Monday, June 4, 2012

 Con-quer \'Kan'Kar\ to overcome by mental or physical power

   Jenny and I finished a race in Roanoke Va. called Conquer the Cove 25K. Both of us are stunned by our performance and beauty of the course.  We left the day before via an out of the way, From the ground up potter Micheal Mahan. He is responsible for Uwharrie race pottery. Wonderful. We found our way to Roanoke Mountain campground on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Great location being 14 miles from the race site. We settled in with a fire and tunes, talking, laughing and relaxing. Jenny said at one point "This fire is really calming." We turned in about 9:45 with the backwards math alarm calculations showing a 4:50 wake up.

Roanoke Mtn campground on Blue Ridge Parkway
 

 We woke up wonderfully slept, got coffee, hot water for breakfast, trip to the bathroom to change to realize we where running late. I was slightly over the speed limit driving down a 55mph Hwy 220 when a police cruiser entered the HWY.  57mph, Sunday at 5:55 am mind you, really we are late. I thought to flag down the officer and ask for escort. The Krispy Kreme must have opened as the cruiser hit the next exit. Time flies by when you are hurrying. I may have run a light, didn't check the color anyway. Pulled in the parking lot at 6:19. Grabbed our packs and checked in.




                                                This is us not sad we missed the start.

After some pre race bathroom chatting, we were standing around not paying a lick of attention to the race briefing. Something pink black dotted ribbons, and follow the paint on the ground. A last kiss and good lucks we were off.

                                           Mental

After researching last years results my plan was 8:45/55 mile pace for the first 8. Run the climb from 8-10.3 at a pace that kept my breathing and heart rate in check. After the climb there is a 2.7 mile decent, plan, don't fall. Remaining miles run to finish. Yeah.

Gun goes of and up hill we go on a paved road for 1.2 miles.  Left turn onto single track, steep ascent, heart rate pounding, walk. Flatter jeep road cruise and recover. Mile 3 saw the first downhill lasting for almost 3 miles. Glad to see the pace go from 9:30 back to 8:30 with the fast descents.  I had a 16 and 19 yr old just ahead of me since mile 3. Neither of which could keep a steady pace or knew to move to the side when they wanted to walk. Planned 2x caffeine gu at mile 6 which should hit mid climb. Ran into the 8 mile aid station grabbed some water, chips and walked the first 400m of the fire road climb while eating. 1:09:45, 8:45 mp. I felt great starting the climb. Reminded myself 25 mins of long and slow. About mile 9.5 my left hamstring stopped recoiling. oh, oh,OH. 5 mins later the left calf joined in the song. I could see the top and knew it was a 1.4 mile down/flat till the big descent. I starting walking on the flat, watching those behind me just sail by. Walking the flat losing all your hard work on the climb sucks. Hell I might as well run. I won't need those muscles for awhile. Pace still looked good and now fly downhill. I followed a guy who ran this last year and was on the look out for the stump he tripped over. 'Just call it out when you see it.' We clocked of a 6:15ish mile for 1 of the nearly 3 mile downhill. We missed the stump. I can make my sub 2:30 goal and need to run a 12 mp.

                                          Physical

As I took the first steps off the descent both my legs screamed. They felt as thought the earths core itself was stretching them apart. Every single step felt as if I was lifting shoes stuck in knee deep mud up. 19 mins of this and you are done, RUN. So I ran. I can't recall many times when I've pushed that hard over such objection of my being.  Mile 14 marker came into view. Less than 2 miles. I hated thinking of running on the same road we ran out on. Really, what misery. I heard cow bells and walked, after a quick glace behind me. No one to see me walk now. Grabbed more water to cool down with. Run to the finish. Sub 2:30 in the bag. Less than 1/2 mile on the pavement we turned back into the woods, so much for listening to the pre-race. I can see the lake yeah. Stopped a few yards before the finish and walked across the line.

                           I didn't prepare a speech

Received my finishers metal and grabbed a chocolate milk. Started chatting with the group who was there for the race. Went over to grab some food and hydration and started stretching. Fellow racer and I stretched in the shadows of the 20 something winners. We joked that if we just stood around how we couldn't function in 30 mins. Just then the timing guy called to the guy next to me and asked his age, 49 he replied. Your 1st in your age group. Congrats I said. The timing guy called out 2 other age group winners who were sitting around. After a few more racers came through he looked at me and asked my name, Harold Hill. Your first in your age group. 








I cannot believe I won. I was so excited, still am. How could this be from someone who's last month mileage totaled 56. WoW. Once my winning adrenaline wore off the cramps began.  My legs hurt so bad. The muscle on the front of my shins wanted to pull my toes backwards. Off to the lake for a quick dip and cool the muscles down while I awaited Jen to finish. I watched the Marathon winner Shannon Price 3:08 finish. Talked to wonderful runners. Jenny came round the lake finishing in 3:37 pr.


 Full results here  with splits and all.

My legs are still recovering. We both had a great race on a pretty course in awesome weather.