Watch Out For That Tree!

I have not written anything for several days, but I have good reason.  Last week my training was only so-so, but I had a blast at the ASC Greenway Trail Run.

The morning started off well, I woke up, showered and stretched a little.  I went downstairs, got some water and took my vitamins.  Fed the dogs and apologized to Althea that she couldn’t come with me.  Diego said never mind, I’ll stay here.  I left the house before anyone else was awake, so it was a calm and quiet morning.

I drove to the race site, about 10 minutes, and got there at about 6:35.  The half marathon race planned to start at 7:30, and my race, the 5 miler, to start at 7:40.  I picked up my packet which turns out to be nothing more than a number, which was disappointing, but for only $10, what could I expect?  And apparently $5 goes to the ASC Greenway.  I was not too bummed.  How many race tees do you really need?

I realized that I am very early and there is not much to do to get ready since things are so simple, so I took a walk to warm up.  I walked down to the lake to take in the beauty of the morning.  I then realized that the running route will take us along the lake.  Should be pretty.  I decided to follow the trail to see the condition of the trails as it has been raining all week.  The trails here really weren’t too bad, but I was concerned because I had read that some were on horse trails.  I got about 20 feet into the woods and I was hammered by spider webs!  Good thing I won’t be first!  I made a good loop around and back to the registration area to see what was going on.  More people are showing up and I look for anyone I know.  I didn’t see anyone at all that I know.  I figured I would have seen someone I know, but oh well.

I stood around for a while then decided I should go pee one last time (about 7:15 now).  I went to the bathhouse and there was a long line!  Well, it looked like a woods pee for me.  So I followed an empty trail until no one can see me and I went.  At about 7:25 they gathered the half marathoners to the starting line.  I can’t tell a lie, a part of me wanted to be in that group.  But, I was to be satisfied with 5 miles today.

They fired the gun for the half marathon group precisely at 7:30.  But not before warning the group that there is a creek crossing about .25 miles down the trail.  They told them that there is a swinging bridge for those who would like to postpone getting their feet wet by running through the creek, but if they crossed on the bridge they were to walk for safety reasons.  I started to wonder if we were going the same way and which way I would go if we were.

At about 7:35 they gathered the 5 milers.  They told us the same thing and the creek crossing.  I could not decide what to do.  I finally decided that I would just see what it looks like when I got there.  But I knew what creek they were talking about and I knew that it could run pretty high after rains like we had.  I did some last minute stretching and ate some Hammer Gel.

Promptly at 7:40, they fired the gun for us.  Off we were.  The pace started off pretty slow like it does in most races with a group of people, but this was relatively small, with only 92 runners.  Pretty soon I settled into my pace.  Then the creek came into view.  It was running pretty high as I expected, but people are running through it.  Then I looked at the bridge.  There was a line of people that were stopped waiting to get on!  I said to myself, “Screw it!” and ran through the creek.  It was about 10 to 15 feet to the other side and about 2 ½ feet deep in the middle.  At that point I was having fun.  My legs were wet from my thighs down and I was making a squishy sound with every step, but I didn’t care.  It was fun!

Now we made our way down a gravel road by some horse and goat fields and it was still a beautiful morning.  I said hello to the goats that were staring at us like we were crazy.  Perhaps we were.

We crossed a highway where they had people stationed to stop the cars, but it was not busy at all.  After that, we ran through a field and back into the woods.  Now we were on a mountain bike trail and one I knew well.  We had a gentle downhill at first, but I knew we would be coming back up.  We passed by the first water station and I keep going.  I had my water belt with HEED in, so I was good.  I took the cue and pulled out the bottle and took a few sips, but I was able to continue to run.  I passed a few people that way.

Then I settled into a real nice pace.  I was feeling great and enjoying the woods in the morning.  It made me wonder why I don’t do more runs on the trails.  Then we came to where the half marathon trail and the 5 mile trail split up.  There were people stationed there to help us out.  We crossed over a swinging bridge and were now on a horse trail.  I have always hated hiking on the horse trails.  Were you are not dodging shit, the trails are so muddy that it makes it no fun.  The conditions today were no different.  In several spots, I had to jump over mud puddles or found myself slipping around in muddy areas.  I think I even splashed a girl that was running behind me although I didn’t realize it at first.  I heard her yell, “Oh yuck!” and I looked back, but for some reason I thought she splashed herself, but thinking about it afterward, I must have splashed her, because it hit her in the face and I don’t think that would be possible from your own feet when you are running forward.  Sorry about that!  I think she had good spirits about it though.

At one point, I was avoiding a muddy spot by running along the edge of the trail.  I must have been looking down and looked up just in time to catch a pine branch to the face.  Ouch.  I could tell that something had hit me in the right eye, but it just stung a little.  I kept running and a few minutes later, it was fine.

I went on to finish strong.  I was able to sprint past a few people at the end and finished with a time of 48:16, with a pace of 9:40/mile.  That was a little slower than my normal race pace, but this was not a normal race!  I finished 40^th out of the 92 that ran and I actually placed 2^nd in my age group.  Okay, there were only 3 runners in my age group, but I wasn’t last!

I went to my car and drank my Recoverite and did some stretching.  I walked back over to the finish area to see some others come through the finish line.  Most had finished by now, so I walked down to the lake again to see the half marathoners come through.  I waited for about 20 minutes and I saw them on the other side of the lake.  About 10 minutes later they came through.  The lead pack included two men and one woman.  About a minute behind them another guy runs past.  I walked back up to the finish line to see how they finish.  A minute later, they came into sight.  The woman is in the lead!  You go girl!  She finished in 1:41:13 with a pace of 7:44.  I thought that was pretty impressive.

A couple of hours after I got home, I realized there was a problem.  I could not keep my right eye open and it kept getting worse!  It was very, very painful and extremely sensitive to light.  I finally got Jenn (only at her urging though) to take me to urgent care and they dyed my eye and looked at it with a special light.  I had a corneal abrasion directly in the center of my pupil.  I could not sleep at all on Saturday night and I could barely keep my eyes open on Sunday even with all the blinds closed and sunglasses on.  I had to go to work on Monday and sat in my office with sunglasses on and was still pretty painful to look at the computer screen.

Tuesday everything was much better and I think my eye will make a full recovery.  But remember, watch out for that tree!