Oakville HM race report

After having trouble running faster than 6:10/k during my 22K long run the week before the Oakville HM due to tired legs, I had thoughts of switching pace assignments with Amy.  But I nailed the test run on Thursday and thought I was good to go.  

Went to the kit pick up nice and early to find a huge lineup due to a bib number assignment snafu.  Fortunately Sam found me in the lineup and she took a picture of me with the well meaning but creepy race director of NFWHM because I was wearing the race shirt.  Then I scored this sah-weet lole cycling jersey for 50% off at the expo.

Then I felt an itch on my tricep, and yup another mosquito bite.   I had laid out the same outfit that I wore for Richmond but decided at the last minute to wear something different.

Race morning dawned early and I was driving the Skirt Taxi.  The usual pre-race meetup and pictures with DM friends, potty stops (I wisely put my sign and water bottle outside the PP this time!!), fielding the usual questions from participants about pace..blah blah blah.  One big difference: I did not feel supremely confident, as I do when pacing 2:15.  After seeing the forecast calling for 70% chance of rain, I debated wearing my Drymax socks but didn't want to break the #burlingtonskirtbrigade uniform.

Emma, Amy, Yours Truly, Sam, Kim, Zindine, before the deluge.

I was totally on pace through 15K, rain and all.  The people around me were very quiet and when I asked questions all I heard was crickets and the tinny music of some girl who thought that the other race participants would like to enjoy her music as well and told her to put her damn headphones on.  The headwind on Rebecca, humidity and rain started to wear on me.  I dropped my sign as it was becoming a sail.  I've always done runs with lots of breaks, and it never had an ill effect during races...until now... 

Splits 15-21K (goal 5:55/K):

6:06
6:02
6:39
6:25
5:53
6:07
5:30
4:39

There were lengthy walk breaks.  People asked if I was doing 10/1.  No, I'm just having a really shitty day.  I considered DNF but realized that a shitty finish time would be preferable.  Why do I always think about dropping out when things are going poorly? I have the racing mind of an elite! I considered walking until Amy caught up and running with her.  I ripped my ears off and no one gave a fuck since I had no pace group anyways.  I guess you could consider that to be the silver lining.  

I felt a bit better around 19K and realized if I could pick up the pace, I could salvage some kind of decent finish time.  So I pushed it and pushed some more, treating the finish like my final repeat at the track.

So, it goes without saying that I'll stick with 2:15 r/w in the future, and I'm working on my mental game to keep moving during races. Relentless forward motion!

Official chip time: 2:06:14
Pace: 5:59 / kilometer 
Field Placement: 417 / 673 (62%) 
Age group: 30 – 39 
Placement: 46 / 106 (43.4%) 
Gender Placement: 159 / 333 (47.7%)


Next up: Chase the Coyote 14.4K Challenge and I will see Robin there, although I'm sure she never wants to run a race with me ever again.