Sunday November 11, 2012
Nags Head-Manteo, NC - Outer Banks Half Marathon
For those who prefer to skip to the chase - my official time was 2:44:38.2*
The REST of the story:
PRE RACE thoughts - the last time my lovely partner Donna and I raced was almost exactly TWO YEARS AGO. A lot has happened (like a whole year without training, much less racing and a whole other year of trying to get our mojo flowing again) since then. Have we forgotten how? Have we trained enough?
We live about four hours away from the Outer Banks and luckily for us - it was a GORGEOUS weekend for a drive and a race. Temperatures in the fifties and sixties, sunny with nice breezes. Ideal for me. We picked up our registration packets (and cool red technical shirts!), made a round of the expo, dropped off our canned goods for the Hurricane Sandy relief effort, and headed to get dinner at Kelly's. I don't know about anyone else - but eating supper between 4:30 and 5:30 the night before a race is PERFECT for me. I have time to eat and still go to bed early; I wake up feeling fueled but also hungry enough to eat what I need to before the race. It's just all good. Kelly's was offering specials for racers (though we ordered a regular entree which turned out to be as economical as their special because they gave us their early bird discount - woot!) Back at the hotel (we recommend Nags Head Inn!) we laid out our gear and each did our own night-before thing. Turns out my night-before thing isn't complicated enough to make me feel comfortable when "all" I'm doing is getting ready for a run the next day. I was somewhat bereft without a half dozen checklists, multiple bags, tools etc. I kept looking at the wee pile my shoes, three Gu's, skirt, jog bra, tank, and race number made. In fact - I could hide everything UNDER my race number. (Not that I whiled away my time by arranging and rearranging my stuff trying to make smaller and bigger piles to see which soothed my anxiety or anything. No, no. Not implying that at all. Erm. Next topic!)
I fell deeply asleep very early and slept the whole night through. Donna - not so much. I think there are a very, very few times my sweet girl hates me but I'm pretty sure they all occur while she is staring at the ceiling longing to fall asleep while I am completely zonked out next to her.
RACE MORNING:
Another difference between us is that I like to be at the start early. Some people have abandonment issues. I have "OMFG I'm going to be late" issues. And I'm an introvert so the crowds and the music and all the excitement freak me out a bit**. Somewhat counterintuitively, being at the start early helps me get through the worst of my adrenaline. I get acclimated to the noise; I short circuit the anxiety about being late; I get centered for my day. I relax and start to enjoy being there. Donna - not so much. Donna needs to stay as calm as she can for as long as she can on race morning. That ends up looking like getting to the start as late as possible and still being lined up before the gun goes off. We were sherpa-less for this race so there wasn't an easy way to go to the start at separate times. We split the difference and got there earlier than she wanted, but later than I wanted. Unlike some compromises - I don't think this one worked so well. Adrenaline mismanagement issue number one.
It helped that we had gone to the beach and put our toesies in the Atlantic before driving over. That was nice but after that I was a bunch of worry spikes. I was stressed about being late; parking was a bigger issue than I expected; we thought we were walking to the shuttle but turned out we were in a flock of hearty souls walking to the start which was closer to us than the car was when we figured it out, etc. It was all FINE. Really. 
We had time to wonder what that weird thing was, hovering up in the sky. (Turns out it was a remote controlled drone/video camera filming the fun.) We had time to be moseying over to our corral when a giant BOOM! sounded. WTF?? Nine minutes before the start and someone is firing a cannon?! Note to race directors - when you have a crowd full of military folks on Veterans' Day - maybe unexpected, loud, large caliber gunfire is NOT a good idea. Just sayin.
I spent the next nine minutes preparing for another round of cannon noise at the actual race start. (Not a fan of cannons. Oh no. I am not. Adrenaline issue #2.) I tried to think calming thoughts - to savor beautiful images from the morning already. Like this image. Ahh. Pretty sunrise. Beautiful Atlantic Ocean. No need to worry about cannons. Dammit. Stupid cannons. Big countdown over the loudspeakers - and then ... nothing. Just the surge as the speediest ones took off and the rest of us shuffled up closer. Huh. The RACE ITSELF - Yay - our turn to start! Run! Well sort of. You know that crowded stepping, weird pace thing at the beginning. Still. We were almost running. RIGHT through a cloud of cigarette smoke. The two women next to me actually started coughing from it. One said a very bad word, which made me smile and hope the smoker heard. (Don't you wonder just a little bit about someone who stands there smoking while watching the start of a race with thousands and thousands of runners? Baffles me.)
We ran. Woo hoo! Running. It is a straight forward activity isn't it? The first mile was on pace. The next two about thirty seconds faster than our usual. I was having trouble breathing - my chest was tight. Donna said, "Let's slow down. Recovery run." Good call.
The course was ok. Flat. Some of the views were amazing. Especially in the neighborhoods along the lovely Carrituck Sound. One long stretch was on Croatan Highway. That part was ... less than optimal for me. I don't know if it was that the view was mostly strip mall businesses, or if it was the exhaust fumes from the traffic idling and passing us. For me that section was no bueno! The volunteers were great. There was a group from the aquarium - with someone in a Shark Mascot type get up. I totally got a high
To make a longish race report only a little shorter I will ffwd to mile 8 where once again I was having breathing problems. Not wheezing - just my chest was tight. I felt slow (which isn't new) and remarkably heavy (which also isn't totally unheard of for me while I'm running but this was truly a leaden feeling. Not the same as the heaviness from a brick. This didn't wear off.) You know how you usually have at least a mile or two during a long run that's pretty awesome? Yeah - I never once had that feeling during this race. I had these thoughts about being out of shape and undertrained - but you know what? I had that amazing mile (or three) feeling on the Golden Gate Bridge and I sure as hell was more fit and prepared for this race than I was for that one. I couldn't figure it out. Whatever. Trudge. Trudge. I was ready for the race to be over. Downtown Manteo is quaint. The weather was perfect. They had weird and very loud music about two miles from the finish but not much music or hoopla at the finish itself. Interesting. I didn't actually care. Yay! The finish line. I was about ten yards away when a woman comes charging from behind me, elbows me out of the way screaming, "Coming Through! Um-kay. I was already over to the right but go girl if you've got that much juice at the end. Could have done without the elbow knocking me aside but I was so glad to be done! I had sent Donna ahead a while back. We train together and in running races we usually stay together for some of it. Ultimately though we run our own races. She was in stronger space so I sent her off with our trademark launch phrase, "Go baby, go baby, GO!" I saw her waiting in the finishing chute for me. Big smile. The nice lady put a pretty medal around my neck. Somebody else tried to hand me something blue. I was weaving my way to Donna and went to take a breath. No air. None. Lots of panic. But no air. I reminded myself about what they say in the swim - that when you panic and feel like you can't breathe in, to focus on breathing OUT. Blow out and your body will take care of the sucking air in as a response. Tried that. You know that sensation when you try to suck a really thick milkshake up into a straw? THAT is how it felt. I tried to say I couldn't breathe. I think Donna and the nice race volunteer had figured that out already. My head was swimmy but I could see Donna and there was someone at my arm, holding me up. I got steered to the medical tent. First time I've ever been sent to the medicos!
Left the medical tent in search of food****. Got a nice person to take our "Yay We Did It" picture. We met some really nice ladies who were all dressed up as Wonder Woman. Ten or so of them! They do the race every year and dress up. I love these people!! Clearly I wasn't completely back to normal because I chopped their heads off in this picture. (But don't you love their WW socks?!)While waiting in the line for the shuttles to take us back to the start, we got to talking to some other great folks. One girl was relaying the ups and downs of her day and said, "I don't know what happened. I reached out for water and ended up getting a handful of BioFreeze instead." She mimed holding her hand out, then looking at her palm and then shrugging her shoulders. "Guess I looked like I was in pain. Not sure how to look thirsty." It was fun to laugh and connect with the other runners. Finally we were back to the car, then the hotel. We showered and just made our checkout time. (Extended for runners until 1. Sweet!)
POST RACE - We ate a recovery lunch and headed home. As we debriefed in the car, I began to put together how sore my chest was, how many different ways my breathing had been compromised (smoke, exhaust fumes) and restricted (adrenaline) throughout the day. My holistic nutritionist buddy Kim reminded me that muscles need oxygen and when your breathing is restricted everything has to work so much harder - your heart, your lungs, your muscles. Good information! I had a crappy recovery run two days later. My chest muscles were still sore; I was in bad mental space; and I rolled my ankle two miles into it. However, I babied my ankle that night (ice, fish oil for their anti-inflammatory properties, some gentle stretching, and soaking in epsom salts) and it was FINE. I had a super seven mile trail run day three after the half marathon. I'm learning how big of a toll stress and adrenaline take on my running! I had hoped the half marathon would be confidence inducing as we work our way towards the marathon. Wrong pie face! I am seriously doubtful that I can get all the way there in the nine weeks I have left before the Miami marathon. I guess we will see! We are going to keep training. Race fees are paid. Miami seems like a great place to be at the end of January, whether I can run 26.2 miles or not. Happy Thanksgiving.
Peace y'all!
*2:44:38.2 - Really? I guess they need that kind of precision for the Fasty McSpeedypants folks up front but for me the .2 is totally wasted. It is NOT like that .whatever is going to be the part that gives me a new PR. Cracks me up. Like putting an aero helmet on a snail. .2 - wheee!
**If you read "freak me out a bit" as "SCARE THE BEJEEZUS OUT OF ME AND SPIKE MY HEART RATE INTO THE 200'S!!!!!" then imma guess you've seen me in person on race day morning. (Lucky you.)
***Lung cramp. Bronchial spasm. Whatever.
****By "food" I mean "beer" :D
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