2009 Race Season

After our Rim to Rim hike in the Grand Canyon, we returned to Richmond to resume our standard routines. We flew back on a Saturday and I went back to work on Monday. Returning from a vacation and going back to work is always difficult. Except for this time. Right before going to the Grand Canyon, I had put in my two weeks notice at my job and would be starting a new job in a week. So going back to work for my final week was not so bad.

After work Monday I had a co-ed soccer game. I felt great and had a blast playing that night. I did not seem to be able to tire out no matter how much I ran. Sometimes this happens to me after taking some time off from soccer. As long as I am still in good condition, I often come back from a break refreshed and on top of my game. I think that was the best game of the season that Fall.

As the fall season came to a close, I decided to put together an indoor soccer team for the winter. Indoor Soccer is fast and furious and I have a great time when I play. In indoor soccer there is no time to rest. We pretty much sprint the whole time. We had a great bunch of guys on our team and overall we had a descent season. We started out slow and I can't remember what our exact record was but we won more games than we lost so that was nice.

The only problem with playing indoor soccer was our games sometimes stated pretty late, sometimes not until 11:00 PM. I did not like exerting myself so late at night. After a late night game, it often took me several hours to wind down and fall asleep. Sometimes I would be up until 2 in the morning, just trying to relax. That always put a damper on the weekend activities like mountain biking, hiking, etc.

Towards the end of January 2009 it was once again time to start Team Epiphany, our church's 10K training team. Our first Saturday training room was a little light. A lot of people decided to stay home that day. After all, it was 5 degrees when we went to run that morning. Luckily it was not windy at all. With the right gear, running in the cold is not too bad. Especially when you have fellow runners with which to participate.

My training that season was really uneventful. I did my Saturday runs and weekly workouts but I was not as excited about it for some reason. It would have been pretty difficult for me to improve my time without some serious focused training and I was not really ready for 800 repeats on the track each week.

I ran the 10k in 2009 in 47:33 which was about a minute and a half slower than I had run the previous year. I can't really explain why I ran that much slower. Running the Monument is fun but that said, it was not a race that favored me and my psyche. The Monument race goes West on Monument Avenue in Richmond for about 3 miles and then turns around and comes back East. The course is very flat and while there are lots of cheering fans, actual cheer leading squads, bands, and plenty of people to run with, I always feel alone out there. I am running my own pace and there is never anyone running the same pace that I am. Each time I run it, I have moments when I feel like just slowing down to a jog and cruising. But I don't. I slog through it.

I would have finished even slower in 2009 except I ran into someone from my soccer team who was pushing hard, struggling to finish strong. I ran with her for the last mile, pushing her and encouraging her to keep going. We both finished strong and she nearly collapsed after the race. I helped her walk for a bit until she met up with her friends. She had her own cheering squad there with posters and everything.

After the Monument Avenue 10K, I started focusing on the upcoming National Duathlon Championship again. I had been also training for this race in tandem with my 10K training. I had done some long rides and ridden the course a lot more than I had in 2008. My training was going much better than it had the previous year. One thing that helped was that some friends of mine would be running the race as a duo. Mario would ride the bike and Jeff would run the two run parts of the race. The duo relay is nice for those people who want to compete but may lack the biking skill or trail running skill necessary to do the whole race.

In addition to riding the mountain bike course several time's, I had also been running the trails a lot. I felt very good about the upcoming race. But then I had a setback. My allergies started acting just over a week before the race. I could not stop coughing and had to go to the doctor. The doctor put my on Zyrtek which I still take today and also had me taking MusinexD and nasal spray. The medication made me feel pretty lousy. It helped with my allergies but the medicine made me feel drowsy at times and hyper at other times.

On race day, I felt a lot better but I was not nearly feeling as good as I needed to for this difficult race. Oh well, I had hoped this year would be better than the last year. Boy was I wrong. About half way through the first lap of the 10k, I had to stop and walk. I was only about 20 minutes into the race. I just could not get enough oxygen. This was something entirely new for me. Usually my legs will give out first-never my lungs. I had great lung capacity and even had my VO2 Max tested a few years before which confirmed that I indeed had great lung capacity. But on this day, I just could not breathe. My allergies and all the medicines were taking their toll. But I kept going of course.

After the 10K, I was at the back of the pack. I got on my bike and thought that the bike should be a little easier than the run. I did ok on the bike all things considered. I had to push my bike up the steepest hills but I was able to make it through over half of the course in not too bad a shape. But towards the end of the bike course, I was hurting. I had run out of gas. Mostly because I could not get enough oxygen. My legs had nothing left. I even had to walk my bike up the smallest of inclines towards the end of the bike course.

I came into transition and sat down in my chair to change my shoes. I bit off a tiny piece of banana. Uh Oh! I felt like I was going to puke. So I decided to forgo the banana. At this point, I was considering dropping out. Melissa later said that she could tell I was hurting pretty bad. This was definitely the worst I had ever felt in a race. Well, I only had a 5K to run so I decided to go for it. I took off on my trot out of the transition zone, heading for Belle Island.

Did I mention that it was a very hot day. Besides the obvious effects the heat has on the body during competition, I also had to deal with all the drunk Richmonders who flock to the river on hot days. The bridge going over to Belle Island was packed with people with their beer guts, tattoos, and bikinis. I had to run around a lot of people who were not very nice about getting out of the way. But the race went through a public park and almost all the competitors were finished by this time anyway.

I did a lot of walking and some trotting. Basically I ran as much as I could and then walked to catch by breath and then ran some more. I finally made it back to the finish. I walked until I could see the finish line. I then picked up the pace. As I approached the finish line, there was big group of Duo athletes who had already finished and were hanging out. They all rose and cheered as I came into the finishing area. That really pumped me up and I was able to run hard across the finish line.

I stumbled over to the medical tent where someone gave me an ice cold towel for the back of my neck. I sipped my water and sat there for about 10 or 15 minutes before standing up. I felt ok. Now that I had stopped running and had cooled off some, I was feeling better. Melissa helped me collect my things for the long walk back to the car. It took us quite some time as I had to rest every so often. There were a few times when I had to stop and sit so I did not pass out. But again, I felt ok but every now and then a wave would wash over me, stopping me in my tracks.

My 2009 Duo finishing time was 4:40:58. It had taken me an hour to do the last 5K. Wow. I was over an hour slower than the previous year despite the more training. The allergies flare up had really cost me. Oh well, I guess there was always next year.

Next time. Redeeming myself. Another opportunity to run and ride in the same day.