Lesson: if you stop running once, it's twice as easy to stop a second time.
If you stop a second time, it's four times as easy to stop the third time.
Moral: don't walk unless you absolutely cannot run! Do not give in to
temptation!
Statement: Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noonday sun!
Conclusion: I am neither! Last year it was in the high 80's or low 90's and
I did fine. But 102 is just too much for me (and, judging by fellow athletes,
for most everyone).
Lesson: Aid stations on the run were 1 mile apart. Without wearing a water bottle on my waist, I think I would have been a little more of a dead runner than I care to be. Very few people (maybe 5%) carry water, but to me it was essential. I would just make it from station to station, having drunk perhaps 60% of the contents and emptied the other 40% on my head, arms, and back during the preceding mile.
Observation: People talk in long races about "walking the aid stations". In this race, people were congregating at the aid stations! At every station there would be a big crowd, with everyone downing multiple cups of water or Cytomax, eating fruit, etc. I think if they had tables and chairs, people would have sat down!
Statement: I have said that I don't want to do races where I am simply "surviving", that I prefer races where I can "race." This race only served to reinforce that opinion all the more. It simply was not any fun to do this race. It took all my mental powers to force myself forward toward the finish line and not end up with my first ever DNF. I think the fact that they give out nice medallions at the finish line is one reason I forced myself forward; but the second reason is related to what I said above about walking. In this case, I figure if you DNF once, it will be twice as easy to DNF a second time, and so on. So...no DNF's unless equipment problems or physical injury gets in the way.
Claim: Pushing yourself to the limit is a mental exercise, not a physical one. Physically, I could have done better. My body was not really in that much pain. This was primarily a mental defeat, which makes it hurt that much more. Although I'm very competitive, I no longer cared if people passed me (although amazingly few did!), or what my time would be, etc.
On ending the season: This was my last scheduled race for the year. Before this I did three P.R.'s (at two triathlons and one 10K) plus a "calculated P.R." (time slightly longer in the San Jose Triathlon but the course was longer); now I end the season on a 38-minute P.W.! This is not good! I guess I have to do at least one more race this year...maybe a nice 5K...
Steve "Down but not out" Patt 8) Palo Alto, CA (w)/Cupertino, CA (h)