I was looking forward to this race all week long. It was going to be the first real test of my shins and real distance racing. I didn’t know how they would react and whether or not the pain would build up and force me to drop out. Fortunately, the pain was never that bad, although I could tell that whatever is bothering my shins was greatly limiting my speed. I was able to keep a nice steady pace, but I was concerned with my inability to generate any real speed. This really is only a concern, because I want to run a Boston Marathon Qualifier at the upcoming New Jersey Marathon. I felt that with the number of 20+ milers I’ve done so far this year that I should have been able to maintain a faster pace. I really don’t understand why I have such a lack of speed and this is something I am going to have to discuss with my coach. Perhaps with my shins, it is just not possible for me to run fast at this point.

As with any long distance race, I was riding an emotional roller coaster throughout it. There were times that I seriously considered dropping out, when I was wondering why I was bothering to place this punishment on my body. The there would be times I felt good and wanted to keep on going. I am smart enough to know now that a lot of these feelings have to do with the timing of my nutrition. I mostly found that during the first half of the loop I was pretty miserable and wanted to quit, but by the time I got to the second half, the food I had taken in at the aid station/lap counting location would start to kick in and I would feel better. Ultimately though, what I think got me through this race was the announcement I made to my friends on Twitter that I was going to run a 50K this weekend. I didn’t feel like going back later on and telling anyone that I had quit the race because I didn’t feel like going on.

I did have a couple of low points. The biggest one was as I was just finishing up my 7th of 12 total loops. I was developing some nasty blisters on my right foot and I knew I needed to take care of them. I stopped at the aid station, grabbed some Vaseline and lathered it on my toes with the blisters. It helped somewhat and I was able to proceed without being in too much pain. The delay cost me 3 minutes which I came to rue later on as it caused me to miss breaking 5 hours on the clock. I came in at 5:01:40 and in addition got passed within the last few feet by another runner as we sprinted to the finish, but more on that later. If only I was man enough to deal with a little more pain, I would have broken 5 hours and moved up a couple of places in the standings.

I kept myself fueled throughout the race by drinking from a bottle of HEED that I prepared at home. I am really glad I took that I didn’t rely completely on the food provided by the race. The food at the race was mostly PB&J sandwiches, or which I did eat several, cookies, M&M’s and cola. I alternated my fueling with the HEED and PB&J and cola. It worked well for me and I was never really hungry or low on energy. During the entire course of the race, I was alternating between being too hot and too cold. There were times that the wind was behind you with the bright sun shining down upon you and I wished I didn’t have my running jacket on. Inevitably though, I would come around a last turn that led into the aid station which had a strong cold headwind blowing right through you. At those times I was glad to have my jacket. All I could do was marvel at those runners who ran in short sleeves, singlet’s and shorts. I was dressed for harsh winter conditions. Perhaps I should have dressed a little lighter, so I would have been encouraged to speed up to generate body heat.

Once I got past the 7th loop I knew I was more than half way home. At this point I thought I had to do 13 laps, so I was saying to myself, just keep steady and keep running. I guess the high point of the race came around the 10/11th lap when I finally realized that we only had to do 12 laps. I found this out when I was at the aid station and I asked the race director how many total loops we had to do. He told me 12 and I replied “That’s all”. He thought I was a little crazy so I explained to him that I thought we were doing 13. It was like being given a little present. My pace was starting to slow down from the mid 9 min/mile to somewhere in the 10’s. I was happy to know that the race would soon be over with.

Once I got into double digit laps I knew I has the race complete. I passed the marathon point at about 4 hours into the race so I knew I had an excellent chance of breaking 5 hours. I wasn’t really paying attention to my watch; otherwise I would have pushed it a little harder on my last lap. It was this last lap that annoyed me as someone passed me within 200 yards to the finish line. I let him take the lead for a little while and then decided to make a move to try to retake him. I held him off until about 30 yards in front of the finish where he caught me and beat me by 3 seconds. I should have waited a little while longer to make my move so as to have the surprise and more importantly, I shouldn’t have stopped to fix that blister, since that is really where I lost the time. In the end, it really didn’t matter though as that extra place had no impact on whether or not I won an age group award. It was though a great sprint to the finish and we both looked at each other and laughed and thanked each other for the strong finish at the end.

I felt pretty good after the race and took my time getting ready to leave. I drank some Recoverite to refuel and had a little bit of the post race food. I really couldn’t tolerate anything solid in my stomach at that point, so I was glad to have my recovery drink. Later on when I got out of my car from driving home, my shins were completely shot. It was agony walking to the front door of my house from my car. It made me a little nervous, because I was wondering if I just crippled myself. However, a few ibuprofen fixed me up and I was able to move relatively well after that. To further soothe my legs and shins I took an ice bath. That always a brisk and semi-torturous experience depending on how hot you are after a race. As it was winter time, this bath felt a little more frigid than when I race hard in the summer. I also knew that one of the reasons why my shins hurt so badly was running on worn out sneakers; well at least the right shoe. I wear them out unevenly. Here is a picture of my quite dead right show.

I did see my podiatrist the next day to get the blisters on my feet taken care of and to ask him about my shins. He gave me a bit of cortisone in each shin and fitted me with some special orthotics that he invented and is looking to bring to market. He is using me as a case study to see how they work. I need to wait 72 hours before I run again (after the cortisone shots), but I can’t wait to see how I feel in them. Hopefully, I will feel a lot better. I’ll also be starting on a new pair of sneakers as the shoes I wore for the 50K were very sadly worn out. There was no way I should have been running in them. Here is a picture of one of the shoes that shows how worn out it is.

Anyway, I hope I recover quickly. My next ultra race is the Queens 60 Kilo (37.2 miles) on March 29. It’s another loop course and I am looking forward to it. Hopefully, I’ll get to do it with a couple of friends. It’s always good to have company of these long runs.