Jan/feb review

January February review There were no official events these months but still training in the 3 sports. Might run twice a week at most. Try to go to the Y and swim every day I'm off but usually it works out to 2 times a week.  Bike rides with Gusto Cycles bike shop on my off Friday and Saturdays if possible. Had one epic ride in Feb where a snowstorm hit at the end of a 50 mile ride and I rode about 5 miles in it.  I signed up for the Miracle Hill bike ride (100 miles) on June 8 so I will be training for that.  No commitment on the Charleston bridge run 10k. I want to do it but work that weekend.  

March start downtown

On  march 1 I rode with the Gusto Cycles group which was actually a bunch of the Finishstrong bike team. We went to Paris mountain and climbed up. I decided to not return with them yet go down the backside and to the Swamp Rabbit Trail. I headed down the mountain and it had lots of debris from a recent storm. Got on the SRT and headed downtown. Got there and went up main street and ate a snack and people watched a bit. I noticed signs saying no parking after 11pm. So I thought "what event?". Was there a run? I am so dumb for not knowing.   Later I saw a Trek Travel van with bikes on it. I went and looked at it and it was by the fancy old hotel. Then I saw t-shirts in boxes by the hotel fountain or circle. I rode over to them to see them. I then eavesdropped on an older guy (R.D.) near the shirts and another young guy greeting a young lady (NG) and a gentleman. I recognized the young guy as John Stoer a local elite runner. He was in his running apparel.  So this lady was saying she just flew in. She and the gentleman were also in running wear. The RD guy told the lady that he went to school with Bob Bowman. I think Bowman is the guy who started Nike. I watched as the 3 of them ran off. I figured that a race was tomorrow. I talked to the older guy (RD= race director). The race was the Reedy River Run (RRR). A long tradition in Greenville but one I had not done yet. I started thinking "what if I sign up?" The gusto ride on Saturday morning was cancelled due to possible snow on Saturday morning per last email I had but one of the Finishstrong guys said Beth may have changed her mind.  So I rode back up the SRT and up the backside of PM and home. 45 miles total. Ate a pasta dinner and I later called my mom and she looked up the race info online. This was at 8:30 pm. I drove back downtown (not really knowing if i would make it before the 9pm closing) and walked into the Ale House and registered for the 10k race at about 8:55. I was the last person to register!   So last minute.  Got my bib number, a t-shirt, studied the course route on a big poster board and left with the people who had just helped me. They were taking out the left over t-shirts. I seemed to be following these darn t-shirts around town.  I drove home, set my alarms and ate some more. I remember watching the 11pm news and they had a segment about the race. And they interviewed the race director!   He said to pin your bib to the layer closest to your body because you will take off layers as you run. I went and slept on that advise.   Got up about 6:30 am and ate cereal. Had made cookies night before and ate about 6-8 of them. Drove downtown around 7:45 am. It was snowing lightly as I drove, So yes it was cold. I parked right by the 6 mile mark on broad street.  I saw lots of people running around in small groups and alone. I had on a heavy coat and gloves and sockhat. I ran across the reedy river falls bridge to a public restroom. It was occupied.  I ran to another near the Lazy Goat restaurant. I got done with my last minute "system flush" and was back outside. Those cookies were not sitting too well in my stomach but I hoped I would be ok.  I ran to the start area then back to my car and took off the coat, exchanged the heavy gloves for thin ones, and the sockhat for a baseball type hat. Jogged back to the start. I had on my cheap walmart (Starter) running pants and a long sleeve technical tshirt under my new white RRR t shirt. I was cold.  There was no rain but the road was wet. I ate an energy gel at the last minute and unable to find a trashcan I shamefully dropped the wrapper as the starting gun went off. I did not see the first mile marker but estimated a 8:00 pace. At mile 2 I took the split and it was 14:45. Much faster than I expected. Also the heart rate monitor was showing like 172 bpm. I was nearly maxed out if it was accurate. Mile 3 at 21:40. A very light drizzle occurred but not for long. By now I was warm to the point of sweating and glad I shed before the race. We ran along the river and through Cleveland Park. At mile 4 I took the split of 28:40. I was loosing energy badly but it was flat. A guy wheezing or hacking up a lung was passing me.  At about the same time a guy about 10 years old was passing me too. I was wishing i could hang on to them. At mile 5 it was 36 plus minutes. Still a wonderful (for me) average of like 7:20 pace. Then the hills started. I took small strides but did not stop to walk even though my body said " walk! ". Up McDaniel and I was getting passed alot. Up Broad street past my car and up to main street.  Downhill the last 1/4 mile I flew. I finished in just under 48 minutes. I squat down for several minutes leaning on a pole. Seriously exhausted.   Grabbed a waterbottle from a guy and walked. Grabbed a sandwich and found a place to sit and eat (beside Pedal Chick bike shop) and continue recovering. I knew I would soon be getting cold as I cooled down. Headed for the car (jogging) and got back on the warm stuff and headed back to the finish. Got more free food and walked.  I heard an announcer say that at 10:45 they would award prizes. I went into the military outfitter store and looked around. Store has been there many years, has many old and interesting items. No 12 inch dagger or gas mask for me today. Later stood then sat on curb and listened to the winners. Non cash winners got a special glass tumbler. Actually I curled up and fell asleep for awhile. I stayed for the whole thing and the RD said if you can hear me come up and take one of the remaining glass tumblers. So I got a little something else out of it.  Very pleased with result (47:40 chip time) considering I only had run about 17 miles in the last 4 weeks!  Also the "longish" bike ride with 2x paris mtn had not helped my legs to be fresh. Good amount of biking and swimming helped my heart be able to cope.  I was 181 of 985.  Wonder what result I could have gotten if I had trained for it.  Oh yea, the girl who flew in was 22 year old Neely Gracie from Lake Orion, Michigan and she was the first female with a time somewhere less than 34 minutes. She broke the course record and won almost $1,500. The overall winner had a time of just over 30 minutes.