He Chose...Poorly (Survivor Harbor 7 Race Report)

After a very busy week at work and then an equally busy weekend at home, I'm back at the office for another Monday posting. Hopefully this week I can post more than once! Annie got in on Thursday so it was nice to see her, if for only a few days. I dropped her off at BWI this morning before work and she's now safely back in the Ozarks, where it's oddly enough about 20 degrees (at least) cooler than it is here. The last few days have been brutal: high 90's with tons of humidity. This is July weather, not early June! I knew it would be bad for the race on Sunday and I was not disappointed. It was a crisp 80 degrees when I left the apartment at 7:00 AM and warmed up another 6-8 degrees by the end of the race. I knew it was going to be awful and I knew that I wasn't acclimatized to the heat yet, thanks to my laziness and the sudden heatwave.

I got to the starting line around 7:50, already soaked from my short warm up run to the site. I had just enough time to grab my chip, down two cups of water and stretch out the calves and Achilles before the race began. I stayed in the back where I knew I'd be somewhat safe from the humiliation of having 500 people pass me over the coming 7 miles. To be honest, the first 3.5 miles were fine and I felt OK, all things considered. Then the wheels came off. The heat and humidity were too much for my still adjusting body and generally lazy training routine. I ran much of the way but took frequent walk breaks, which inflated my pace and made me increasingly frustrated. By about mile 5, I was over the race and ready to just be done. I don't care what anyone says, running in those conditions is not fun. It sucks, actually. There's nothing refreshing about struggling through 7 miles in that weather. By the end of it, you're dehydrated, sore, pissed off, soaked with sweat and water, and generally feel awful.

The only consolation I drew from it was that I didn't totally quit and walk off the course, which is something I would only seriously consider if I were injured or really ill, etc. Nonetheless, doing a race this early in the summer, when the weather has the penchant for turning muggy and steamy, is probably something I won't do next year. In fact, as I shuffled along the Inner Harbor, I came to several realizations:

- Running in the cold January morning sucks but struggling through the swamp-like June/July morning sucks even more because you look and feel horrible. Fall and Spring runs are my favorites and those "shoulder seasons" are the best time for racing for me.

- Starting a race at 8 AM is probably too late in the summer. By the time we started, the sun had been up for about 2 hours and had already started to heat up Baltimore like an oven. Summer races should probably start at 7 AM or earlier. It sucks to be up that early, but hey, the alternative is crawling across the finish line.

- The majority of my races need to be in the Fall. Thus, Baltimore and Richmond are good choices for me and my environmental tastes. However running some shorter 5K's in the summer would be beneficial, I think.

- I need to get my mind right and start really training. That means running 4 times a week at least, the other two days at the gym cross training. Also, I want to figure out a way to boost my speed and increase my strength.

In other news, I don't think I will be going to Colorado for vacation this year, as airfares are horrendous. Car rental rates are nearly as bad and add gasoline to that mix and you've got an overpriced trip. It's just not worth the expense to go out there, when I'm sure I'll have another chance to see Denver and surrounding areas down the road.

However, I think I will instead just take a 3-4 day camping trip out to Shenandoah National Park in August while Annie is in Colorado and save about $1,000. I can live with a local vacation if it means we can afford a nicer honeymoon come October. We'll see. Annie is hesitant about me going out there by myself, but then again, I'm a Boy Scout and have been out before so I'm not all that worried.