My strong thanks to the
cHarlotte H4. Without them, this would have been a whole lot tougher.
Connie and I had similar experiences for our marathons. Except
Charlotte was brutally cold.
To start, wrong packet pick-up location was
given. So, I drove all over Charlotte needing a toilet desperately
after skipping a toilet stop to push in the last several miles, tired from
8 hours of driving and 4 hours of work plus being up since 3:45 a.m., totally
hate city driving, directions to the original packet pick up were very
inefficient and a brain tired to the point that normally indecipherable
driving directions once location of packet pick up were correctly given
were a lost cause. This was the start of the weekend and a foreshadowing
- great people and a totally inept bureacracy.
Anyway, found packet pick-up eventally.
And then found the house where dinner was to be by luck and hash sense
(?). Dinner and hashers were great. Then off for 5 hours sleep.
Rain.
Breakfast - 1-1/2 Harvest Bars and Gatorade.
Rain. Made race start in the hash shuttle van. Rain. Then found toilets
in parking lot near van, but no one had much of an idea where the start
was and no signs were posted directing us there. Rain.
Found the starting line while walking with
a couple other guys, but naturally no toilets for late thoughts.
See the pattern. Rain. The normal self-congratulatory nonsense, a
brief prayer along the lines of "Dear God, We pray no one dies today and
we hope they go to heaven if they do". Rain.. "Slow start"
for me and then time to settle in to pace. Flirted and the norm for
the fisrt several miles.
Rolled through the early hills easily, not
warming up for a while. Needed to pee and other things. Rain.
About mile 7, guys were pulling along a wooded area and raining on the
trees. Cold Rain. About mile 8, guts were really trying to
fertilize the shrubs. Started looking seriously for a private spot
to take care nesessities. Fortunately, at this point, while looking
left at a great wooded area, I heard a port-a-pot door slam. Cold
Rain. Backed up a few strides and took care of the problem.
Colder rain.
By mile 10, rain began to get really cold.
Really cold rain and wind. The rest is a blur unitl mile 20.
Basically a series of great bodies to stare at for a couple minutes, rolling
hills and more rain, harder at times and definately colder as time went
on. Took almost more effort to open the Power Gels than they were
worth. Really cold rain.
Mile 20 I hit at @ 2:44:46. I had a
solid shot at a PR if I could get my 10K time in less than 50 minutes.
Mile 20 was down hill. Calves were beginning to seriously tighten,
but able to deal with it. Miles 21 to 26 were rolling hills.
Not much of an issue if it had been early, but began to be a real problem
by mile 22. Cold Rain. Naturally, the last several miles also
had a stretch that went through the heart of the city - breathing nasty
nasty diesel fumes and other wonderful intoxicants.
Mile 22 was where I began to hurt bad in the
lower legs and I started dying. Stride was chopped to a short dog
trot. The mile markers seemed to be consistenly gettting spaced further
apart. Cold Rain and more Cold Rain.
Mile 24 was up and broke me entirely. Pretty
residential area, but rolled. Cold Rain. Stride was less than
a dog trot. Pain was unbelievable in the calves.
Mile 26 finally came around a turn. Mentioned
to a group of females all I wanted was a hot tub with 6 females (them preferably)
in it. A male who was in similar physical condition to me raced me
in the last 100 yards. Then it was time to get rid of the chip and
become foiled.
At this point, "To The Moon", found my remains and
helped me limp to the hash van. Again, great people but inept bureacracy
- easy to get into the van, but hard to get the van out of the parking
lot.
Stayed over Saturday night, hashing, partying and
sleeping. Snow was not something I wanted to drive into on the way
home.
Finally, got out in good time Sunday, met an ice
patch in before leaving Charlotte, and then met a bit of concrete.
A van pulled over and helped me call 911. Again, great guy, but the
people at 911 were clueless. Same once I found a cop. He was
great, but the system supporting him was useless. Fortunately, I
was able to drive home. Car is in need of serious body repair.
I'm uninjured.
Summary -
In rain, do not wear tights, go bare legged!!!
A lot of people in tights were cramping hard in the calves, especially
because the water stayed in the tights - on the legs and chilled the skin
even more.
Vaseline1 - none on course that I remember.
However, because of the weather, I did not need any more than I had on
at the start.
Vaseline 2 - use it without reservation, thick
and everywhere. Apparently a lot of guys had bleeding nipples.
Vaseline 3 - rubbed it thick on the thighs
to keep the water rolling off. It must have worked.
Food - happy I took Power Gels with me to
keep from trying something new and untested on my body. Still not
sure what to eat before tehe event. I may go to the large muffins
I normally eat at home and just deal with the inconvience of takign them
along instead of going efficient and using Harvest Bars, ... .
Clothing - keep the torso warm. I really
like the Race Ready (?) shorts with 5 pockets in them. Great place
to store gels, ...Otherwise, I wore a wind proof vest, Cool Max long sleeved
t-shirt, tennis visor and synthetic socks. Was about the right combination,
considering the amount the weather conditions varied - damp, rain, hard
rain, cold hard rain, windy cold hard rain and ... . Not easy to
decide what to wear. Sometimes I wanted more, other times I wanted
less. This depending a lot on the wet stuff - hard rain I wanted
something heavier, other times I was too warm.
Training - definately the 3 hour or 20 mile
training run is wrong. I was strong until I reached the end of the
where I trained. Then I died. Tough hills at the end of a training
run are a good idea to help with the last few miles.
Other things I carried - Pepto Bismol tablets
for the stomach, really worked. Menthol cough drops - helped with
the lungs. Vasleine - a plastic bag full is a good idea.
Power Gels - impossible to rip off the tops
in a way that allowed them to open fully. I will probably be nicking
them lower down, so they open easier.
The people in tights were the ones hurting the most.
The tights kept the cold water next to the skin and chilled the muscles
even more. The calves of a lot of people looked really cramped.
I would do this again. It was a nice point to point.
However, they may be changing the course back to a prior version.
3:41:14, 147/446 men, 165/581 overall. At least 100 no shows or drop
outs. Relays were great company. Weather was a huge factor
in this event.
Take Care,
Tom Gardner