within sight of the
first hill, Tim was already on the hill.
He was running it! That was the
steepest hill. If he ran that one, he would
almost certainly run all the other hills as well.
I ran all the hills, but I didn’t
gain any ground by doing it. On the flatter
sections in between, I picked up my pace.
I still didn’t seem to be gaining any ground.
As I approached the turnaround,
Tim was already coming back. Another
runner said, “You can still catch him.”
He was wrong. By the time I made
the turn, Tim had already disappeared over the next hill.
I continued to push the pace,
but I wasn’t getting any closer. I
eventually realized that I was falling farther behind. Tim had kicked it into another gear, and I
didn’t have that gear today. By the end
of that lap, it was obvious that I would never catch him. I had to accept that I would be running the
rest of the race by myself.
Trying to catch up with Tim
took way too much out of me. That lap
wore me out, and I was never the same after that.
I still had four laps to
go. That’s almost nine miles. I had to conserve energy, so I could finish
the race. For the rest of the race, I
ran at a much more relaxed pace. I also
walked most of the hills. It was still a
struggle.
In the lap where I was chasing
Tim, I got hot and sweaty. Earlier, I
was either comfortable or cold, but never hot.
For one lap, I was overheating.
That probably contributed to my fatigue in the laps that followed.
After slowing down, I went back
to being cold, but only when I was running into the wind. When the wind was at my back, I would get hot
again. It was amazing how different the
weather felt when I was running in different directions.
When I finished my tenth lap, I
had another hot dog. I still had two
laps to go, and each one was difficult now.
When I finally reached my last
lap, I took some satisfaction in knowing that each time I ran one of the hills,
I was running it for the last time.
Yesterday, I raced through the
last part of my final lap. Today, I
dragged myself through it. I finished
the race in 4:54:19. My time was similar
to yesterday, but my splits were a mirror image. Yesterday, I was much faster in the second
half of the race. Today, my second half
was much slower.
After finishing, I got a
Virginia medal to add to my chain.
Before leaving, I ate another
hot dog, and I drank two glasses of chocolate milk. I didn’t spend much time in the finish area,
because I knew I would quickly get cold.
It had warmed up a little, but it was still in the low 40s, and there
was still a cold wind.
Tim wasn’t the only runner who
was going home today. Several other
runners had the same idea. Everyone wanted
to get home. I’m waiting until
tomorrow. I felt like a train wreck
after the race, and I needed the rest of the day to recover. Besides, I’m going to need a full day to
travel home. Before I can fly home, I
have to drive back to Charlotte, and that’s a three hour drive. I’ll start that drive tomorrow after
breakfast.
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