Race #7 is in the books.   This was my 4^th race since coming back from my car accident injuries almost 2 years ago.  This was the last 10k on the calendar for 2019 so I was excited to have a bit of a longer race.  The forecast was 70 degrees at gun-time which meant it would be the coolest temperature I’ve raced at so far. 

But I was almost a no show.  For the first time ever.  The possibility of dropping out started on Thursday.  I was periodically sick to my stomach throughout the entire day.  I felt like I may vomit during some points of the day and then felt better at other points.  Friday was worse.  It was so bad that I had to leave work.  I felt a little better in the evening but that came crashing down during the early hours of Saturday where I actually did need to vomit.  Multiple times.  I laid in bed until 1pm on Saturday afternoon.  I was dehydrated and still had sour stomach for hours to come.  I went to bed dehydrated yet determined to race.

As always, my morning started out with DDP Yoga before heading to the race area.  My race podcast this time around would be titled “Cardio 2015” which was mainly utilized while training for the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon in that same year.  I lined up in a spot with around 20-25 people in front of me and was ready to go.  The stomach aches were finally gone.  I was in my zone.

Miles 1-4 seemed to go pretty decent.  Despite my dehydration, I had very fresh days from not running the 3 days prior.  I felt like I could go a little quicker, but I also knew that I needed to save energy for the lack of hydration.  I began to feel very gassed 4.25 miles into the course.  “Burning Heart” by Survivor began to play a few moments later from the Rocky 4 soundtrack, which was on “Cardio 2015”.  My favorite lyrics in the song are, “in the warrior’s code theirs not surrender.  His body says stop, his spirit cries, ‘NEVER!’”.  That gave me a boost.  I also reminded myself that Joe Montana had the flu during the best performance of his career.  Suck it up buttercup. 

I finished the race up in 47:40.  This was good enough for 21^st place in a field of 349.  I was awarded a nice little plaque for finishing  3^rd in the men’s 40-49 division.  This was my 3^rd 10k since returning to racing (and 7^th overall).  Despite the dehydration, my time was much better than the other two races with 51:39 and 48:39 finishes.  I am progressively getting better and now within 2 miles of my PR, 45:49.  Maybe I can break in next year?  Yeah, probably so.

My back is getting better due to all of my rehab work and DDP Yoga.  Cryotherapy is aiding in my recovery process and mitigating pain.  The plan is working and I am going to be a stronger runner than I was before the injury.  I know it, I feel it, and one day I’ll be blogging about new PRs and my first Boston Qualifier. 

I will not be racing this coming weekend.  My original plan was to compete in a 5k with a shot at setting a new PR.  A dear friend of mine lost his father, so I’ll be at the funeral instead.  The 5k PR attempt will need to wait one more week.

Work hard play hard,

Faster Beast