Free at Last

Well thank goodness the month of April is over. It was a busy month in the running area with 3 races and 2 marathon training runs. I ended up with 304 miles for the month.

The Free State 100k,40mile and marathon were this past weekend. The family and I took the camper out on Friday and stayed the weekend. It rained a lot the days leading up to the race which made the less technical parts of the trail now nothing but a mudpit. So I was not really looking forward to that. I have to say that this race really kicked my butt. The temps got up into the 80's and I was definitely not used to running in anything over 65. I did the 100k,,,my first loop was about 3:35, I was very happy with that time but soon after that the bottom fell out. I ended up walking a good portion of the 2nd loop and was battling dehydration unsuccessfully. I was literally peeing something similar to Malt liqueur and it hurt like heck every time I tried to go. My hands were swollen and my stomach was upside down with nausea. I just couldn't seem to get everything working correctly. I limped in with a time of around 5:30 for the second loop. When I got in the aid station my wife and kids were there. It helped to see them and know they were having a good time. Rick was asking what I needed and I told him I wanted to sit, change socks and shoes and decide what I wanted to do(drop or finish 1 more loop). I told myself before the race that if I dropped I wasn't going to attempt Kettle Moraine 100, I told my wife that I was really struggling and felt like quitting. She basically said "you always feel like crap at this point, just get up and get out there and finish". So I did. Rick had decided to go with me for my last loop after he had already ran the marathon. I didn't ask, he just knew I needed a little push, and it definitely helped me. I greatly appreciated that. The last loop was kind of a blur. We passed Greg about 1 mile before the turnaround and he was really struggling, he DNF'd at Rockin K and was talking about it happening again. He ended up sucking it up and finishing strong. The last 4 miles were in the dark, when I got to the turn for the finish my 2 boys were waiting to run up the hill with me. I ended up 4:50 for the last loop and sat back and enjoyed a few home brews. It was a struggle but I finished 62 miles in 13:54. Thanks to everyone who helped out at his event and participated, especially Bad Ben, you did a great job.

I was able to ride a little on Sun and Mon and some weights. My legs are still sore but I got in an hour on the treadmill this morning with sweats and a Stocking hat on. I got some nice looks while doing that. I am going to make sure to get the heat acclimatization completed before heading to Kettle. I hope to be able to get in 2 long afternoon runs this weekend, just depends on how the legs recover.